W E E K 9

A NEW
BEGINNING
ESTIMATED TIME
1 HOUR 30 MINUTES

RESOURCES
›› A large towel.
›› Candy for prizes.
›› A large bowl (full of water).
›› iPad/computer and projector.
›› Name badges (see extra material).
›› Blank pieces of paper (one per student).
›› Slides and video testimony (see extra material).

NOTE: Depending on culture and background, it is possible

that some of the students will already have been baptized
as babies. You will need to be able to explain the differences
between child baptisms and being baptized as part of
a decision to follow Jesus. Be prepared to answer any
questions or concerns the students might have.

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47
 CONNECT
AIMS
›› To want to be like Christ in every step we take.
OBJECTIVES
›› To understand that it is our responsibility as
Christians to be like Christ in EVERYTHING.
›› To understand that the leader of a group
marks the nature of that group - in our case,
Jesus.
WELCOME
10 MINUTES
›› Allow the students to come in and sit down.
›› Revise the most relevant points from last
week’s class (Nothing Less Than God’s Best).
Ask the students how they got on during the
week - you could review the various activities
you set them last week or you could simply
give them the opportunity to share their
thoughts.
TEA CH ER S ’ G U ID E
48
20 MINUTES
ACTIVITY 1
10 MINUTES
›› Divide the students into three groups and ask
them to select a captain for their team (it is
important that the other groups do not know
who has been chosen).
›› Each team needs to copy EVERYTHING their
captain does, as well as figuring out who the
captains of the other two teams are.
›› Each team will take turns to go to the front
of the room for a minute and a half, get into
a circle and start to imitate their captain in
everything they do. The captain should move,
jump, dance, etc. He/she cannot stand still
and cannot do the same thing for more than
30 seconds.
›› The other two teams will have the opportunity
to say who they think the captain is once the
time limit has been reached. If a team gets it
right, they win a point. If neither team gets it
right, the team at the front wins two points.
The group with the most points at the end of
the activity will be the winning team and will
receive sweets as prizes.
›› Explain that the identity of a group is
determined by the leader they follow. Explain
that our identity as a church is determined by
the person we follow: Jesus. Explain that our
attitude toward Jesus should be the same as
that in the game: We should do everything
He does.
 CONCEIVE 30 MINUTES

AIMS
››To want to get baptized.
OBJECTIVES
›› To clearly understand what baptism is.
›› To understand that every believer should be
baptized, without exception.
›› To identify the spiritual implications of
baptism.
ACTIVITY 2
20 MINUTES
Note: Prepare in prayer: ask the Lord to anoint
the lesson and enable you to share the message
in a real and relevant way. Use our suggested
points and add your own personal testimonies.
Remember not to spend more than 20 minutes
speaking.
›› Say a short prayer to begin.
›› Use the following outline and the student
book to explain this week’s message.

ACTIVITY 1
7 MINUTES INTRODUCTION
Show this week’s video testimony. A New Beginning

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49
 TOPIC CONTENT
WHAT IS BAPTISM?
›› The word baptism means “immersion,” and
implies “being completely submerged.”
›› Immersion happens when an object is
completely submerged in water (like a
submarine), or when water is poured onto an
object (e.g. under a waterfall). In both cases,
immersion is COMPLETE. There is no part of
the object that avoids contact with the water.
JESUS WAS BAPTIZED
›› Although John baptized with water for
repentance, Jesus had nothing of which
to repent. He was baptized “to fulfill all
TEA CH ER S ’ G U ID E
righteousness” (Matthew 3:15).
›› Baptism is a transition between two
conditions. It clearly marks a before and
after. In Jesus’ case, it marked the transition
50 between His life as a carpenter and the
beginning of His ministry.
WHO SHOULD GET BAPTIZED?
›› Jesus taught that ALL of His disciples should
be baptized (Matthew 28:19). Whoever wants
to be a disciple of Jesus should be baptized.
›› If the Lord Jesus Himself, who never
committed any sin, met the requirement of
being baptized, how much more must we?
THE SPIRITUAL SIGNIFICANCE OF BAPTISM
›› Read Romans 6:3-6.
›› Baptism is a public act by which we identify
ourselves with Jesus in His death, burial and
resurrection.
›› Death: Going down into the waters symbolizes
that we are dying to our old self, which was
part of our nature - the part of us that was
rebellious and could not be renewed. We are
accepting that Jesus carried all our rebellion
and our worries on the cross and that we
are now willing to live a life that pleases and
honors Him.
›› Burial: We cannot start again if we continue
to carry our old habits, hang-ups and hurts.
Our past remains symbolically buried in the
water - all our old habits and everything that
was part of our old nature.
›› Resurrection: When we come up out of the
water, we are new creations who have been
born into a new life: a life free from the
slavery of sin (Romans 6:6). This new life no
longer belongs to us - it belongs to God (2
Corinthians 5:14-15).
›› The substance of faith: Whoever is baptized
must believe with all their heart that by taking
this step of faith they are dying to their old
way of living and being born into a new life. If
not, they will simply go down into the water a
dry sinner and come up a wet sinner!
 CREATE 25 MINUTES

AIMS ›› Ask the students to fold their paper in half.

›› To understand the purpose of baptism. ›› Ask them to put the title Before on one half,
and After on the other.
OBJECTIVES
›› On the half labeled Before, the students
›› To identify what negative things we want to should draw a self-portrait and write down
leave behind. all the negative traits they would like to leave
›› To see a visual representation of what happens behind.
spiritually when we are baptized. ›› On the half labeled After, they should draw
another picture of themselves. This time, they
should write the antonyms of the words they
ACTIVITY 1 wrote on the first half, along with any other
positive traits they would like to have.
EXTREME CHANGE
›› Cover your desk with the towel and place the
15 MINUTES
large bowl of water on top. Do this while the
students are finishing their drawings.
›› Ask the students to tear off the Before half of
their sheets.
›› Ask them to immerse their Before pictures in
the bowl of water on your desk and to leave
them there.
›› Once they have done this, give out the name
badges (see extra material).
›› Explain that all the negative things we were
have been put to death and buried in the
›› Project the Extreme Change logo onto the
water and the After part that remains is the
screen.
nature of the resurrection that God gives us
›› Project the three before-and-after images after baptism.
L IF EC L AS S

onto the screen (see extra material).

›› Ask the students to write on the name badges
›› Give each of the students a blank piece of the positive characteristic for which they
paper. would like to be known from now on. 51
 WEEKLY CHALLENGE AND GRADUATION PRAYER
FROM LIFECLASS 5 MINUTES
5 MINUTES
Lead the students in prayer so that they can:
›› Remind the students to go over today’s ›› Understand the meaning of baptism.
lesson.
›› Take the step of faith to get baptized.
›› Set them the challenge of reading their
student book every day and completing the ›› Have a new beginning in every area of their
exercises. lives.

›› Encourage them to think about each of their Note: If necessary, take some extra time to
LifeClass lessons so that they can continue to pray for your students and minister to them.
apply them daily. Be careful not to run over the allocated time of
each class.
›› Motivate them to continue with
the Bible reading plan included WHEN WE COME UP
in the LifeClass pack (see online from the water,
we identify with
resources). Jesus in His resurrection.
›› If there is a special celebration
organized for the following
week, be sure to give them the
details and encourage them
to be there. If not, this is your
opportunity to give them their
LifeClass certificates.
›› Encourage them to sign up
for Destiny Training classes so
that they can continue in their
development as leaders.
WHEN WE GO DOWN
into the water to be baptized,
we identify with
Jesus in His death.

Say a few words to close and highlight why you have found it a
privilege to be their teacher during the past few weeks as they have
taken their first steps in the Christian life.
TEA CH ER S ’ G U ID E

Encourage the students to continue reading the Bible and give

them a copy of the LifeClass Bible reading plan (available in extra
material). The plan follows a similar pattern to the Study The Word
52 sections and will help the students read the Bible in its entirety.