A discussion starter investigating the difference between belief and faith.
TRUST ME I'M A YOUTH WORKER!
Ask for two volunteers from your group. Pick people who are smaller than you. Ask one to leave the room for a few minutes. Ask the other to stand upright, facing a wall, with feet touching the wall.
Ask your volunteer, 'Do you BELIEVE that I have the strength to catch you if you fell backwards from the wall?'
If the volunteer answers with a 'Yes' (and encourage this response) then follow with this second question, 'Would you TRUST me to catch you if you fell?'
After encouraging a positive response, ask your volunteer to fall back, keeping completely straight (stiff) as they fall. Ask the group to count slowly to seven, telling your volunteer to fall on the count of seven. Naturally you must be ready to catch them, but do not do this until they are at least 45 degrees from the vertical.
By then most young people will have started to bend their knees and put out their hands to cushion their fall, rather than keeping straight as you requested. Call in the other person and repeat the activity.
Using this activity as an illustration, explain to your group about how 'faith' works. Faith has three ingredients:
- Belief - this is based on examining the evidence i.e. Does (Grahame) look strong enough to catch me if I fall backwards?
- Trust - this is based on personal confidence in the person of your belief i.e. can I trust (Grahame) to catch me, or will he laugh as I hit the floor?
- Action - this takes personal involvement. In this illustration that means falling back into the arms of your youth leader.
Explain that faith in God is also made up of these same three ingredients - Belief, Trust and Action. Use the illustration of 'The Tightrope Walker' to show that 'belief' needs to be acted upon before it becomes 'faith'.
THE TIGHTROPE WALKER
Jean Francois Gravelet-Blondin was one of the world's greatest tight-rope walkers, acrobats and circus performers. On 15th September 1860 he performed one of the most amazing stunts the world had ever seen. Blondin, before a great crowd, walked a tightrope stretched across Niagara Falls in Canada.
The tightrope, made of strong steel cable, was over 50 metres above the falls and it stretched for 350 metres across the falls. On slip and he would have plunged to his death. After he had walked across he shouted to the crowd if they believed he could carry a person back across the falls. They all shouted 'Yes!' and cheered because they all believed he could do it! So then he asked for a volunteer - but no one spoke up. Everyone was silent. Not one person was prepared to trust Blondin and put what they said they believed into practice.
Eventually one person did agree to go. His name was Henry Colcord, Blondin's manager. He alone had real confidence and trust in Blondin's skill as a tightrope walker.
Many people say that they believe in God, but the Bible also talks about having faith in God. Being a Christian is more than just believing in God, it is trusting him with the whole of your life.
This starter can be followed up with an evangelistic challenge to move from belief to faith, or as a discussion starter about putting faith into action. Read James 2: 14-20. True faith transforms our conduct as well as our thoughts. Discuss together different ways they (as individuals and as a group) can put their faith into action in the future. Perhaps you can agree a group goal for the coming weeks.
Note: Paul and James are not contradicting each other. Paul speaks against those who try to be saved by deeds instead of true faith (Romans 3:28). James speaks against those who confuse mere intellectual assent with true faith.
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Thank you for this...I'm going to use it today for my talk on Luke 7:1-10 and Hebrews 11:1 with young people!
Posted by: Miriam Conrad | 29/09/2013 at 10:28