I-DENTITY: DISCOVERING WHO GOD CREATED ME TO BE
Week 1: Who I Am
This includes:
1. Leader Preparation
2. Lesson Guide
1. LEADER PREPARATION
LESSON OVERVIEW
It’s tough to be in junior high. For perhaps the first time in life, students face multiple
choices about which teams to play for, which clubs to join, which activities to do—and then
there’s the whole area of friendships! Who should I hang out with? What kind of person are
others expecting me to be? In the midst of so many life transitions, some teenagers lose
sight of their identity—they get confused over which “hat” they should wear. This week’s
lesson will focus your students’ attention on understanding who they are in Christ.
LESSON OBJECTIVES
1. WHAT: The world pressures us to wear different “hats” to define ourselves, which
can get really stressful. God says we ought to only wear one: a follower of Jesus.
2. WHY: When the only “hat” we wear is being a follower of Jesus, we are freed from
other people’s expectations, and we can discover who God created us to be.
3. HOW: Students will discuss what it’s like to feel pressure to conform to unhealthy or
unrealistic expectations, and they’ll examine how God calls us to find our identity
through Jesus Christ.
PRIMARY SCRIPTURE
Colossians 3:17
SECONDARY SCRIPTURES
Romans 12:1-2; Ephesians 5:1-2; and Philippians 3:5-8
TEACHING PREP
The short overview below is designed to help you prepare for your lesson. While you may
not want to convey this information word-for-word with your teenagers, you’ll definitely
want to refer to it as you lead your lesson.
Read Colossians 3:17.
Paul is writing to a group of people who were trying to blend Christian beliefs with the
pagan religion around them. This religion taught that there were hundreds of lesser gods
who were appeased through various religious duties. Paul communicated in his letter—and
this verse specifically—that Christ-followers are completely and totally freed from having to
perform for any other person, any other god, or any other belief system. Everywhere we go
and in everything we do, we are defined in just one way: as a follower of Jesus.
Our culture has trained us to believe that our value is found in what “hat” we wear. So we
gain value from how good an athlete we are, how many friends we have, what kind of
clothes we wear, how good our grades are. In many ways, we’re not so different from the
Colossians—we scramble to please a hundred different “gods” that we think define who we
are.
Our other passages this week emphasize the importance of imitating God, discovering the
value of knowing Christ, and avoiding conformity with the culture around us. Encourage
your students to discover that when we live like this, we experience incredible freedom from
other people’s unhealthy or unrealistic expectations—and we discover the power to reveal
Jesus in every moment of our lives.
THE BEFORE & AFTER [optional]
Text Message Questions
We’ve provided a couple of different text message questions to send out to your students
prior to your meeting. Feel free to use one or both of the questions below. As with the rest
of the curriculum, edit these questions to fit the needs of your ministry.
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What is your FAVORITE hat? Bring it to small group tonight so we can see it.
Seriously! Can’t wait to see you there.
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Tonight at small group we talk about hats. And Jesus. Wondering how it will all tie
together? Guess I’ll see you there!
Parent Email
We’ve provided you with an email below that you can send to your parents following the
lesson. Our hope is to encourage parents to continue the conversation at home. Feel free to
edit and customize the email to fit your ministry needs.
Dear parents,
We’ve started an exciting new small group series called “I-dentity.” This series will help
students realize what it means to be a follower of Christ, and how the rest of the world tries
to get in the way of that.
This week we talked about the different roles the world asks us to play. For the average
junior higher, this can include student, sibling, friend, boyfriend/girlfriend, child, athlete, the
smart one, the funny one, the musical one, the one in ballet, cheerleading, and so on.
We focused on how the Bible talks about the importance of imitating God, discovering the
value of knowing Christ, and avoiding conformity with the culture around us. Our most
important identity in life is being a child of God and a follower of Jesus.
As you talk with your teenager about this week’s lesson, here are a couple of directions you
might want to steer your conversation:
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We talked about the different “hats” we wear in life. Ask them what some of the
hats they see themselves as wearing. Talk about some of the hats YOU wear.
We encourage the teenagers to see that God wants us to wear one hat
everywhere we go—a follower of Jesus. Ask your child what it might mean to
wear that “hat” every day. How would life look different?
Thanks for your prayers and support for our ministry! Have a great week!
I-DENTITY
Week 1: Who I Am
2. LESSON GUIDE
GETTING THINGS STARTED
Before your meeting, send a text message or email to your students asking them to bring
their favorite hat. As the group leader, bring a hat from your life that defines a specific role
you have played—for instance, a hat from a softball league, or a hat that’s part of your work
uniform. If you don’t have a role-related hat, just grab your favorite hat. Consider
permitting your students to wear their hats for this lesson—even if you’re allowing a onetime exception to a “no hats” rule your group might have in place.
Welcome your students and invite them into your meeting area. Open in prayer, and then
ASK:
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Tell us about the hat you brought today. Why did you choose it? What does it remind
you of, or what does it represent?
What does the hat say about you when you wear it?
What are some jobs that are easy to identify because of the hats those workers
wear?
SAY SOMETHING LIKE: When you see someone wearing an easily recognizable hat, you
instantly know something about that person. It defines how that person makes a living—
whether it’s as a firefighter or a fast food employee or a nurse or an astronaut. The hat
reveals that person’s role—and to a degree, it tells us something about that person’s
identity. Imagine what it would be like if YOU wore different hats that described the
different roles you play each day.
ASK:
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What are some of the different “hats” you wear each day—in other words, what are
some of the different roles you play? [If necessary, offer a couple prompts like
“student” or “athlete” or “sister.”]
Think about one specific role you play. When you’re in that role, who are you
thinking about the most? When you’re making a decision, who do you think about
impressing—or not disappointing?
SAY SOMETHING LIKE: One of the most important tasks in life is understanding who we
truly are. Our culture has trained us to believe that our value is found in what “hat” we
wear. So we gain value from how good an athlete we are, how many friends we have, what
kind of clothes we wear, how good our grades are. These are important things, but Jesus
wants us to find our identity in him—your friendship with Jesus is the most significant
decision you make in life, and it’s a “hat” that ought to affect all areas of your life.
If you came up with an opening activity, movie clip, or game that worked well with your
group, and you’d like to share it with other youth workers, please email us at
ideas@simplyyouthministry.com.
TEACHING POINTS
The goal of the Teaching Points is to help students capture the essence of each lesson with
more discussion and less lecture-style teaching. The main points we have chosen here are
(1) Our culture says to change hats frequently, and (2) God says to wear just one hat.
Remember: All throughout these lessons, it’s up to you to choose (1) how many questions
you use, and (2) the wording of the main points—keep ours, or change the wording to make
it clearer for your audience.
Read Colossians 3:17 and Romans 12:1-2 together as a group. Consider allowing one or
more of the teenagers to read the text.
SAY SOMETHING LIKE: Let’s spend a few minutes talking about the “hats” our culture wants
us to wear and what God says on this topic.
1. Our culture says to change hats frequently
ASK:
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What are some of the different peer groups you interact with each day—groups like
artists, athletes, musicians, class clowns, bookworms, and so on?
How often do you feel pressure to act or talk differently, depending on which peer
group you’re around? How does this pressure make you feel, and how do you
respond to it?
What are some of the “hats” you are trying to wear that feel impossible or are
stressing you out?
What are some of the BAD “hats” people want you to wear? You don’t have to give
names—just tell us about the stuff you’ve felt pressured to say or do.
Romans 12:2 says followers of Jesus shouldn’t “copy the behavior and customs of
this world.” How easy or difficult is it to obey this instruction?
If you feel comfortable, share an appropriate story about a time when you felt like you were
wearing too many “hats” or a bad “hat.” Talk about how you managed to resist the
pressure—or the consequences you faced by giving in to the pressure.
SAY SOMETHING LIKE: At some point in time, we all feel pressured to act or talk a certain
way to fit in with a specific group of people. Even adults feel this pressure! That’s why it’s so
important to really think about those words from Romans 12:2. “Don’t copy the behavior
and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the
way you think.” God wants to change our thinking on this—and that leads us to our next
teaching point.
2. God says to wear just one hat
ASK:
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Let’s read that verse in Colossians again. What do you think it means to be “a
representative of the Lord Jesus”?
Based on this verse, what do you think Jesus would say about changing hats
frequently? How might it affect your ability to be Jesus’ representative in everything
you do and everything you say?
Think through your areas of commitment or responsibility or your roles in life. How
might these areas of life look different if you saw yourself first and foremost as being
a follower of Jesus?
Why do you think God might want us to be defined by just one hat in life?
SAY SOMETHING LIKE: Wearing just one “hat” doesn’t mean we ignore our responsibilities
in life. It simply means that we find our identity in Jesus—we are loved, we are valued, we
have a purpose in life, we have something to contribute, and we are made in God’s image.
We have the opportunity to be God’s representative in a world that is broken and needs to
be fixed through the love and forgiveness of Jesus Christ. When we choose to wear just one
“hat” and find our identity in Jesus, we’re able to fulfill our role as Jesus’ representative.
ADDITIONAL DISCUSSION [optional]
ASK:
 Read Ephesians 5:1-2. What do you think it means to “imitate God in everything you
do”?
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What might be the consequences if you only imitate God in SOME things you do?
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What is one way you can follow “the example of Christ” this next week?
Read or have a student read Philippians 3:5-8.
SAY SOMETHING LIKE: In the first two verses, the Apostle Paul talks about all the things he
did to prove that he loved God—these were the “hats” he wore. Then he discovered what
mattered most in life—he learned what it was like to wear just one “hat.”
ASK:
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Paul used the phrase “infinite value” to describe how much Jesus meant to him.
What are some phrases you might use to describe how much Jesus matters to you?
APPLICATION
ASK:
 Think of that one bad “hat” you find yourself wearing most frequently. How this week
can you change from wearing that “hat” to seeing yourself as a follower of Jesus?
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Paul says that learning to know Jesus changed his life. On a scale of 1-10, how well
would you say that you KNOW Jesus? What is one step you could take this week to
know Jesus more?
SAY SOMETHING LIKE: Pair up with another person in the group and pray for the one area
of your life where you want to be see yourself as just wearing one hat: being a follower of
Jesus. Pray for each other to have the courage to do that. Ask Jesus to help you know him
more in your life.
SUMMARY
End your small group lesson here. Provide your teenagers with a quick summary or takehome challenge based on (1) the content of this lesson, (2) the dialogue that took place
during the lesson, (3) your understanding of the issues and struggles your teenagers are
facing, and (4) the big picture of your youth ministry and what your leadership team wants
accomplished with the teaching and discussion time.
FOR KEEPS [MEMORY VERSE]
Encourage and/or challenge your teenagers to memorize the verse below.
And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks
through him to God the Father (Colossians 3:17).