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After You: a 4-Week Teaching Series for Youth Ministry Topic: Loving Others Scripture: the New Testament Decorating Theme: Restaurants Age Group: Students Discipleship Activity: Get The After You Service Project, the discipleship activity that goes along with this teaching series, here ! We all know God wants us to love others-it's one of the most important things Jesus taught. But let's be honest... actually doing it? That's not always easy, especially when life feels busy or like people aren't easy to love. In this 4-week series from the New Testament, we'll explore how Jesus shows us what loving others really looks like. He challenges us to move away from the world's "me first" attitude and embrace his "after you" message as we follow his example. We'll learn that Jesus shows us how to notice others' needs , Jesus asks us to care for each other , God's Spirit helps us serve others , and God invites us to share our joy . BIG IDEAS & BIBLE STORIES Jesus shows us how to notice others' needs. (Jesus feeds the Five Thousand: Mark 6:30-44; Philippians 2:3-4; Psalm 84:3-4) Jesus asks us to care for each other. (The Parable of the Good Samaritan: Luke 10:25-37; 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12; Psalm 84:3-4) God's Spirit helps us serve others. (Unity and Diversity in the Body: 1 Corinthians 12:12-21; Romans 12:3-5; Psalm 98:1-2) God invites us to share our joy. (Jesus Calls His First Disciples: Matthew 4:18-22, 5:14-16; Romans 15:13; Isaiah 12:6) WEEKLY CURRICULUM SUMMARIES: This week, we'll see the disciples notice the hunger of a crowd and Jesus feeding them, and Paul encourages us to prioritize the needs of others. In restaurants, great service starts with giving someone what they need before they even ask. This week, we'll see how the disciples saw a hungry crowd as an inconvenience, but Jesus challenged them to have compassion and serve the crowd by meeting their needs. Through this moment, the disciples became part of the bigger miracle, reminding us Jesus shows us how to notice others' needs . This week, Jesus shares a parable about a Samaritan helping someone who's injured, and Paul prays for the church to follow through on caring for others. Good intentions we actually follow through on can make all the difference when delivering excellent service. This week, we'll hear Jesus' story about a Samaritan who immediately helped an injured man while others just walked by. Jesus made it clear that loving your neighbor shows up through our actions, reminding us that Jesus asks us to care for each other . This week, we look at two places where Paul uses an analogy of a body to show that we all have unique and complementary ways of serving each other. A well-run restaurant works best when everyone plays their part-servers, cooks, and hosts all bring out their skills. This week, we'll see how Paul shared that just like our body has many parts, everyone has unique gifts designed to work together to help others. Thankfully, we're not on our own in discovering how to use our gifts because God's Spirit helps us serve others . This week, Jesus invites his disciples to learn what it looks like to spread the good news, and he teaches us to share his light with others. A meal isn't just about the food-it's about the experience of sharing it with others. This week, we'll see how Jesus invited his disciples to share the good news and to shine as a light for others to see. Through Jesus' teaching, we're reminded that the joy we find in him isn't something to keep to ourselves because God invites us to share our joy . MEMORY VERSE: "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others." - Philippians 2:3-4 (NIV)

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