LEADER PREPARATION
Lesson Summary:

Note: These lessons are designed to be 30 minutes long. If your club time is shorter than this, we encourage you to be prayerful about parts of this lesson to put more or less emphasis on. If limited on time, we urge you to prioritize Tool Time and summarize Dig In, as Tool Time is what prepares you for sharing the Gospel. As always, let the Holy Spirit guide your leadership.

Before Jesus died on the cross, He shared with His disciples a way that they could remember him when he was gone. Communion reminds us of God’s everlasting love for us and

His instruction to be a beacon of His love to the world. Not only is the practice of communion a remembrance of what Jesus had done for us on the cross, but it is also a reminder that we were made for community and to fellowship with one another in Christ.

Main Point
Church is where we gather as a community of faith to remember Christ’s death through the practice of communion.

Team Roles

Host: This Student Leader will lead the Start Up section of the lesson, helping create a fun environment, making everyone feel welcome and included.
Speaker: This student leader will guide the group in growing deeper in their faith by reading and reflecting on passages of scripture. They will then connect the content to the group’s daily lives by asking practical questions and leading the conversation.
Other Roles: Promo, Welcome, and Follow Up.

Scripture References

• 1 Corinthians 11:23-26

Materials Needed

• Paper

(7 minutes)
Welcome everyone and be sure to get the names of any new friends.

Icebreaker Game: Story Keeper
Supplies Needed: Pen, paper

Gather the group into one large circle. Ask the person in your group who thinks they have the best handwriting to sit in the middle holding a pen and paper. This student will be known as the Story Keeper.

Explain that the group will be working together to create a story. Further explain how the members of the group will take turns adding one word to the story at a time. However, before each teammate adds their word, they must recite all the prior words spoken by the rest of the group.

Story Example:
The… The hamster… The hamster slept… The hamster slept until…

During the game, the Story Keeper will be writing down the story as it is spoken. If another student can’t remember the story’s script, the Story Keeper will remind them what words come next. The game concludes when everyone in the group has had a chance to add to the story TWICE.

(5 minutes)
Ask: What helped you remember the exact words of the story in order? What made remembering them harder? (Take a few moments for students to share.) In our game, being at the beginning of the story when you only had to remember a few words was easier than at the end when there was a longer story. Having the Story Keeper help us remember made sure that the order and the words were right! Similarly, our lives can easily become so hectic and full that we can become confused and forget the incredible things Jesus has done for us. This is why we need someone to help us remember the pieces of the story so we can continually be discipled together.

Today, we will talk about how coming together to celebrate communion and to read God’s Word allows us to live in remembrance and reverence of Jesus as our Savior. Jesus shared in Luke 22:19 that believers are to “do this in remembrance of me.” Communion refers to the community of believers joining together to remember Christ’s death and resurrection as it points to the hope of a future eternity with God.

Ask: What are some important things we might do and remember as a family, a community, or even as a country? What value do you experience in joining with others to remember these important dates or events? (Take a few moments for students to share.)

Say: There are lots of things that we pause from in our normal activities and take time to remember. Fun things like birthdays and wedding anniversaries, meaningful things like Thanksgiving and National holidays. Even painful things like losing a friend or family member cause us to stop and remember.

In these rhythms of remembrance, we honor and even celebrate the past in ways that impact our present and future. Throughout the generations, God has called His people to remember the miracles He performed for them and how He revealed His character.

In God’s reference to Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, He encouraged the nation of Israel to rehearse for themselves how He had cared for them as his people. When He reminded them that He was the God who brought them out of Egypt, it was to remind them of how He had set them free from captivity through miracle after miracle.

God’s people were encouraged to remember the stories of God’s miracles by using physical reminders. After God brought them through the Jordan River, He told them to build an altar with twelve stones, one for each of the tribes of Israel.

He instructed them to tell their children about the crossing of the Jordan River on dry land so they would not forget the Lord or His power.

Ask: What are some physical reminders you have of milestones from your life? How do they serve as a remembrance? (Take a few moments for students to share.)

Say: By practicing communion together, God has given us a way to remember the death of Jesus and what it means to us as His followers. In communion, we participate in the Lord’s Supper together, which is the bread and the cup. When we do this, we remember Jesus’ death on the cross and look forward to His coming again. Paul explains the meaning of communion to the early Church in 1 Corinthians:

Read Scripture: For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.(1 Corinthians 11:23-26)

Say: In remembering the death of Jesus in communion, we connect again, not only to Him but to one another. We are united in our remembering. When we come to what is often called The Lord’s Table, we are strengthened and equipped as His body on earth, the Church.

Through His death, Jesus offers communion as a way for us to remember the meaning of his death.