BE A LEADER Week 1: Inner Qualities of Leaders 1. LEADER PREPARATION

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1 BE A LEADER Week 1: Inner Qualities of Leaders This includes: 1. Leader Preparation 2. Lesson Guide 1. LEADER PREPARATION LESSON OVERVIEW One of the greatest leaders in Scripture is Moses. God selected Moses to lead the Israelites out of slavery and into the Promised Land. One of Moses responsibilities was to appoint other leaders. What kind of leaders did he choose? In this lesson we will see how Moses valued people who were wise, understanding, and respected. God is looking to build these leadership traits, which run contrary to the world s view of leadership. Typically, these qualities aren t seen or sought after. God s kind of leader is focused on helping others; wisdom, understanding, and respect achieve this better than fame, charisma, or drama. LESSON OBJECTIVES 1. WHAT: God wants leaders to be wise, understanding, and respected. 2. WHY: Everyone is a leader in some way. As believers, we must resist the trap to focus on external qualities and we must choose to develop from the inside out. 3. HOW: Students will be encouraged to identify steps they can take to develop wisdom, understanding, and respect. PRIMARY SCRIPTURE Deuteronomy 1:9-18 SECONDARY SCRIPTURES Exodus 18:17-23; 1 Samuel 16:7; Proverbs 8:33-36; and Proverbs 29:20 TEACHING PREP The short overview below is designed to help you prepare for your lesson. While you may not want to convey this information word-for-word with your teenagers, you ll definitely want to refer to it as you lead your small group lesson. Read Deuteronomy 1:9-18. After being set free from slavery in Egypt and living in the wilderness for nearly 40 years, the Israelites were ready to resume their journey from Moab toward the Jordan River and into the Promised Land. It was an exciting time in history. Moses uses the opportunity to give several speeches to prepare God s people for the adventure ahead. In this particular passage, Moses reminds the nation of Israel about the leadership plan put into place back in Exodus 18: These words provide insight on the kinds of leaders God seeks. Our key verse for this lesson is Deuteronomy 1:13, which says God desires leaders known for their wisdom, understanding, and respect. This lesson uses the terms wisdom and understanding, which are similar yet distinct. We talk about wisdom as the ability to put your skills and past experiences to work in the present, while understanding is the ability to observe, listen, and learn. Some Bible translations use the word discerning in place of understanding in Deuteronomy 1:13. An

2 understanding leader is someone who demonstrates the ability to consider and become informed; the word used in Hebrew literally means to separate mentally. THE BEFORE & AFTER [optional] Text Message Questions We ve provided a couple of different text message questions to send out to your students prior to your meeting. Feel free to use one or both of the questions below. As with the rest of the curriculum, edit these questions to fit the needs of your ministry. Text me back two qualities of a leader. You ready to talk about them at small group tonight? What leaders do you admire? Let s talk about it at small group tonight. Parent We ve provided you with an below that you can send to your parents following the lesson. Our hope is to encourage parents to continue the conversation at home. Feel free to edit and customize the to fit your ministry needs. Dear parents, This week we started a new small group series on leadership. We looked at the inner qualities of leaders, using Deuteronomy 1:9-18 as the foundation for our conversation. In this passage, Moses explains that godly leaders are called to be wise, understanding, and respected. Typically, these qualities aren t seen or sought after. God s kind of leader is focused on helping others; wisdom, understanding, and respect achieve this better than fame, charisma, or drama. Here are some questions you could ask your teenager about this week s lesson to get the conversation flowing: How can teenagers become wise? Or can a person only achieve wisdom later in life? Explain. When have you made a decision as a leader that backfired because you didn t know or understand all the facts? How are popularity and leadership related? Describe how a person can be a leader, but not necessarily popular. Describe how a person can be popular, but not necessarily a leader. Have a great week!

3 BE A LEADER Week 1: Inner Qualities of Leaders 2. LESSON GUIDE GETTING THINGS STARTED [optional] You ll need two apples for this opening illustration. Before your small group meets, take one apple and roll it around on a hard surface. Do your best to make it bruise without breaking the skin! Leave the other apple intact. (You probably want to try this a few times at home with some test apples so you are skilled at bruising the fruit without making the bruises noticeable.) As you begin your small group, welcome your students and invite them into your meeting area. Open in prayer. Then put your two apples out on the table. Present both, but don t allow any of your students to touch them. In what ways are these apples similar? In what ways are they different? Explain. After your teenagers have discussed these questions, cut both apples into slices and give half of your kids slices from the bad apple and half slices from the good apple. Ask them to study the insides. One set of slices should be a light, healthy color, while slices from the one you manipulated should be brown and bruised. Now that you can see inside them, what made it hard to tell these apples apart? How are those difficulties similar to the difficulties we have in choosing leaders? How can you be sure the leaders you choose will lead well? SAY SOMETHING LIKE: We re going to spend the next three weeks talking about the character traits of leaders. We ll focus on three people from the Bible whose lives will help us get a better understanding of what it means to be a godly leader. Activity [optional] Make photocopies of Deuteronomy 1:9-18 or print off copies from a Bible website (such as biblegateway.com). Distribute copies and pens or pencils to all of your students, and ask them to underline or circle anything that describes a qualification for leadership. The words or phrases they circle could include well-respected, wisdom, understanding, appointed, responsible, hear, perfectly fair, impartial, don t be afraid, and God s decision. Choose one word you circled or underlined why might God consider it to be an important trait for a leader? Affirm everyone who volunteered words or phrases, acknowledging that they are all important qualities, and explain that you are going to look more specifically at what it means to be wise, understanding, and respectable. If you came up with an opening activity, movie clip, or game that worked well with your group, and you d like to share it with other youth workers, please us at ideas@simplyyouthministry.com.

4 TEACHING POINTS The goal of the Teaching Points is to help students capture the essence of each lesson with more discussion and less lecture-style teaching. The main points we have chosen here are (1) Seek wisdom, (2) Be understanding, and (3) Be respectable. Remember: All throughout these lessons, it s up to you to choose (1) how many questions you use, and (2) the wording of the main points keep ours, or change the wording to make it clearer for your audience. Read Deuteronomy 1:9-18 together as a group. Consider allowing one or more of the teenagers to read the text. SAY SOMETHING LIKE: Let s take a few minutes and look at a few inner qualities of leaders. 1. Seek wisdom SAY SOMETHING LIKE: Wisdom is the ability to put your skills and past experiences to work in the present. People who are wise are competent and able to get the job done successfully. Identify one wise person you know. Why did you choose that person? What do wise leaders do when they don t know the answer, and why? Is wisdom only possible for people who ve lived a long life? Why or why not? Do you have to be old to be wise? Why or why not? How does a person gain wisdom? What s an example of an unwise decision a leader has made that has had significant consequences? Explain. SAY SOMETHING LIKE: Leaders need to be wise, because leadership is about helping others. God wants leaders who are skilled and capable to help others with the loads they are carrying and the problems they need to overcome. 2. Be understanding [NOTE: Go back to the Teaching Prep section if you d like a brief explanation of the difference between wisdom and understanding.] SAY SOMETHING LIKE: Understanding is the ability to listen and learn. No one is wise in every area, so a leader must be understanding in order to lead well. When have you made a decision as a leader that backfired because you didn t know or understand all the facts? Identify someone you know who is understanding. Why would you use that word to describe this person? Moses talked about making fair and impartial decisions. What role does understanding play in helping leaders do this well? SAY SOMETHING LIKE: Leaders listen. Moses instructed leaders to exercise understanding and to remove their own opinion and bias from the decision-making process. Leaders don t always make the easy or quick decision; they might take time and effort to thoroughly

5 understand situations. It s not always easy, and sometimes it means making a decision that even the leader didn t expect to make and being humble enough to admit that. 3. Be respectable Why do we often see popular people as natural leaders? What s the difference between popularity and respect? Who are some people who are popular? Who are some people who are respected? Is popularity always bad? Sometimes bad? Never bad? Is it possible to want respect too much? Explain why you feel the way you do. What happens to a person who wants to be respected too much? How are popularity and leadership related? Describe how a person can be a leader, but not necessarily popular. Describe how a person can be popular, but not necessarily a leader. What s most important for a leader: wisdom, understanding, or respect? Explain why you feel the way you do. What happens when one or more of the three qualities (wisdom, understanding, respect) is MISSING? What happens when one is OVER emphasized? SAY SOMETHING LIKE: Being popular doesn t always mean being a leader. Moses tells the Israelites that leaders must be respected, but he also says they can t be afraid of making people angry. Sometimes the leaders in your life make decisions that are frustrating, even if it s the good and right decision. ADDITIONAL DISCUSSION [optional] Read Proverbs 8: How does wisdom result in life and favor from God? Read Proverbs 29:20. What does this verse tell you about taking time to understand a situation before speaking or acting? Why is it often hard to refrain from speaking or acting before we fully understand a situation? Read 1 Samuel 16:7. In this verse, God tells Samuel that people judge by outward appearance. Why are we so prone to judging people this way, even today? In what ways does God judge us differently from this standard? Why is God more concerned with your inner character than your outward appearance? APPLICATION Who are some good, effective leaders in your life? Why are they such good, effective leaders? Don t answer right away; think about this for a moment. In what ways have you been a leader in your life? Is this natural for you, or do you typically shy away from leadership roles?

6 If you re already serving as a leader on a sports team, a band, a volunteer club, our youth ministry, or some other group, what are some of your responsibilities as a leader? How is this experience helping you grow spiritually? How can people who aren t currently serving as leaders benefit from the inner traits we ve discussed today? Pair up with another person in the group. SAY SOMETHING LIKE: Our passage from Deuteronomy 1:13-18 featured several inner traits God wants to see in leaders. Talk with your partner about some of your strengths and abilities. You can talk positively about these things without it being a pride issue. Discuss ways you can become a stronger leader or begin leading. Affirm each other and share anything you see in your partner s life that God could use in a leadership role. Take time to pray for the students in your group. Pray specifically that God would protect your teenagers from temptations and sins that would affect their lives. Pray that God would build them up as leaders in their schools, teams, churches, clubs, and families. SUMMARY End your small group lesson here. Provide your teenagers with a quick summary or takehome challenge based on (1) the content of this lesson, (2) the dialogue that took place during the lesson, (3) your understanding of the issues and struggles your teenagers are facing, and (4) the big picture of your youth ministry and what your leadership team wants accomplished with the teaching and discussion time. FOR KEEPS [MEMORY VERSE] Encourage and/or challenge your teenagers to memorize the verse below. But the Lord said to Samuel, Don t judge by his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart (1 Samuel 16:7).