1. Introduction: 10 minutes
When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
Leader tip: Use the time to get people to engage with one another, let them respond to each other – open up the discussion.
Leader note: After everyone has had a chance to answer, ask, “Why did you want to be that?”
What is a job supposed to give you?
Commentary: Listen to their answers, it may reveal what they either get from their current career, or what is lacking. You will look at that in the last question. You may hear things such as: fulfillment, money, provision, identity, fame, a place to be great, a place to express yourself, a place to use your talents and ideas.
2. Observation: 15 minutes
Read Genesis 1:26, 2:4-17. What do you learn about work?
Leader tip: Let your group put things in their own words – not just recite the verse.
Commentary: some of the answers you should get are –
- It is a gift from God
- Gives provision
- We are to tend/take care of God’s creation – what he gave us
- It is a commandment
- He modeled it – Created, gardener, got his hands dirty when he created people – man created from dust (the rest of creation was formed from nothing, but man and womam were hand-crafted)
- Work is good – created before the fall
- Honorable, God created work along with everything else – it is from God
- God gives us resources to do our work (he provided water for the garden)
3. Understanding: 20 minutes
How is your job like gardening?
IMPORTANT Leader tip: Use this time to affirm one another – Have your group affirm each other using this question. For instance, if you have a teacher in your group, you can say something like, “I think your job is like a gardener in that you plan what you are going to plant in each of your students, you work daily to care for what you have planted, nourishing it with knowledge and attention, you help weed out wrong information and prune back behaviors that get in the way of growing, you provide the sunshine in lives by shedding light on new topics,
Every job has the philosophies of gardening attached to it. Be creative, have fun but be honest so that the affirmation achieves its desired results.
Leader note: If you are in a couple’s group it may be nice to have the spouses affirm each others.
What jobs don’t fit into God’s plan for work?
Leader note: It is important for us to realize that not all ways people make their living are within God’s plan, for instance, prostitution or any job that exploits humans. Neither is a bank robber or thief. Think of others.
What can work do? What can’t it do?
Leader tip: Draw two columns on a piece of paper and at the top of one columns write “Work Can”, and on the top of the other one write, “Work Can’t”
Commentary:
Some of those things work can do are –
- provide some fulfillment, sense of accomplishment
- Make you feel valuable, worthy
- provide community, friendships, can love people
- make a difference
Some things work can’t do –
- Be in place of God, can’t be what we worship
- Can’t provide significance
- Can’t completely fulfill your life
- Can’t be a perfect place/we are broken
Leader note: Some people think that going into church work or full-time ministry will offer more fulfillment in work, you may want to ask your group the question, “How is full-time work different than full-time ministry or church work?” Only ask this question if you have time to allow plenty of time for the application question, (don’t ask this in its place).
4. Application: 20 minutes
How does this change the way you will work? The way you treat those who work with you or for you?
Leader note: Recognizing that your work is good and a gift from God can change how you approach it each week. Knowing that God created work will help you understand that your job is no more or less important than any other, which will help with dealing with people differently. Think about those in the service industry too. Acknowledge their worth, their value, their significance. Consider the stay-at-home moms.
Important note: We want to be sensitive to those who are out of work and not by choice. Have them consider their job search – how it is like gardening, how it is what God has given them at this time – maybe it will make them look differently at this period in their life.
Pray: After this study it is appropriate to thank God for all of the new learnings you have about your work, thank Him for the gift of a job, thank Him for modeling work and for the provision of work. If you realized you need to change the way you think about your coworkers or those who work for you, pray for the opportunity to affirm someone at work this week. Pray that you will be mindful of those in the service industry and others who you may have in the past treated as “less than”. If you have anyone in your group who is unemployed, lay hands on them and pray for the gift of a job, and for encouragement to come this week.
5. Live it out:
Think of the people who work with or for you. Who can you affirm them personally or professionally? How can you affirm people in their work as you go about your daily activities?