01 · Your sermon
Start with the sermon. Use the source message to guide the lesson’s teaching and discussion.
How much guidance would help? Guided — show coaching for newer teachers Focused — work directly in the fields
Paste your sermon or teaching notes
No source text yet.
Bring the message before choosing activities. Preserve the passage’s meaning, the sermon’s central truth, its movements, and its connection to Jesus. Translate the delivery for students while keeping the biblical content faithful.
Central truth · optional
What must stay clear or exact? · optional
02 · Your students
Plan for your students. Name the audience, setting, and time before shaping the lesson.
Who are you teaching? Middle school High school Mixed middle and high school
Church or ministry · optional
How will the group meet? Tables or small groups within a teaching session One discussion circle Whole-group teaching with partner conversations
How much of the teaching should carry over? Preserve the teaching content; adapt its delivery and format Condense the teaching for the available time; preserve its meaning
What would help the teacher understand these students? · optional
Adapt for the actual group. Explain unfamiliar words, use concrete examples, and make it possible to participate without speaking publicly. Allow time to read Scripture, think, talk, and return to the teaching. A full sermon plus discussion may need more time than the original sermon alone.
03 · Three questions
Build three purposeful conversations. You can leave these ideas blank and let the writing prompt request them from the sermon.
How would you like to build the three questions? Help me write all three from the sermon Use or improve my question ideas below
Exactly three main discussion questions. Each has a different job: connect with life, enter the text’s situation, and practice a response. The source teaching connects them; the questions do not replace the teaching.
1. Introduce the topic Begin with a low-pressure question about an ordinary experience related to the sermon’s tension. Students should be able to join in before they know a Bible answer.
Opening-question idea · optional
What should this opening help students notice? · optional
2. Step into the biblical situation Give students enough of the scene to imagine being there, then offer three or four believable reactions. Help them explore what a character or original hearer might feel, fear, or find difficult.
Scene, character, or original hearer · optional
Text-context question idea · optional
Possible response options · optional
3. Practice a response Describe an everyday situation students might face. Give realistic choices that help them consider what following Jesus could look like.
Everyday application scenario · optional
Application-question idea · optional
Possible action options · optional
Help the conversation return to the text. The finished lesson should include spoken setup, a discussion time, an invitation to think quietly, a regathering line, and a transition back to the teaching. The text-context and application questions each need three or four meaningful options. Hypothetical feelings or scenarios must be identified as possibilities, rather than added to Scripture as facts.
04 · One response
Land on one clear response. Keep the lesson’s direction connected to the source message and to following Jesus.
Discipleship emphasis Let the source sermon guide the emphasis Know the Word Live the Word Share the Word
Where does the action land? Let the source sermon guide the area Me with God Me with Others Me in the World
Next-step category Let the source sermon guide the next step Learn Respond Share in the Body Share with the World
One clear response to invite · optional
Connection to Jesus to preserve or clarify · optional
An honest question or concern to handle · optional
Closing prayer direction · optional
Other instructions or things to avoid · optional
Finish with one faithful step. Let the application conversation lead toward the source sermon’s response. Keep it specific, realistic, and grounded in Jesus’ grace. Avoid adding several competing assignments or making participation a measure of someone’s faith.
