One StoryCopyright © 2019 by Jen Bradbury

Publisher: Mark Oestreicher

Managing Editor: Sarah Hauge

Cover Design: Adam McLane

Layout: Marilee R. Pankratz

Creative Director: El Fantasma

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any electronic or mechanical means including photocopying, recording, or information

storage and retrieval without permission in writing from the author.

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by

permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

ISBN-13: 978-1-942145-44-8 ISBN-10: 1-942145-44-6

The Youth Cartel, LLC

www.theyouthcartel.com

Email: info@theyouthcartel.com

Born in San Diego

Printed in the U.S.A.

ONE STORY TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction – 41. Creation and the Fall – 102. Noah and the Flood – 153. The Tower of Babel – 214. God’s Covenant with Abram – 265. The Binding of Isaac – 326. Joseph – 387. The Birth of Moses – 44 8. Passover – 499. The Crossing of the Red Sea – 54 10. Jericho – 5911. Deborah – 6512. The Anointing of David – 72 13. David’s Failure – 78 14. The Building of the Temple – 8315. Elijah – 88 16. Jonah – 93 17. The Destruction of the Temple – 99 18. The Rebuilding of Jerusalem’s Wall – 104 19. Jesus’s Birth – 10920. Jesus Cleanses the Temple – 11421. Jesus’s Transfiguration – 120 22. Jesus the King – 127 23. The Last Supper – 13324. Peter’s Denial and Reinstatement – 14025. Doubting Thomas – 146 26. Pentecost – 152 27. The Early Church – 15828. Peter and John Heal a Crippled Beggar – 16429. Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch – 172 30. Saul’s Conversion – 179 31. Paul and Silas in Prison – 18432. A New Heaven, Earth, and Temple – 190

One Story

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Introduction

What this curriculum is about and how to use it

After a decade in youth ministry, I realized how little my teens knew about Scripture, despite my best efforts to the contrary. Most of my teens lacked a basic understanding of Scripture’s arc. They knew there was an Old and New Testament, but with few exceptions, most couldn’t tell you what stories were found where. What’s more, many of my teens believed that far from being immutable, God’s character changed somewhere between the pages of the Old and New Testaments.

Knowing this, I decided to overhaul how I was teaching Scripture. Rather than incorporate random Bible passages into each of our lessons, I decided to instead take a year and intentionally go through Scripture from Genesis to Revelation. My goal was to teach teens the story of Scripture and show them how all of Scripture is unified and points to Jesus.

After our sweep through Scripture, my team and I were amazed at how much more biblically literate our teens became. This sweep gave teens a solid foundation on which to build—a foundation that allowed us to do more topical teaching.

Because of the success we had with this strategy, we’ve repeated it, regularly cycling through the curriculum you’re now holding. This curriculum has been field tested with my teens three times. Each time we used it, we modified it to better meet their needs.

Since teens learn differently from one another, this curriculum seeks to utilize a variety of activities to engage them. However, it’s important to note that this curriculum is designed for discussion. Since teens learn best when they’re participating in conversations rather than just consuming information, the ideal room setup is a group sitting in a circle all at the same eye level. There are no long ‘talks’ for the leaders to give.

Each lesson in this curriculum follows the same general format:

Key Scripture Passages

This is an at-a-glance list of the Scripture passages explored in each lesson.

Lesson Objectives

When leading, it is immensely helpful to know your goals. Lesson objectives help you know the purpose of each lesson.

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INTRODUCTION

Leader’s Notes

Leader’s notes contain a variety of things, including why a particular story was chosen for inclusion in One Story, background information about the lesson, and, on occasion, tips for leading a particular lesson well.

Supplies

Because the lessons in One Story are experiential in nature, they often require a varied list of supplies. Many of the supplies will be used in the optional activity, but some will be required regardless of whether or not you do the optional part of the lesson. Since we want to set you up for success, we include a list at the beginning of each lesson of what you’ll need.

Optional Activity

The optional activity is just that: optional. When field testing this material, we found these activities particularly useful with middle schoolers and underclassmen as well as in settings that have more time for these lessons (an hour or longer).

While optional activities are interactive, they always connect directly to the lesson, typically through processing questions. If you’re going to do the activity, make sure to allow time for processing. Without the processing questions, the activities will be fun but relatively meaningless.

Sometimes later questions also refer back to the optional activity. When that’s the case, they’re prefaced with, “For those who did the optional activity…”

Occasionally, this section is named the “Not-So-Optional Activity.” When that’s the case, the activity is a prerequisite for doing the rest of the lesson.

Timeline

It is immensely helpful for teenagers to have a visual representation of when things happen in the Bible. While we know it’s possible to purchase timelines of the Bible, a timeline will be far more memorable and meaningful if you allow teens to create it themselves, using the stories you’re covering in One Story.

For that reason, each One Story lesson includes a Timeline section. Use this section to review the previously covered material with teens before adding that week’s story to the timeline. Allow teens to be as creative as they’d like with this, drawing various symbols to represent a particular lesson (or attaching various artifacts from your lesson to your timeline).

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INTRODUCTION

We recognize that people from a variety of Christian traditions will utilize this curriculum. Some who use this curriculum will view the Bible as literal. Others will not. However, we believe that a timeline is useful in either case as it helps make abstract stories more concrete by contextualizing when they happened in relation to one another. While we provide you with dates for various stories, please don’t get hung up on these if they’re not important to your tradition. Instead, think of the timeline as an ordered list designed to help teens understand what precedes and follows what in the Bible.

Walk through Scripture and Discussion

This is the meat of your discussion. In it, you’ll walk through a given Scripture passage.

Throughout this curriculum we try hard not to proof text—to pull and study verses without giving a broader understanding of context. Instead, we generally explore fairly large chunks of Scripture in the context in which they were written. However, we do occasionally refer to isolated verses when they enhance the primary story that’s being explored.

These discussions include a combination of comprehension questions interspersed with critical thinking questions. We sometimes, but not always, provide you with background information or notes regarding a desired point. (Note: We don’t tend to do this when an “answer” to a given question is found in the Scripture being read.) When there is a point to make about a given lesson, raise it only after several participants have already answered your question. If someone is headed toward your point, help them get there on their own with follow-ups like, “Tell me more about that.” When you help teens do this, you enable them to draw their own conclusions, which helps them take ownership of their faith.

Within the Walks through Scripture and Discussion, you’ll see a variety of recurring response options, including:

Listing Activity

As you discuss these questions, simply capture teens’ responses in a written list. Engage quieter people by asking them to be your group’s scribe.

Walk Across the Room

These are questions designed to use physical movement to prompt debate. To lead them, ask all teens to begin on one side of the room. Then read a statement and ask them to silently move to the other side of the room if they agree with that statement. Require everyone to choose a side. Don’t allow any middle ground. (Note: Physical movement is a critical part of these questions as it engages ALL teens by forcing them to participate, even if they choose not to speak during the ensuing discussion.)

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INTRODUCTION

Once people have committed to their side, ask one or more people from each side to explain their position. Encourage vigorous debate. As the issue is debated, allow people to switch sides if their opinion about a topic changes. Ask adult leaders to choose sides in order to help balance the conversation.

Visual Voting

Similar to Walk Across the Room, during Visual Voting, teens move to an area of the room that best represents their viewpoint. (You can either just say which section of the room represents what or post signs that indicate this.) Visual Voting is used when you want to give teens more than two options.

As with Walk Across the Room, require everyone to move to the appropriate part of the room to indicate their vote. (Again, physical movement is a critical part of these questions as it engages ALL teens by forcing them to participate, even if they choose not to speak during the ensuing discussion.)

Once people are where they want to be, ask one or more people from each area to explain their position. Encourage vigorous debate. As the issue is debated, allow people to switch positions if their opinion about a topic changes. Ask adult leaders to choose sides in order to help balance the conversation.

Pair & Share

Pair & Share questions engage more voices in a large group discussion. To facilitate these questions, pair teens up. Ask them to answer a question with their partner. Then, invite a few people to share their responses with the larger group.

Within the large group discussion, you might also find it helpful to…

Establish ground rules for how your teens will interact with one another during each discussion. Reiterate these ground rules every time you meet. Examples of ground rules might include:

● Everyone participates.

● Your voice matters.

● We care about what you think.

● Don’t be afraid of being wrong.

● Don’t be afraid of asking questions.

● It’s okay to disagree with other people, but do so respectfully.

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INTRODUCTION

Going Deeper: Small Group Discussion

In addition to being from different Christian traditions, we also know that those who utilize this curriculum will be from different sized churches. If your group is larger than eight people, we encourage you to utilize small groups for part of your discussion in order to give more people the opportunity to share (and to build community among your teens).

In general, the small group discussions included in One Story tend to be more personal and application-oriented than the Walks through Scripture and Discussions. Intentionally assign people into small groups to avoid giving teens choices that lead to social pressure and exclusion. Do your best to put dissimilar (family, grade, friend groups, gender, ethnicity) people together. Diversity creates good discussions.

If your group is not larger than eight, then just do the small group discussion as a large group conversation.

Within small group discussions, you’ll commonly find questions labeled as Everyone Answers. Everyone Answers questions are designed to get everyone talking. They’re commonly used at the start of small group discussions to set the tone and establish the expectation that everyone’s voice matters. To ask an Everyone Answers questions, assign one person to be the first in the circle to respond. Then pick a direction and ask everyone to answer the same question. Say something like, “This is an Everyone Answers question. We will start with Julie and then go toward Justin until we come all the way around the circle and end with Sam.” Setting up the question in this way gives introverts time to prepare their answer and not be caught off guard by the expectation to share.

Prayer Experience

Each lesson ends with a prayer experience related to the lesson in some way. These experiences are sometimes experiential and often challenge teens to pray aloud in relatively easy, short ways.

A note about timing

We have intentionally not indicated how much time you should spend on each part of the lesson. In our context, these lessons were designed for one packed hour. However, we recognize that your context might be different. What’s more, you are the experts on your teens. Spend your time on the parts that will best engage your particular teens.

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INTRODUCTION

Preparing to lead One Story

Our hope is that in addition to increasing the biblical literacy of your teens, One Story will also challenge you to grow in your faith. To do this, treat your preparation for each lesson as your own Bible study. Work through the lesson in advance. Jot down your answers to these questions so that you have them when you’re leading your teens. Additionally, think through what will and won’t work in your context and adapt accordingly.

Our prayer is that through One Story, you and your teens will encounter Jesus and come to know the story of Scripture. After all, Scripture is the story of God. But it’s also our story. Understanding it not only reveals who God is, but who we are.

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LESSON 1 | CREATION AND THE FALL

Key Scripture Passages

• Genesis 1:27, 31 • Genesis 3:1-5, 16-19, 21-24

Lesson Objectives

As a result of this lesson, teens will understand that

• they are created in God’s image. • as people created in God’s image, they too are created to create. • the world and its people are good by design.• despite people’s sin, God is merciful. • even now, God is working to redeem and restore the world’s brokenness.

Leader’s Notes

In the song “Do Re Mi” in The Sound of Music, Maria—the nun-turned-nanny-turned-wife—sings, “Let’s start at the very beginning, a very good place to start…”

So it is with this curriculum. A yearlong sweep through Scripture must start at the very beginning, with the creation story in Genesis. The problem is, this story has for years been the subject of much debate. Often, the focus of this story becomes whether or not it really happened, whether it’s factually and scientifically correct.

That is NOT our focus here.

Instead, we want to highlight some principles from this story that are foundational, not just for the arc of One Story but for teens to understand who they are—and who God is. That’s why our focus in this lesson is the imago Dei, the idea that we are made in the image of God.

Once we’ve explored how we’re created in God’s image, only then will we turn to the first sin, which sets into motion God’s plan to redeem the world, a plan that unfolds throughout the rest of Scripture.

Supplies

❑ One bag of random art supplies and building materials for each small group for the optional activity

❑ Prayer journal

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LESSON 1 | CREATION AND THE FALL

Optional Activity: Creation Station

Divide teens into small groups of approximately five people each. Ideally, have one adult leader facilitate each small group.

Ask everyone in your small group to introduce themselves by sharing their name and grade and answering this question:

• What’s one thing you’re good at?

Note: This question will make teens uncomfortable. Some teens may not even be able to identify what they’re good at. Help teens do this. There is no shame in acknowledging their gifts.

Then explain: Using these supplies (you’ll have a bag of weird things) as well as what we’ve just learned about one another, as a team, we’re going to work together to create something that represents our group.

Your role in this activity—as is the case throughout this curriculum—is to be a facilitator. Use the “yes, and” approach. When someone suggests an idea, run with it. Then ask, “What else can we add to that?” and do it. Don’t eliminate ideas or spend a lot of time debating an idea. You simply won’t have time for that. Ensure that people are on task. Find ways to involve everyone. As you’re creating, talk about how your creation represents your group. Then select someone (not you!) to share how your group’s creation represents your group with the larger group.

Once groups have finished their creations, invite them to return to the large group. Invite one person from each small group to share their creation. Then process.

• How easy or difficult was it for your group to make its creation? Why? • How accurately do you think your group’s creation reflects the individuals in your

group? • (Pair & Share) In general, do you think you’re creative? Why or why not?

Large Group: Walk through Scripture and Discussion

• Read Genesis 1:27. What’s an image?

◦ It’s like a .jpg file. It’s a reflection of a real thing, but not the thing itself.

• What do you think it means to be created in the image of God?

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LESSON 1 | CREATION AND THE FALL

• (For groups that did the optional activity) Think about the creation your group just made. How, if at all, does your creation reflect the fact that you’re created in God’s image?

◦ God is a creator. If we are created in his image, then it stands to reason that we’re made to make; that each of us is, in some way, designed to create something, like we did here.

• (Walk Across the Room) Silently walk across the room if you think that because God created us in God’s image, all people are creative.

◦ After teens have chosen which side of the room they want to be on and moved

accordingly, invite people from the side with fewer people on it to explain their position first. Then ask people on the other side to do the same. Allow vigorous debate and movement (switching sides) if someone becomes convinced of the other side’s argument.

• If, as image bearers, we are all called to create in some way, then why do you think

some people think they’re not creative?

• What gets in the way of people seeing themselves as creative? Why do you think this is?

• What prevents people from actually creating things? Why?

• In addition to creating humans, God created everything else in the world. Read Genesis 1:31. After God finishes creating everything, what does God say about creation?

• Why do you think God calls God’s creation “good”?

• Does good mean average?

◦ Good is the opposite of evil, not average or bad (as in good, better, best).

• If God’s creation is good, then is each of us good? Why or why not?

• If God’s creation—and therefore, each of us—is good, what do you think God sees when God looks at us?

• Despite the fact that everything about God’s creation is initially good, eventually problems arise. Read Genesis 3:1-3. What tree does God tell Adam and Eve not to eat from? (Hint: Genesis 2:15-17.)

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LESSON 1 | CREATION AND THE FALL

• What does God say will happen to Adam and Eve if they eat from this tree?

◦ They’ll die (Genesis 2:17)

• Read Genesis 3:4-5. According to the serpent, what will happen if Adam and Eve eat from the tree of knowledge?

• Reread Genesis 1:27. Who are Adam and Eve currently like? Why’s this significant?

◦ God. They are made in God’s image. ◦ The temptation here isn’t to become like God; it’s to forget that they are already like

God.

• The temptation is too much for Adam and Eve to resist. So, they disobey God and eat from the tree of knowledge. Read Genesis 3:7. What happens as a result of Adam and Eve’s sin?

◦ Their relationship with each other is disrupted. They become ashamed of who God created them to be.

• Read Genesis 3:16a. What happens as a result of Eve’s sin?

◦ The process of childbearing is disrupted. It becomes painful.

• Read Genesis 3:17-19. What happens as a result of Adam’s sin?

◦ Their food supply is disrupted. Rather than be able to eat anything easily, humans now have to toil in the fields in order to produce food.

• Read Genesis 3:22. What’s the tree of life?

• Read Genesis 3:23-24. What happens as a result of Adam and Eve’s sin?

◦ Their home is disrupted. They’re banned from the Garden of Eden.

• (Listing Activity) Adam and Eve’s sin disrupts childbirth, the food supply, and their homes. How, if at all, do you continue to see brokenness in each of these three areas of life today?

• Despite all the consequences Adam and Eve face as a result of their sin, what doesn’t happen? (Hint: Genesis 2:17.)

◦ They don’t die.

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LESSON 1 | CREATION AND THE FALL

• Initially, God tells Adam and Eve that if they eat from the tree of knowledge, they’ll die. Yet, when they sin, they don’t. Why do you think this is?

◦ God is merciful.

• Read Genesis 3:21. How else does God care for Adam and Eve, even after they sin?

• (Everyone Answers) How does God care for us, even when we sin?

• (Listing Activity. Add a second column to your original list.) From the moment Adam and Eve sin, God begins implementing a plan to redeem them and restore all of creation to the way God intended it to be in the Garden. Look at our list of brokenness in the world. For each item on our list, how, if at all, do you see evidence of God’s redemption and restoration?

• For each item on our list, how can we be part of God’s redemption and restoration?

Prayer Experience

Use your brokenness list as the basis of your group’s prayer. To do this, begin your prayer by saying,

“God, we pray for all the brokenness that surrounds us, including…”

Then ask a teen to read each item on your brokenness list.

Conclude your prayer by asking God to enable you to be part of redeeming all that is broken.