The following activity(1) involves you in the process of writing a gospel (good news) for the people you teach – children, adolescents, adults, or families. You don’t need to be a Bible expert. You will be provided with the materials you need to do this activity. Write your responses for each step in your journal.
The process moves through three steps, which can be found on pages 3 and 4 of your guide, or by opening the tabs below:
Describe Your Audience and the Questions They Are Asking
Describe What You Remember and Believe about Jesus
Think about what you know about the life and teachings of Jesus from the four Gospels that are particularly meaningful to you. These can be things Jesus did, things he taught, stories he told, and/or significant events in his life. Try to identify ten things you remember and believe about Jesus that are important to you. Now review your list and circle the items that you think would be important to teach or share with your audience.
Review What We Have Received from Others about Jesus
Review each of the following Gospel passages below (this list can also be found on page 4 in your Downloadable Guide). Read the ones that you are not familiar with. You can use your Bible to read the passages or click the link to use Bible Gateway (on-line). You can do that by numbering each passage from 1 to 20. Now review the twenty passages below and circle ten that you think are most important and would address the questions and needs of your audience.
- Mark 4:35-41 – Jesus calms a storm at sea
- Mark 15:22-41 – Jesus is crucified
- Mark 10:46-52 – Jesus heals blind Bartimaeus
- Matthew 4:1-17 – Jesus is tempted in the desert
- Matthew 5:13-16 – Light for the world, salt of the earth
- Matthew 5:1-12 – The Beatitudes
- Matthew 25:31-46 – Parable of the final judgment (goats and sheep)
- Matthew 16:13-20 – Peter’s declaration about Jesus
- Luke 9:1-6 – Jesus sends out the disciples
- Luke 10:25-37 – Parable of the Good Samaritan
- Luke 5:1-11 – Call of the first disciples
- Luke 11:1-13 – Jesus’ teachings on prayer
- Luke 6:27-36 – Love of enemies
- Luke 22:14-20 – The Last Supper
- Luke 7:18-23 – Jesus’ ministry
- John 6:1-14 – Feeding the 5000
- John 20:1-18 – Mary at the tomb
- John 4:4-42 – Jesus and the Samaritan woman
- John 8:2-10 – The woman caught in adultery
- John 15:12-17 – Love one another as I love you
Write Your Gospel for Your Audience
Now it’s time to create your own mini-gospel. Use the items that you circled from the list of what you remember and believe about Jesus, and the ten most important Gospel passages to construct a gospel for your audience. This will only be an outline of your gospel. Write your gospel outline in short sentences.
As you develop your outline keep in mind the following:
- What are the needs or hungers of your audience?
- What are the key things you want them to know and believe about Jesus?
- How can your gospel move people to faith in Jesus?
Save your gospel until Part Three: Practice when we will reflect on what you did using the knowledge of how the four Gospels were developed.