Freedom in Christ Discipleship Course for Youth review by Becky Lawrence, Youth and Childrens Worker, St Marks MK

This resource is an oldy but a goody, it was published in 2009, so it’s definitely not brand new, but the material itself, the themes and especially the booklet is pretty timeless.  On the website for the resource the promo video for youth leaders is the most dated, you can tell from the clothes and decor – I did however find it fabulously nostalgic!  The videos for the sessions are also a little dated but less so than the promo – and I’m not sure if you can now get them on dowload as well as DVD – as you may find yourself like me without a DVD player or even a disc drive on your laptop!  I would suggest though that the material is still good and relevant to use especially in a 1-2-1 context like I did.

I used this in mentoring with a young person, to give us some structure for our weekly meetings and provide some Godly spiritual input to our discussions.  We used the youth guide age 15+ booklet only without the DVD and read a bit of the material each week and reflected on it together as well as discussed the main themes.  It worked really well in this context, especially with helping the young person I mentored to reflect on and accept Biblical truths and God’s great love for them and His healing transformational power in their life.  It was a useful tool, along with help from their GP to help the young person face depression and become more self confident in who God made them to be.

It is designed for use with groups not 1-2-1 like I used it but I found it fairly easy to adapt.  Freedom in Christ is a 13 week discipleship course which has both youth and kids specific resources (as well as an adult version). There are two different resources for youth aimed at age groups 11-14’s or 15-18 years old.   The resource contains a leaders guide which has notes to run the sessions for both age youth groups, plus a DVD with videos to deliver short talks on each topic.  The material includes prep for the leader, introduction and and ice breakers, illustrations, prayers, talks, games, worship and more.

“A powerful resource designed to make fruitful disciples who are sold out for God. Connecting with the truth about who they are in Christ, becoming free from all that holds them back, and learning to how to be transformed by the renewal of they minds – no matter what their circumstances – makes for a life-changing experience” – Freedom in Christ website

 

The course addresses three of the biggest issues facing Christian young people: the search for identity, it helps them understand who they are in Christ that they are loved and accepted.  In the face of so much temptation and pressure, inlcuding quick fixes, the lure of celebrity and influencers, sex before marriage and worldly wisdom, it gives them tools that enable them to walk free from the rubbish that holds them back.  Thirdly it empowers them to take hold of the authority they have in Christ and take responsibility for their relationship with God so that they grow to become fruitful disciples.

Session themes:

Who was I? – When Adam and Eve were created, they had life in all its fullness. God met all their needs. They were perfectly accepted, secure and significant and this is a picture of how our relationship with God is meant to be. When they disobeyed God and turned their back on him, they lost their relationship with God. The result for us is that we were born physically alive but spiritually dead and with a huge need for acceptance, security and significance. Jesus came to restore to us the very same life, acceptance, security and significance that Adam and Eve had originally.

Who Am I Now? – The Bible is clear that when we become Christians, who we are and the way God sees us totally changes. This session explains that we should no longer regard ourselves as sinners but as new creations, children of God, saints! Furthermore, the way we see ourselves really matters. It is important to know that we can approach God with confidence, knowing we are not guilty in his eyes.

Where Do I Put My Faith? – We all have faith in something. It is where we put that faith that decides whether or not it will be effective. If we want our Christian life to be fruitful and effective, we need to put our faith totally in God and the truth of the Bible. Our faith grows by putting it into practice.

Worldview – We live in a world full of choices and ‘mix and match’ spirituality. The way that we see reality – our worldview – can vary massively based on where and when we were brought up. The world also tells us that there is no absolute unchangeable truth. When we become Christians we need to learn that, if we want to see reality as it is, we need to adopt the Biblical worldview.

Big Choices – This session introduces something that the Bible calls ‘the flesh’, the unhelpful ways of thinking and coping that we developed as we grew up. These ways can still really affect us and hold us back, but we don’t need to give in. We can choose every day and moment to live either according to our selfish ‘flesh’ or according to the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Strongholds – The environment we grew up in, traumatic experiences and giving into temptation may have led to the development of what the Bible calls ‘strongholds’. These are deeply-ingrained lies that we believe that affect the way we live. When we become a Christian, these lies were not deleted and we have to ‘renew our minds’ with the truth in the Bible.

Spiritual Reality – It is important to realise that we are in a spiritual battle and the devil does exist and that he tells lies to us to affect what we believe and therefore how we live. Every day this battle between truth and lies takes place in our minds. This session looks at how the devil works and how to win the battle.

Handling Our Emotions – Our emotions tell us if something is wrong and needs to be dealt with. Choosing to believe the truth about who we are and who God is makes sure that our feelings reflect reality. The best way to handle our emotions is to be totally honest with God.

Freedom & Forgiveness – Nothing holds young people back more than an unwillingness to forgive. Forgiveness is not about setting the person who has hurt you free but about you being set free. Learning to forgive from the heart sets us free from the past and opens the door for God to heal our emotional pain.

Steps to Freedom in Christ – The Steps to Freedom in Christ is a key part of the course. It is a gentle repentance process, where young people look at seven different areas of their life, ask the Holy Spirit to bring to their mind stuff they need to deal with and then say sorry and turn their back on it. It is about reconnecting with God’s love and getting back on track in our relationship with him.

Truth = Freedom – If we dealt honestly with everything the Holy Spirit showed us in the Steps to Freedom, we have taken hold of the freedom Jesus won for us. The key to growth now is staying free. This session looks at how we make truth part of our lives every day and regularly resist the devil and renew.

Loving Others – Jesus said that the most important command was to love God with all that we have and love our neighbour as ourselves. This session looks at the fact that relationships go wrong because people focus on their rights in a relationship rather than on their responsibilities. If we focus on how we are to treat others rather than what we feel we deserve our friendships will be stronger, more fruitful and reflect God more.

Where Are You Going? – It is important that we understand God’s goal for our lives and bring our own goals into line with it. God’s goal for us is that we become more like Jesus. We have all kinds of desires that other people or events can get in the way of but no one can stop us becoming more like Jesus.

Keep Going – The world tells us that we will only have real satisfaction, fulfilment and success if we achieve certain things and look the right way. This session looks at a number of aspects of our lives and how faith works in each of these areas as we aim to become more like Jesus.

Maybe like me you’ll want to adapt this for use in a 1-2-1 context or pick and choose bits to use online or offline with your group.

You can find info about the full resource here https://www.ficm.org.uk/youth

You can buy just the youth booklet that I used (from Eden) here for £2.49