Youth Workin' It

Consultancy and Resources for Youth Workers and Organizations Worldwide

Restoration And Forgiveness – Youth Work Session Plan Idea

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Restoration And Forgiveness Youth Work Session Plan Idea
Image courtesy of butupa, Flickr

In the past, we’ve provided youth work session plan ideas to help young people understand their anger and manage their aggression. One idea was to use the vicious circle as a method for exploring the cycle that anger can lead to.

Unforgiveness and vengeance, which can accompany anger, are two other choices that can be cyclical. They can eat away at someone and cause a chain reaction of events that lead to more heart ache and pain. When covering anger, it’s therefore a good opportunity to talk about hatred, bitterness, vengeance and unforgiveness, as these can be root causes of ongoing angry feelings and aggressive behavior.

Take some time to show this clip from the film The Interpreter. It didn’t come out yesterday, so there’s a good chance your youth won’t have seen it. After you watch the clip, take some time to answer the questions below in small groups. This activity can be stand alone, as part of a wider session about anger or aggression or can be a great introduction to a longer talk or sermon on the subject.

 

Discussion Questions:

  1. What does forgiveness mean to you?
  2. Is it important? Why or why not?
  3. What do you think about the method described in the clip for finding freedom from anger or hatred?
  4. Do you think it works as a principle for society? Should those that do wrong go unpunished? What ideas/solutions can you think of?
  5. Is there anyone you need to forgive? Do you want to forgive them and restore that relationship? Why or why not?
  6. What do you think of the quote below, in light of our discussion and the video clip? What does it mean? Do you think it’s true? Why or why not?

“To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.” – Lewis B. Smedes

If you’ve found this idea helpful, you might also like our other youth work session plan ideas.

Question: How would you use this session plan idea with your youth? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

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