Reaching Out: Our Call To Minister: Session 6: You Clothed Me

By the end of this session the students should be able to:

tell the story of the healing of the demoniac
discuss how people in need often have more than one problem facing them
discuss ways we can discern how we can best help people
list two or three different ways of 'clothing' people
list two or three articles from the Resource Handbook about 'clothing' people in need

Useful scriptural texts:

Mark 5:1-20
Luke 7:36-50

Materials:

Copies of the following Resource Handbook articles:
- Project Mexico [Volume 2, Community Service]
- Eyeglass Ministry [Volume 1, Community Service]
- Gift of Literacy, Gifts of Love [Volume 1, Community Service]
- Ministry in a Shoe Box [Volume 1, Youth-College Ministries]

Procedure:

15-20 minutes. Have someone read Luke 7:36-50 while the rest follow in their Bibles. How did the woman 'clothe' Jesus? According to Jesus, why did the woman anoint Him? [She loved Him and was grateful for being forgiven.]

Read Matthew 5:1-20. When does the possessed man in the story become clothed? [After having the demons expelled.] Why didn't they put clothes on him first? [He would have thrown them off.] What can we learn from this about helping others? [Very often people have deeper problems that need taken care of first] What are some examples of these types of deeper problems in other needy people? How do we address this when helping people? [We try to help them with their most urgent need. It means that we need to ask for God's guidance and the advice of people who can help us.] Who are some people we could ask advice from to be sure we are ministering to people in the most appropriate way? Do you think it is possible to hurt somebody while trying to help them? How? Can you think of any examples?

If you are able, have a social worker come in and discuss these issues with the group. They could give great input to your planning process.

25 minutes. Split students into groups and divide the articles among them. Have each group read their articles, answer and discuss the following questions:

Compare the ministry in each article with Jesus saying 'and you clothed me.'
Who are the people in our community who have the same needs?
Are there people in our community who have the same needs?
What re some ways we can minister to people who need to be 'clothed?'

Based upon the list we have so far, who are some people in our community who are ministering to these people? How can we help them or is there something else we could do?

Conclusion:

Jesus tells us that if we want to be with Him we have to minister to people in need. Unfortunately, the poor, the widow, the stranger, and the sick often aren't four different people. People in need often have many problems. God has given us many gifts and talents. Only God can save them, by we can minster to them by using our gifts to help them with their most pressing need. We must ask for God's direction and the advice of qualified people to discern what that need is.

Project ideas: Eyeglass ministry, clothing drive