These Are Our Bodies

Talking Faith & Sexuality at Church & Home - Middle School Leader Guide

• Easily accessible, theologically progressive, mainline Christian Education resource on human sexuality • Comprehensive guide for an adult to implement and lead the human sexuality These Are Our Bodies program with Middle School age participants • Middle School module component for the These Are Our Bodies program These Are Our Bodies is a comprehensive faith and sexuality program that can be used in a array of settings and is adaptable to a meet the needs of a variety of groups. Based on the universal needs of young people and their parents, it honors and lifts up parents as the primary sexuality educators to their children by involving parents as an integral part of the experience. For the Middle School module, there is a parent-only session and a parent and middle-schooler session to empower parents and children to have meaningful conversations around sexuality and faith. This Leader Guide contains 10 sessions that are developmentally appropriate, creatively interactive, and faith-based. They place human sexuality in the context of faith. Direct and indirect teaching around concepts such as God's creation, scripture, and sexuality as gift from God are intertwined throughout the sessions. Conversations and teaching around the stewardship of gifts, responsible behavior, and God's grace and love are found throughout the sessions. Facilitators and Small-Group Leaders will find detailed planning information as well as the background and useful information to employ the program in your church or community. Comprised of two sections, The Introduction introduces the curriculum, describes parts of each lesson, focuses on recruitment and training of Small-Group Leaders, and provides information for Facilitators and Small-Group Leaders to implement the program. The second section has the plans for each of the 10 sessions in the program. There are options outlined for using this in a 10-week program, weekend retreat, or youth group setting. SESSION 1: You are GOD'S CREATION (Genesis 1:1–31; Galatians 5:22–23) SESSION 2: You are COMPLEX (Psalm 139: 13–14) SESSION 3: You are ACCEPTED (Genesis 1:27) SESSION 4: You are RELATIONAL (Part 1) (John 15:13; 1 Corinthians 13:4–7; 1 Samuel 18:1–5; 20:1–42) SESSION 5: You are RELATIONAL (Part 2) (Ruth 1:8–17) SESSION 6: You are RESPONSIBLE (Ephesians 4:1–3) SESSION 7: You are KNOWLEDGEABLE (Proverbs 2:10–11) SESSION 8: You are CONNECTED (1 Kings 19:11–12) SESSION 9: You are EMPOWERED (Philippians 2:2–5) SESSION 10: You are THOUGHTFUL (Romans 12:2) Each of the 10 sessions has five parts that work together to create a hands-on interactive approach to learning: GATHER, GAME, GRAPPLE, GUIDE, and GO. The parts offer creative and playful activities to engage the material and participants in ways that provide intentional group formation, time to wrestle with new material, words of blessing and affirmation, and time to move from the sessions back into the world. The Facilitator leads each session with the help of Small-Group Leaders who facilitate the games, activities, and discussions.