be a leader
Week 3:
Leadership Decisions
This includes:
1. Leader Preparation
2. Lesson Guide
1. LEADER PREPARATION
LESSON OVERVIEW
Joshua had followed Moses for years, watching him lead the nation of Israel, but
now that Moses had died, Joshua moves from assistant to leader. God gives Joshua
a pep talk on leadership as he begins his new job. God encourages Joshua to be
strong, courageous, and obedient—all qualities of godly, effective leaders. This week’s
lesson will challenge your young people to examine what it really means to be strong,
courageous, and obedient for God.
LESSON OBJECTIVES
1. WHAT: Being strong, courageous, and obedient are important qualities godly leaders can develop.
2. WHY: We all have the opportunity to pursue strength, courage, and obedience.
3. HOW: Students will be challenged to be strong, courageous, and obedient this week and will report to a friend how it went.
PRIMARY SCRIPTURE
Joshua 1:1-16
SECONDARY SCRIPTURE
Deuteronomy 11:22-28
TEACHING PREP
The short overview below is designed to help you prepare for your lesson. While you may not want to
convey this information word-for-word with your teenagers, you’ll definitely want to refer to it as you
lead your small group lesson.
Be strong and courageous. And be careful to obey. That is the gist of the pep talk that
God gives Joshua in Joshua 1:1-16. Moses has died—the man who led the Israelites
out of slavery, parted the Red Sea, received the Ten Commandments from God, and
delivered those commandments to the nation of Israel.
And now we have Joshua. He was Moses’ “assistant” as the Israelites wandered
through the desert. Joshua would now be the leader of God’s people as they crossed
the Jordan River and went into the Promised Land. Joshua had big shoes to fill.
Joshua 1 begins by reminding us that Joshua is the one who was chosen by God to
lead the people after Moses’ death. It is no mistake that he is in this position. God
reminds Joshua what has just happened, and God repeats promises and experiences
from Israel’s history.
Joshua 1:6-9 is God’s charge to this new leader. God addresses his attitude with the
command to be “strong and courageous,” calling him to take on a perspective that
will be a great strength in leadership. God also tells him to “be careful to obey.”
Joshua 1:10-16 shows how Joshua responded to God’s call. He instructs Israel’s
leaders to follow through on God’s command. He reminds them that God has
been faithful and will continue to be faithful. Throughout this section, Joshua
acknowledges the gifts God has given them, and he says the Israelites are called to
obey and trust God. Joshua did this and communicated clearly through his strength
and courage.
THE BEFORE & AFTER [optional]
Text Message Questions
We’ve provided a couple of different text message questions to send out to your students prior
to your meeting. Feel free to use one or both of the questions below. As with the rest of the
curriculum, edit these questions to fit the needs of your ministry.
• What’s the best advice you’ve ever heard? Come to small group tonight to find out what Moses told Joshua.
• Joshua was about to lead a nation, so what do you think God told him to do? Learn about it tonight at small group.
Parent Email
We’ve provided you with an email below that you can send to your parents following the lesson.
Our hope is to encourage parents to continue the conversation at home. Feel free to edit and
customize the email to fit your ministry needs.
Dear parents,
Our small group series on leadership concluded with a conversation on the strengths
of leadership. We studied Joshua and the charge that God gave him just as he
was beginning to lead the Israelites, in Joshua 1. Joshua succeeded Moses as the
nation’s leader, and those were no small shoes to fill. Moses led the Israelites out of
slavery, parted the Red Sea, and received the Ten Commandments from God. But
God encouraged Joshua to be strong, courageous, and obedient.
In this week’s lesson we examined God’s pep talk and how Joshua responded. Take
time this week to talk with your teenager about our small group conversation. Here
are some questions to help guide your discussion:
• There are many kinds of strength—what kind of strength did God want Joshua to have?
• How do people build courage in their life?
• Strength and courage seem like obvious leadership traits—what role does obedience play in strong leadership?
Talk about the moments when your teenager finds it easy to be strong, courageous,
and obedient. Share a time when you struggled with these things, and discuss what
you learned through that experience. End the conversation by praying together to
thank God for putting strong, courageous, and obedient leaders in your lives!
Have a blessed week!
be leader
Week 3:
Leadership Decisions
2. LEsson guide
GETTING THINGS STARTED [optional]
As you begin your small group, welcome your students and invite them into your meeting area.
Open in prayer, and then SAY SOMETHING LIKE:
This lesson wraps up our series on leadership, and we’re going to talk about the
strengths of leaders. Let’s take a few minutes to review what we’ve talked about over
the past couple of weeks.
ASK:
• Based on our lessons from the last two weeks, which of the six traits have you been adding to your life most successfully: wisdom, understanding, respect, faithfulness, humility, or loyalty?
• Do you think some people are natural-born leaders? Can anyone become a leader? Explain.
• What’s the best advice any leader has ever given you?
SAY SOMETHING LIKE: This series has focused on a bunch of characteristics
of good, godly leaders, and in this lesson we’ll look at one more leader in the Old
Testament and see how he was strong, courageous, and obedient.
If you came up with an opening activity, movie clip, or game that worked well with your group,
and you’d like to share it with other youth workers, please email us at [email protected].
Teaching Points
The goal of the Teaching Points is to help students capture the essence of each lesson with
more discussion and less lecture-style teaching. The main points we have chosen here are (1) Are you strong?, (2) Are you courageous?, and (3) Are you obedient?
Remember: All throughout these lessons, it’s up to you to choose (1) how many questions you
use, and (2) the wording of the main points—keep ours, or change the wording to make it
clearer for your audience.
Read Joshua 1:1-16 together as a group. Consider allowing one or more of the teenagers to
read the text.
SAY SOMETHING LIKE: Let’s take a few minutes and look at some key leadership
qualities we must have to grow as leaders. Remember, all of us have experience in
leadership roles of some kind.
1. Are you strong?
ASK:
• There are many kinds of strength—what kind of strength did God want Joshua to have? Take a moment to reread the passage if you need to.
SAY SOMETHING LIKE: Physical strength is important, of course. Being healthy can
help a leader remain focused and energetic while serving others. But a deeper, inner
strength—in other words, commitment and dedication—can help a leader persevere
through tough, challenging situations.
2. Are you courageous?
ASK:
• When you’ve been in a leadership role of some kind, what has created fear in you? Why does this happen? What impact does fear have on you?
• How have you become more courageous in your life?
• When do you struggle to be courageous? What has helped you deal with that struggle?
• God told Joshua to “be strong and courageous”—can we simply choose to have courage, or is it more like the result of a lifestyle? Explain.
SAY SOMETHING LIKE: We often become fearful when facing new situations or
overwhelming odds or major opposition. Most people could use more courage, and
God is able to help us, through the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives. We also become
more courageous when we obey and take steps of faith. Then, as we see God
working and answering prayers, we have more confidence in God’s ability the next
time around.
3. Are you obedient?
ASK:
• Look at what God tells Joshua to do in verses 6-9. Why are these actions important to God?
• Strength and courage seem like obvious leadership traits—what role does obedience play in strong leadership? How does obedience balance out strength and courage?
SAY SOMETHING LIKE: Leaders can exude strength and courage, but when they fail
to do so in a way that reflects what is important to God, there’s a problem. Leaders
are human, so they will struggle to obey God at times. But godly leadership means
developing a lifestyle of obedience and seeking God’s direction.
ADDITIONAL DISCUSSION [optional]
ASK:
• Why does God take the time at the beginning of the chapter to tell Joshua what had already happened in Israel’s past?
• In verse 9, God promises to be with the Israelites wherever they went. Are you confident that God is always “going with you” in your life? Why or why not?
• What are some specific events in your life that you know God has helped you through? How do you know God was helping you?
• How does Joshua demonstrate strength, courage, and obedience in verses 10-16? What does this tell you about his character?
• Read Deuteronomy 11:22-28. How are these verses similar to the passage from Joshua? What truths about leadership do you see in these verses?
APPLICATION
ASK:
• Joshua is reminded of what God had already done and what God promised. What promises has Jesus made to you? What has God already done in your life? How can this encourage you to be strong, courageous, and obedient?
• Joshua had big shoes to fill. How would you feel if you stepped into a leadership role after such a strong leader, and why would you feel that way?
• How does Joshua’s story encourage or inspire you?
Pair up with another person in the group for these questions.
ASK:
• Identify a movie, book, TV show, or story that shows a leader who is specifically strong, courageous, or obedient. Even though the character might be fictional, what can you learn from that person’s story?
• When do you find it easy to be strong? Courageous? Obedient?
• When do you find it difficult to be strong? Courageous? Obedient?
• What’s one way your relationship with God has helped you have a positive impact on your family, your school, or your community?
Bring back everyone into the larger group. Ask some of the teenagers to share their
answers about the characters from movies, books, and other media that offer insights
on being strong, courageous, and obedient.
Challenge your teenagers to think about what it means to be a leader among their
peers. Does it mean standing up for something they know is right? Does it mean
leading the pack on obedience? Being a true leader and obeying the Lord can be
challenging for any adolescent.
After everyone has a chance to share, challenge students to be accountable.
Encourage the partners from a few minutes earlier to check in with each other
throughout the week.
SUMMARY
End your small group lesson here. Provide your teenagers with a quick summary or take-home
challenge based on (1) the content of this lesson, (2) the dialogue that took place during the
lesson, (3) your understanding of the issues and struggles your teenagers are facing, and (4) the
big picture of your youth ministry and what your leadership team wants accomplished with the
teaching and discussion time.
FOR KEEPS [MEMORY VERSE]
Encourage and/or challenge your teenagers to memorize the verse below.
“Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the instructions Moses gave
you. Do not deviate from them, turning either to the right or to the left. Then you will
be successful in everything you do” (Joshua 1:7).