L1-05 PROCLAMATION
INTRODUCTION
How do you make a passage come alive and how to keep kids engaged? A hallmark of Young Life club talks is that they are inductive. This is because we want our target audience of "disinterested kids" to engage in the talk. What does it mean that a talk is “inductive?”
Read a little bit at a time, comment on it, make it come alive. Read a little more, connect the crowd to the characters. Read a little more, lift up Jesus, his character and nature. Let the movement of the talk build with the climax of the episode in the scripture. (Listeners experience the story, see themselves in it, and are cheering for Jesus to come through. They are hoping that Jesus can heal the leper, give sight to the blind, feed the poor, etc. As they learn about who Jesus is and what he has done for others, they then begin to see that Jesus can also come through for them)
Key Thoughts:
- Don't give away the ending until the end.
- Connect the listener to the story
- Make the scene come alive
- Always lift up Jesus as the central figure
- Use questions and invite the listener to think during the talk
We’re going to use this idea to begin preparing a Young Life Club Talk for you to use in your local ministry.
Evidence of staff demonstrating this objective looks like:
- Able to construct a club talk directly from the biblical text.
- Understand the exegetical method of understanding a biblical text.
- Able to create a clear outline for a talk with problem, solution, resolution structure.
- Delivers a club talk with confidence and clarity.
- Pursues and receives feedback from leaders and staff to grow in talk planning and delivery.
CLUB TALK PREPARATION: The problem, the solution, the resolution
Start by choosing a self-contained story from a Gospel appropriate for a club talk and remember that this is a story, a narrative, and that stories have a flow to them. That isn’t to say it didn’t happen as it’s written but it’s constructed as a story. Not everything in the Bible is like that. There’s poetry and prophecy. There’s history and letters like Romans and Philippians and because each is written differently, we interpret them differently. The four Gospels are unique. They were written to tell the story of Jesus and His work to make right what went wrong between God and humanity. So start with a story and remember that it’s always about Jesus. Expect that you will spend a lot of time reading over this passage as you prepare your talk. Before you even begin preparing your talk, study this scripture. Do a Discovery Bible Study on it yourself. What do you notice? Who are the characters in this story? What happened before this moment in the Gospels? What happens after this moment?.
STEP ONE: Summarize the Story by stating the problem/solution/resolution.
The Problem: The stories from which we choose for our talks begin because of something that’s wrong. The, “IS,” is where you will find the problem. It’s a problem because of what “should,” be true but isn’t. Think of the man who’s too short to see Jesus. The woman who is caught in adultery. The blind man who sits by the road and he cries. The pain from the “is,” drawn from the shadow of what “should” be but unfortunately isn’t, creates the problem.
The Solution: Then Jesus enters the situation and intervenes. He provides a solution. Now, this is an important thing to keep in mind. The solution isn’t always what we want. Jesus points to what, “can,” be. He provides change or the direction in which change is possible but sometimes we have to look toward what ultimately, “will,” be. Life will never be complete on this side of heaven.
The Resolution: Finally, something happens after He solves the problem. It is what happens after Jesus makes right that which was wrong. It could be a response from the crowd, the religious leaders, or Jesus’ disciples.
So whatever story you’ve chosen for your talk, find and state by writing out as simply as possible the problem, the solution, and then the resolution.
Let’s walk through it using the story of Bartimaeus from Mark 10 as a example.
Problem: Bartimaeus is blind and cries out for Jesus.
Solution: Jesus heals Bartimaeus and tells him his faith has made him well.
Resolution: Bartimaeus follows Jesus down the road.
Summarize those three statements into a single sentence.
Note that this sentence is in the past tense.
“After Bartimaeus cried out for Jesus when he heard He was walking by (problem), Jesus called him over, asked what he wanted, and healed the man, telling him to go because his faith had made him well (solution), and immediately the man regained his sight and followed him down the road.”
STEP TWO: Apply the method THEN/ALWAYS/NOW.
What was true THEN?
Your past tense summary is the, “then.” It answers the question, “What did the text say then?” What did the author intend to communicate to his original audience? Take into account the culture and context. What did John intend to communicate in the shortest verse in the Bible, John 11:35, “Jesus wept.” Simply put, he meant that Jesus wept. Tears streamed down the face of the Son of God. But we don’t stop there.
What is true ALWAYS?
We next want to answer the question, “What does the text say always?” What’s true about what happened across all time regardless of the audience and where or when they happen to have lived? Yes, Jesus wept but He’s not constantly crying all the time. What we can say is true, however, is that God cares. No matter who you are or when you’ve lived, God cares about His people.
What is true NOW?
Lastly, we need to answer the question, “What does the text say now?” What does God’s word have to say to me and others where we live today in the 21st century? John 11:35 teaches us that God cares about you so go to God.
So whatever story you’ve chosen for your talk, find and state by writing out as simply as possible the problem, the solution, and then the resolution.
Let’s return to Mark 10 and apply step 2 to the story of Bartimaeus.
THEN: What did the text say then? Again, this comes from your work above in the problem/solution/resolution section.
“After Bartimaeus cried out for Jesus when he heard He was walking by (problem), Jesus called him over, asked what he wanted, and healed the man, telling him to go because his faith had made him well (solution), and immediately the man regained his sight and followed him down the road.”
ALWAYS: What’s true about that story across all cultures for all time? There’s a million ways to put that but here’s one,
“When people cry out for God to make them well, God hears, God answers, and lives are changed.” Now, there’s nuance for sure. Diseases aren’t always healed. Circumstances don’t always change but we can say that when we respond to what the Lord has revealed of Himself, He is faithful to intervene. This is what the text says always across all cultures for all time and we deduced that by first deciding what the text said then.
NOW: What does Bartimaeus say to us today? I find it’s best to state this part as an imperative in some way because God has always intended that His word reorient us back towards Him. What’s a reasonable, “to do,” from this story? Again, there’s a million ways to put this but here’s one,
“When you realize you need God, cry out to God and He will hear you and respond.”
CLUB TALK CONSTRUCTION
How do you structure a club talk? Just like a story has a beginning, a middle, and an end, so do our talks. They have an introduction, a story from the Gospels, and an application. The introduction is an illustration preferably from your life. Think of it as your story or a pertinent story that prepares kids to listen. The Gospel passage is the Bible’s story. Finally, the application is how the Bible story applies to our friends.
Your story, the Bible’s story, and how that story applies to the lives of your friends.
How do you integrate your personal study of the text? Your summary statement that answered the question, “What does the text say always,” is the foundation. It’s the controlling thought that weaves through each part of the talk like a thread. Remember the problem/solution/resolution.
Your story: The problem is the place from which you draw your illustration. If the issue is being an outsider in the case of Jesus’ cleansing of the leper, then the illustration should be a story of when you felt this way or some kind of 3rd person example but it is always preferable that it be drawn from your own life. The timeless expression of the problem dealt with in the text is the source of your illustration.
The Gospel story: The middle and largest part of the talk is out of the scripture. This is where the speaker unfolds the biblical narrative helping it to come alive for the audience. The central character is always Jesus and the hope is that kids will also see themselves in the story. The problem, solution, and resolution are all developed keeping in mind the “should, is, can, will” paradigm of the Gospel story. See the two documents at the end of this post for more on the hallmarks of club talks and how to create engaging talks.
Application: The final portion of the talk, is drawn from how Jesus’ solution to the problem at hand applies to their lives taking into account the context of the New Testament meaning that Jesus’ healing of disease, for example, doesn’t automatically mean He will heal disease in the life of a kid or change their circumstances in some fundamental way. The reality may be that Jesus changes the heart of a kid but does not significantly alter their home. Apply Jesus’ solution with a challenge offered that the positive side of the resolution can be true for your friends. Again, this is what “can be” now in a relationship with Christ and, “will be” when we go home to be with the Lord. For example, Jesus calmed the storm at the end of Mark 4. At the end the disciples were afraid and asked “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!” It is the central question in all of life that needs to be answered by each individual. An appropriate question to ask at the end of a talk on this text would be, “Based on what you’ve heard that Jesus can do, do you want to know more? Could knowing him change your life like it did for the disciples?”
Now that you have done the heavy lifting, it is time to put your work into a brief and concise outline. Use the outline below for the next two exercises. Examples can be seen at the end of this post in the answer key link.
CLUB TALK OUTLINE
Scripture reference:
Opening illustration:
Body:
- The Problem: (one sentence)
- The Solution: (one sentence)
- The Resolution: (one sentence)
Application:
EXAMPLE OF A BRIEF OUTLINE OF MARK 4 THE CALMING OF THE STORM:
Scripture Reference: Mark 4: 35-41
Opening Illustration: Canoeing in Florida in a storm
Body
- The Problem: The disciples are on a boat in a terrible storm and are afraid of drowning.
- The Solution: The Disciples wake Jesus and he displays His power over nature by calming the storm with his words.
- The Resolution: The disciples were terrified that there was more to Jesus than they first thought and they were intensely curious to know more.
Application: Based on what you’ve heard that Jesus can do, do you want to know more? Could knowing him change your life like it did for the disciples”
PAUSE AND COMPLETE THE FOLLOWING:
- Construct a brief talk outline based on your summary statement of Mark 2:1-12. Please describe your illustration based on the problem you derived from the text and your application based on Jesus’ solution leading to the hoped-for resolution that the characters in the story experienced.
- Construct a talk outline based on your summary statement of John 8:1-11. Please describe your illustration based on the problem you derived from the text and your application based on Jesus’ solution leading to the hoped-for resolution that the characters in the story experienced.
When you are done, you can look at the answer key at the end of this post with an example for each of these passages. This process will get you started on all of your club talks.
ACTION STEPS:
- Bring your outlines of the Mark and John passages to your training meeting to review with your trainer.
- Work with your supervisor/trainer to select a story from one of the Gospels that you will use to prepare a club talk for an upcoming club.
- Come prepared to your training meeting with your outline prepared for your club talk including the problem, solution, resolution and application.
- Come prepared to your meeting to share how you will share the scripture passage in an inductive manner – be prepared to share this as you would in your club talk.
- Set a date with your trainer for when you will give your club talk to your trainer/training group and get feedback. This should be at least a week before you give the talk at club. Trainers should use the Club Talk Evaluation sheet to give feedback.
