So, What Next? Sample

SO, WHAT NEXT

© Scripture Union 2024

ISBN 978 1 78506 976 5

Scripture Union, Trinity House, Opal Court, Opal Drive, Fox Milne, Milton Keynes, MK15 0DF, UK

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Website: www.scriptureunion.org.uk

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of Scripture Union.

Scripture quotations taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version (Anglicised edition) copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 Biblica (formerly International Bible Society). Used by permission of Hodder & Stoughton Publishers, an Hachette UK Company. All rights reserved.

The right of Brogan Hume, Joel Barwick, Lee Kirkby and Alice Young to be identified as the authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data. A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library.

Photo credits: Cover Per Bengtsson/Shutterstock, p26 selimaksan/istock, p31 ifong/Shutterstock. All other photos from Unsplash

Cover and internal design: heatherknight.me.uk Design consultant: Zara Tipples

Printed by Belmont Press, Northampton, UK.

This resource has been developed in collaboration with New Wine (Luminosity). Luminosity is New Wine’s youth ministry and hosts the Luminosity youth festival as part of the annual New Wine festival. Luminosity’s vision is for every young person to be a changemaker in the world who pierces unimaginable darkness with the light of Jesus. Find out more at: www.weareluminosity.org

Scripture Union is an interdenominational Christian charity working to share the good news of Jesus with the next generation. Through a wide range of activities, resources and initiatives, we invite children and young people to explore the difference Jesus can make to the challenges and adventures of life.

Find out more about our work at: www.scriptureunion.org.uk

WHAT JUST HAPPENED?

You’re holding this booklet for a reason. Whether you’ve been given it by a friend, family member or youth leader – or chosen to pick it up for yourself – the fact that you’re holding it is a sign that God is at work in your life. This booklet has been written for a particular purpose: to help you start following Jesus. If you’ve just made a commitment to follow him, then you’ve started the most fantastic, life-changing journey.

You’re holding this booklet for a reason. Whether you’ve been given it by a friend, family member or youth leader – or chosen to pick it up for yourself –the fact that you’re holding it is a sign that God is at work in your life. This booklet has been written for a particular purpose: to help you start following Jesus. If you’ve just made a commitment to follow then you’ve started the most fantastic, life-changing journey.

SO, WHAT’S NEXT?

SAMPLE

You might imagine that becoming a Christian is a bit like hiking up a spiritual mountain – that you’ve started off on the path and have got a long way to go until you finally reach the top where God is. Every other religion and worldview works that way: do the right things, put enough effort in, be a better person and you might finally get to the top. However, following Jesus is completely different.

Instead of thinking that we’ve got to climb up the mountain ourselves,

the Bible uses an image of a Jesus who comes down to us. He finds us at the bottom of the path, takes our hand, if we allow him to, and walks with us up the mountain. He is the one who doesn’t put a foot wrong, stays on the path and, if we listen to him, brings us safely to the top. Being a Christian isn’t about learning how to climb up a spiritual mountain – it’s about learning how to live in God’s presence at the top.

HOW TO USE THIS BOOKLET

To learn to live in God’s presence, we need to know three things:

1 Who is this God who would come and find us rather than wait for us to climb up to him?

2 Who are we, that God should both need to rescue us and be willing rescue us?

3 Who will we be when we’ve spent a lifetime learning to live in the presence of God?

The three main sections in this booklet will help you to explore these questions.

This booklet has been designed to help you read the Bible each day. Each section has some Bible verses for you to look up (see page 5) and read, then a short exploration of what you’ve read, followed by a prompt for prayer (see below) and reflection.

BIBLE REFERENCE

HOW DO I TALK WITH GOD?

When Christians talk about prayer, they’re really describing a conversation with God. If you’ve never prayed before, you might be wondering how to make a start…

Prayer can take so many forms –you can pray out loud or quietly in your head, by writing in a journal or by taking a walk and talking to God as you go. Don’t be afraid to try out lots of different ways of praying and find one that works for you.

After reading and exploring, take a few minutes to talk with God about what you found powerful and life-giving in the passage, what questions you have, how you want to live differently and about people who you know are in need. Take time to listen to what God might be saying in response.

HOW DO I HEAR FROM GOD?

In order for us to know about God, he must show himself to us. Every time we read the Bible, we are hearing God speak to us. These words, recorded over many years by many different people, were all guided by one Holy Spirit. This means that you can trust the Bible to reveal to you what God says about who he is, who you are and who you will be.

God can also speak through words, pictures, feelings, other people, the natural world around us and much more, though he will never contradict the Bible. If you’re not sure whether you’ve hearing from God, talk with other Christians about their experiences and ask them for their guidance and advice.

HOW DO I FIND THINGS IN THE BIBLE?

The Bible is a big book! It might even seem a bit intimidating to approach at first. We’ve created this short booklet to help you get to grips with it, alongside help from a Christian friend, youth worker or church leader.

To find something in the Bible, first find the contents list at the front, and find in there the name of the book you are looking for (for example, Romans) and head to the page number given. Each book in the Bible is broken up into chapters and verses. Work your way through to the right part of the book – the big numbers are the chapters, and the little numbers in between sentences are the verses.

JOHN REFERS TO T HE BIBLE BOOK OF JOHN (THE BIBLE IS A BOOK OF BOOKS –66 BOOKS IN ONE!)

JOHN 3:16

3 IS THE CHAPTE R N UMBER – IT’S USUALLY A BIT BIGGER THAN THE OTHER NUMBERS

16 IS THE VERS E N UMBER – LOOK FOR THE LITTLE NUMBERS

WHO IS GOD?

Introducing the Psalms

God’s people have always loved to sing about how amazing he is. In fact, there is a whole book of the Bible that contains these songs! It’s called Psalms (pronounced, ‘sarms’), and in it there are 150 individual psalms. As Psalms is in the Old Testament, you won’t find Jesus mentioned here by name… but all the psalms point forwards in time towards him. They reveal to us something of who God is and who we are.

GOD IS... YOUR CREATOR, WHO MADE YOU TO DO GREATER THINGS

READ: Psalm 8

EXPLORE: You are not a mistake. You were created with a God-given purpose. In Psalm 8, the author reflects on how amazing it is that the God who made the moon and the stars is interested in you and me.

Creator God didn’t just give you breath in your lungs on the first day of your life, but he has given you breath every day of your life. He pays that much attention to you.

God also has a purpose for your life. You’re created to share in the task of making the world more like God would have it be – you’re given authority to rule over the works of God’s hands (verse 6). The God who made the moon and stars gives you a purpose – to care for and rule over the things he’s given you in a way that is worthy of him.

REFLECT

How does it feel to know that the indescribably powerful God, who created the high mountains and glorious golden beaches, also chose to create you?

God of immeasurable love, thank you for creating me with the purpose of loving and serving you. Help me always to know your presence with me, by the power of your Spirit. I turn away from anything that doesn’t please you, because you have brought me back into relationship with you through Jesus.

Amen