Bible base

1 Corinthians 12:12–21

Aim

To help students understand that people are stronger when they work together and support each other.

Things you’ll need

A telephone directory

Presentation

1 Invite to the front three or four volunteers who think they are strong. Challenge them, one by one, to rip the telephone directory in half in less than five seconds. Tell them that if the first one to do it will win £10.

2 After all three have tried – and failed – ask them why they couldn’t do it. Tear out the first page or two and ask them if that will help.

3 Say that you want them to do some maths. Tell them how many pages there are in the directory. Tell them that they have to divide this number by the approximate number of people there are in the room. Ask for their guesses about the number, but give them a definite approximate number for the calculation. Agree on the answer.

4 Tear out this number of pages. (Check beforehand that your answer is not likely to be more than ten.) Give the ripped-out pages to one of the volunteers and ask them to see if they can tear these into two (point out that your offer of a £10 prize no longer applies!). Have your volunteer rip the pages, which this time they should be able to do.

5 Tear out two more lots of the same number of pages from the directory. Give these to the other two volunteers. On a given signal ask them to rip their pages in two.

6 Encourage applause for the strength of your volunteers and ask them to sit down.

7 Point out that even though it’s hard to rip up a whole directory on your own, it’s easy if the directory is divided up amongst lots of people who work together. In fact, if there was time in the assembly, you could have given everyone a few of the pages and then together you would have been able to have ripped the telephone directory in two in under five seconds. As a group of people working together, you are much stronger than when you work on your own.

Reflection

1 Talk briefly about how everyone has a part to play – we can’t do everything ourselves. We all need to help each other .What is impossible for one person alone isn’t so difficult for a group working together. There’s a description in the Bible of the church (ie a community of Christians) likening it to a body. Everyone’s gifts and talents are needed just like hands and toes are all important for a body. Everyone is important.

Whether or not we’re Christians we’re all part of different communities (eg family, school) where we have a special part to play. We need to work together with others and help them too as they do their part.

2 Working together makes sense whatever you believe, but Christians believe that what really makes a difference is remembering to rely on God because he is the one who really helps us to achieve the impossible.

Response

In a time of quiet, ask the students to think about:

• If there are projects you are working on with others, how good a part of the team are you?
• Who could you help today?

Conclude by encouraging them to pray,asking God to give them the strength and confidence to be able to do this.