Prologue:
Team Building Exercise: Boys vs Girls – 40-piece 3D Puzzle.
Sharing: What’s the most difficult thing about working with others?
Unity within the body of Christ takes work. We don’t always agree but we can set aside out differences, sacrifice our personal comfort, and work together to fulfill our call.
Read Ephesians 4:1-6; This lesson is divided into 3 parts
Part I – Ephesians 4:1-2
It requires individuals who recognize they can serve as a unifying or divisive force within the body – and choose to seek unity. If we say we are following Jesus, our treatment of other believers ought to confirm that statement. How? Paul points of 4 characteristics:
- with HUMILITY
- with GENTLENESS
- with PATIENCE
- with LOVING ACCEPTANCE
Gentleness is linked with humility. Being Gentle isn’t the same as being a doormat. It isn’t being weak or cowardly. Rather, it involves showing kindness. It means being considerate of others. Patience carries the idea of putting up with others’ faults and failures and not seeking revenge when wronged – which goes hand in hand with accepting one another in love. It’s the willingness to forgive and not bear a grudge.
Part II – Ephesians 4:3
Maintaining unity in the church is not an easy task. Paul emphasized the important of hard work. We need the power of God’s Spirit living within us to enable us to respond consistently to other with gentleness and humility.
Holding onto hurt feeling until they grow into bitterness is like nursing cancerous cells in the body of Christ. Refusing to let go of anger is a sure way to create division. Forgiveness isn’t easy. It may require us to let go of resentment over and over, every time we’re angry.
Part III – Ephesians 4:4-6
We have a mission as the body of Christ (Matt: 28:18-20). We need each other in order to complete our mission. Look at just 3 of the many ways Paul indicated the church should be unified as one in Christ
- The church exists as ONE BODY (Romans 12:4-5)
- Within the church you will find people of all ages, races, classes, and more. We are completely diverse, but there is ONE SPIRIT indwelling us all.
- Christians are also bound together by ONE LORD, ONE FAITH, ONE BAPTISM. We’re united by one common belief that Jesus alone is Lord and Savior.
Prayer Exercise: Building Unity – pray by name. In your group, each member will state one thing that they need to pray about. The group must complete the prayer rotation, meaning each member is to pray for the person to the right.
Social Media Exercise: Encourage One Another – Share an encouraging scripture via social media to another member of your group (Tip: take a picture of the Scripture and share it on Instagram, Tumblr or Facebook) -tag by #ecbcbiblelife
Epilogue:
It was a lot of fun seeing them trying to complete the puzzle exercise together. Through careful observation, one can really pick up each students’ personality and traits with this team activity.
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