How Does Your Garden Grow?

David C Cook COVID-19 Response

Middle School

Lesson 11
Winter 2020-21
By: RLD Editorial Team
February 14, 2021

Lesson Focus:

We need help to grow as Christians.

Bible Basis:

Acts 18:24-28

Materials Needed:

Step 1:

Internet access

Step 4:

Internet access
Index cards (1 per student)
Pens/pencils (1 per student)

Summary & Links:

Students will consider their capacity to learn as they explore growing as Christians.

Memory Verse:

Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity.
—Hebrews 6:1a

Students will consider their capacity to learn as they explore growing as Christians.

Materials Needed:

Internet access

As students, you spend a lot of time learning and growing in knowledge.

What is something you have learned recently, at school or otherwise? (Accept all reasonable answers, from facts learned at school to a new skill, a bit of trivia, or general knowledge they hadn’t known before.)
Do you enjoy learning, or do you think of it with a negative connotation? (Accept all reasonable answers. Eight hours a day of traditional learning is not always exciting for teens, but everyone has subjects—academic or not—that they know more about.)

In this video, a Stanford professor shares five “hacks” for learning anything.
Play this video [2:00]:
5 hacks to help you learn anything

Did you learn anything from this video? (Accept any information from the video.)
Is there any advice they left out or that you would add? (Accept all reasonable answers, such as how to apply this advice to learning a skill rather than information, or any reference to working with others or asking questions.)

As Christians, it is important to continually learn about our faith, and to learn from others. It is okay to ask questions, to be corrected, and to add to your understanding. There are even examples of this in the Bible.

Looking for Steps 2 & 3?

You can find Steps 2 and 3 in your teacher’s guide. To purchase a teacher’s guide, please visit: Bible-in-Life or Echoes.

Materials Needed:

Internet access
Index cards (1 per student)
Pens/pencils (1 per student)

If your class is meeting online, invite your students to bring a pen/pencil and index card with them to class.

Looking back, what are some ways you’ve grown in your faith in the past? (Accept all reasonable answers, such as learning new Bible verses and stories, to learning about the context of those texts, to faith becoming more personal or leading to change to action in one’s life, etc.)
What sorts of things have helped you grow in your faith? (Accept all reasonable answers from Bible studies and devotionals to mentors, camps, getting outside one’s comfort zone, etc.)
How would you like to grow in your faith this year? (Accept all reasonable answers such as being consistent at having a quiet time, praying for others, finding a mentor, learning about a specific subject, )

Hand out index cards and pens/pencils to your students. If your class is meeting online, invite them to have those items ready. Instruct your students to write down each of the 5 learning hacks mentioned as they re-watch the video from Step 1: “Ditch the Highlighter; Spend more time on topics you find difficult; Don’t cram; Seek critical feedback instead of looking for assurance; Understand your intelligence is not fixed.”

Challenge students to pick one of the tips from the video and apply to it learning more about their faith in the coming week. Discuss this as a group, then have students commit to their action step as they head into this new week.

Close in prayer.

About

David C Cook is a nonprofit organization dedicated to publishing and distributing leadership and discipleship resources to help Christians all over the world grow in their faith and pass it on to the next generation. We call this “DiscipleShaping”.

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David C Cook COVID-19 Response

Middle School