Being a good friend is easy! As long as you make time to hang out, remember their birthday, and answer their texts, you’re eligible for the Great Friend Award... right? Friendship might feel easy when life is easy, but it gets more complicated when your friends are hurting or struggling. What should you do? What should you say? What should you not say? When our friends need help, there are no easy answers, but in this 4-week series, we’ll follow the lead of a few people who’ve been there. Through the stories of Job, Ruth, Naomi, Elijah, and Eli, we’ll see how God invites us to “be with” people when they’re grieving, lonely, in need, or feeling hopeless, and how God is already with them.
Click on the weekly topics below for the big ideas, Scripture, and questions. And be sure to click the button for the student devotionals.
Week 1
Big Idea: Be with people when they're grieving.
Scripture: Job 2:11-13, 16:2; Psalm 34:18; Romans 8:28
Follow-up Questions:
- When you or someone you know has been grieving, what are some helpful things that people have said/done? What are some hurtful things that have been said/done?
- When someone is grieving, what does God do? What does God invite us to do?
- Who do you know who is grieving right now? What’s one thing you can do to be “with” them?
Week 2
Big Idea: Be with people when they're lonely.
Scripture: Ruth 1:1-18; I John 4:11-13; John 14:16
Follow-up Questions:
- Do you find it difficult to reach out to someone who is lonely? Why or why not?
- What are some ways we could make people feel less alone here at church?
- Who’s someone who seems lonely right now? What’s one thing you can do to be “with” them?
Week 3
Big Idea: Be with people when they're in need.
Scripture: I Kings 17:8-16; Matthew 25:40; Luke 12:32-34
Follow-up Questions:
- What are some of the needs that exist in the world? In our country? In your community or school? In our church?
- What are some of the barriers that keep you from helping meet the needs of others?
- Who is someone with a need you can help meet? What’s one way you’re going to be “with” them?
Week 4
Big Idea: Be with people when they need hope.
Scripture: I Samuel 1:1-20; Romans 15:13; John 8:12
Follow-up Questions:
- What does “hope” mean to you?
- How can Jesus-followers be a light for people who are feeling hopeless?
- Who do you know who might need some hope right now? What’s one thing you can do to be “with” them?