In Real Life Books Clueless and Called Discipleship and the Gospel of Mark

Exploring tough questions facing youth today • Also available as an eResource

OPEN THE BIBLE • Help youth apply the Bible to real life and discuss their faith. This all-in-one curriculum guides youth and their leaders on a journey for meaning and identity. In Real Life encourages youth to ask the hard questions, and helps them encounter Scripture in search of answers. In a time of violence, injustice, materialism, and new pressures, this series offers a different point of view. Compatible with a whole family approach.

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Also available in print (with eResource)

What does it take to be a disciple of Jesus?

According to the Gospel of Mark, it takes more—and less!—than we might think. More, because those who truly follow this suffering Messiah will always pay a high price. Less, because as the early twelve disciples demonstrate, we don’t need perfect faith. This study focuses on the requirements for following Jesus’ Way and the abundant life that is available as a result. (5 sessions, plus extender session)

Sessions:

1. Sea-ing Is Not Always Believing • Challenge participants to look for ways and reasons to trust Jesus more, on whatever sea and in whatever weather they are sailing.
2. Leaving Our Nets • Guide participants to hear in this story that Jesus’ call to discipleship includes them, and that following requires leaving the “nets” that tangle them up and tie them down.
3. Getting to "The Good Life" • Help participants understand that the truly “good life,” life with meaning, purpose, and fulfillment, is not found in self-promotion but in self-denial for the sake of Jesus and God’s reign.
4. Traveling Light • Help participants see that a radical trust in God brings with it freedom from the vicious cycle of competition, popularity, and success, and freedom for the deepest love, joy, and meaning life can offer.
5. More Than Getting Wet • Help participants identify and claim baptism as the beginning of a faith identity and discipleship that requires genuine repentance and commitment, not moral perfection.
6. Entertaining Angels (Extender Session option) • Challenge participants to a more radical Christian discipleship through stories and images of ordinary people following Jesus in extraordinary ways.