If the students in your youth group are anything like me, character building is not high on their priority list. I want to push a button and instantly be more loving, patient, and kind.

In fact, I often resist the very circumstances that God puts in my path in order to shape and mold me to become more like Jesus.

I’m guessing your students do the same.

I remember my first year of marriage.. I thought being married would be so awesome! I loved God, she loved God, we loved each other – how hard could it be, right?

Ha…did I have a rude awakening! My first year of marriage was brutally tough! Mostly because I thought I had it all together, but in reality I had A LOT of growing up to do.

But with God’s help, we got through that first year. God used that first year of marriage (and the 11+ years that followed) as a way to build my character.

At times, I was willing to let God shape and mold my character. And of course there were many times I wasn’t willing to go along with what God was doing.

But if you think about it, that’s often how God changes us. He uses circumstances in our lives as a way to form His character in us.

Use this lesson to help teenagers get this truth. Enjoy!

-Nick Diliberto, Creator of Ministry to Youth

Looking for youth ministry curriculum? Check out the…

ONE YEAR PASS – For one year save 93% on $1,440 worth of youth group lessons, Bible studies, games, events & more. Only available through March 28!

Youth Group Lesson on Character

DOWNLOAD THE PDF OF THIS LESSON

Topic: Developing Character

Scripture: Romans 5:3-5

Use this lesson to show your youth group that every situation they go through can be an opportunity to build some type of character. If they rely on God, He will help them develop good character.

SUPPLIES

Two large white t-shirts

Washable paint

Paintbrushes

A tarp or towel to lay down on the ground

Two blindfolds

OPENING GAME – Paint It

Before the game begins, lay down a tarp or a towel on the ground.

Select two students to wear the t-shirts. Once the have put them on over their clothes, blindfold them and have them stand on the tarp or the towel.

Split the rest of the group into two teams and assign a team to each blindfolded student. Give the teams the paint and paintbrushes.

Let the students take turns putting different colored paints on a brush and then stand with the brush almost touching the blindfolded student. Call out a command that will make the blindfolded students move, such as spin around three times!

As the blindfolded students move, they will bump into the paintbrush, causing paint to get on the shirts.

When it’s the next student’s turn, call out another command, like do five jumping jacks!

Continue this until all the students have had a chance to hold the paintbrush.

Have a leader carefully remove the t-shirts from the students wearing them. Lay them on the tarp.

Have the two students remove their blindfold and decide which shirt looks the coolest and should win!

After the game, discuss these questions:

Would the shirts have gotten any paint on them if the students who were blindfolded never moved?

Would they have moved if I hadn’t called out things for them to do?

Did they know why I was telling them to move around?

After the game, say:

You guys actually came up with some pretty cool t-shirt designs!

It would have been too easy to let you guys just paint the shirts, so I decided to make it more interesting and have them be blindfolded.

While it would have been easier for them to just stand there wearing their t-shirts, the end product wouldn’t have looked as cool! Even though they didn’t know why they were moving around and doing all the things I was saying, they were actually creating something really awesome!

They were blindfolded, so they didn’t know what was going on. But by walking through the motions I called out, they were transforming something very plain into something very colorful.

Read Romans 5:3-5:

“Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.”

Don’t get me wrong; I love this verse. But wouldn’t it be nice and so much easier if it just said, “God will give you character and hope” instead of that our sufferings produce perseverance, which produces character?

But that’s not the way it works. See, every single thing you go through produces some type of character.

We started the game with two white shirts. And if you guys want have wanted to, you could have ignored my instructions. If you had ignored me, you still would have had the shirts when the game was over. They just wouldn’t be as colorful!

With every situation in life that you walk through, it will build your character in some way. You can choose to walk through times of suffering leaning on God, obeying and trusting Him, and that will produce good character, character that leads to hope. Or you can try to get through hard times all on your own, ignoring God completely. That will produce a character that’s hard, isolated, and jaded. That kind of character is hopeless.

Which sounds like the type of character you would rather have?

SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

Have you ever been through a hard time that made your character better?

Do you think it’s possible to persevere through times of suffering without God?

Would you rather have a character that came from God and produces hope, or a character that you developed on your own that is hopeless?

WRAP-UP

Just like this verse talks about, you are going to go through times of suffering in your life. There’s no way to avoid that. But if you persevere through them, that’s when good character is made.

So how do you persevere? You turn to God for strength and guidance. You ask Him to help you persevere through the hard, suffering times so that you can develop good character.

If you turn to Him, God will help you. But He doesn’t make you turn to Him. In fact, if you want to, you can ignore Him completely, trying to get through everything on your own. But that will only make the times of suffering even harder.

Or, you can turn to Him, have Him walk you through the hard times, and develop amazing character in the process. It’s your choice.

I think the choice is pretty clear. Don’t you?

DOWNLOAD THE PDF OF THIS LESSON

End lesson.

Looking for youth ministry curriculum? Check out the…

ONE YEAR PASS – For one year save 93% on $1,440 worth of youth group lessons, Bible studies, games, events & more. Only available through March 28!

13 Replies to “Youth Group Lesson on Character”

  1. Charity G. Guisoben
    • July 9, 2016

    Dear Sir,

    thank you so much for sending me free lessons. The lessons are very useful and applicable.
    May the Lord continue to expand your ministry and continue to bless you with wisdom .
    In Christ,
    chat

    Reply 1 Response
    1. Nick Diliberto
      • July 11, 2016

      So happy to help your ministry!

      Reply
  2. stephen kabwela
    • January 17, 2018

    thanx so much for the wonderful leson

    Reply 1 Response
  3. Kim Linn
    • April 4, 2018

    I have a small group of 3 boys, do you have lessons for these type of small groups?

    Reply 1 Response
    1. Kristy Preston
      • April 7, 2018

      Hi Kim, Our lessons can be modified for any size group, that’s the beauty of how we write our material for leaders and students.

      Reply
  4. Grace
    • May 30, 2018

    I’m a teen trying to lead a small youth group at my church. I still have a lot to learn myself, so even though I love creating my own lessons, your lessons are a huuuuge help. Especially when I’m trying to juggle homework, school activities, youth group lessons, and family. Anyways, I just wanted to say thank you. Your lessons have already had a big impact on me and I’m sure they will be used to help so many more people. God bless <3

    Reply 1 Response
    1. Kristy Preston
      • May 30, 2018

      Hi Grace, Thank you so much for the positive feedback. We love to hear stories about how our lessons are impacting others and their ministry with students. God Bless!

      Reply
  5. Maureen chepngeno
    • February 11, 2019

    Help! I am the youth leader my youths have been quarrelling to each .How can i make them come together and love each other

    Reply 1 Response
    1. Kristy Preston
      • February 12, 2019

      Hi Maureen, on our website http://www.ministrytoyouth.com, we have free lessons under LESSONS. Check out those! I feel like you can find a lesson that will relate to what you guys are going through with your youth. GOD BLESS!

      Reply
  6. David
    • January 16, 2020

    The lesson on character link is not correct. It keeps sending the lesson on giving. Is there a way to fix that? I really enjoy this lesson!

    Reply 1 Response
    1. Kristy Preston
      • January 17, 2020

      Hi David! Thank you for letting us know that! I just emailed you the PDF of this lesson.

      Reply
  7. Saima
    • November 3, 2023

    Looking forward to receiving the lessons.

    Reply

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