Weekend Overview

Middle school students are constantly redefining themselves. One month they love soccer and you can’t pry them away from practice. The next month they only want to sit in their room and listen to music. Over the course of three years, middle schoolers will “try on” different friend groups, interests, fashion styles, and attitudes. While confusing to many adults, this is a critical time of self discovery and identity formation for these students.

But here’s the tricky part: one negative comment or experience can derail them. Students allow a single moment to label them, sometimes for a lifetime. They end up spending years trying to prove to the world that someone else’s opinion of them was wrong.

Over the next three days, students will look at the labels they’re letting define them. We will empower them to choose the labels that inform their identity, especially the labels that God has given them. If they will recognize the value God has placed on them, his clear labeling will be evident. They need to allow him to transform them into the people he wants them to be by changing the way they think about themselves.

Message Overview

As we begin Transit Weekend, get ready for some great sessions, awesome time with your group, and life-changing conversations. To kick us off, we’ll discuss the labels we’ve allowed others to place on us. The world is constantly offering opinions about who we are. However, each person has the power to accept or reject those labels. Students need to begin to understand that God has great plans for their lives, but if they internalize false labels, they will forever damage their understanding of who and whose they are. So tonight, we are going to ask the students to think about the labels they’re carrying.

BOTTOM LINE

The one who created you labeled you.

SCRIPTURE

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. // Psalm 139:14

WATCH

CONVERSATION STARTERS

What have people labeled you?
Where in your life have you been labeled? What did people get “wrong” about you?
If people always acted the way they thought others expected them to act, what would happen?
How have you seen people change their actions based on how others labeled them? Can you think of a time when you’ve done this?

WHAT GOD SAYS

Read Psalm 139:14
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

What are the labels the writer of Psalms says we’ve been given?
Why is it important that the writer says, “I know that full well.” What happens if someone doesn’t know this truth?

PREPARING FOR THE ACTIVITY

Do you think many middle schoolers get caught up in what the cool or popular thing is without thinking about whether or not it is what they want to do?
What are some labels you feel others have placed on you?

CLOSING ACTIVITY

Hand each student one board and one page of labels from your “Friday Night” envelope.
Read the labels aloud.
Have your students select the words they feel others have used to label them or they have used to label themselves. Have them stick those labels on the boards in the space around the outside of the “Hello, I’m…” name tag.
Students can place as many words as they’d like—the good and the not so good.
Once everyone has arranged their words, have them share these labels with the group.

Friday PM