Hotshots: Changes

more by Jason Gardner | Youth

Title: Changes

Activity:

6 volunteers, 3 to remain in hall and take up a freeze position, the other 3 study the ‘models’ before leaving the hall. The 3 left in the hall then make 2 changes each to their appearance, one subtle and one obvious (i.e. uncross legs and take off tie) the rest of the audience can help them choose what they should do but make sure they do so quietly.
The 3 outside then return and try to spot the differences that have been made.

Talk:

What changes in life have you been through recently and how obvious are they to others? Have you had a haircut? Piercing? Injury? Some of these things can be pretty obvious to detect, but what about if you’ve changed your opinions or beliefs? Are those kind of changes easy to spot? Often a change in beliefs can bring about a change in behaviour which people might notice.

For example you might have thought Cricket was boring but say when England win the Ashes again, it could happen, you’re convinced otherwise and you might start heading along to the county cricket ground to check out a game. Your beliefs change your behaviour.

Or through watching or getting involved in comic relief you might have come to believe that enough is enough, the gap between rich and poor shouldn’t exist. As a result you might have started buying fair trade clothes, eating fair trade chocolate and writing to your MP. Again your beliefs have changed your behaviour.

But do we change ourselves, our looks our behaviour to please ourselves or to please others? For instance a lot of people change how they look in order to become more accepted in society.

There are around 75,000 cosmetic surgery procedures every year. Recent polls have found out that 40% of teenage girls have considered plastic surgery and a ¼ of the boys that were surveyed thought that they might have plastic surgery at some point too.

So would you change the way you look to become more popular? Dye your hair, wear expensive clothes? Get plastic surgery if you had the money?

It’s easy to say that looks don’t matter, it’s what’s on the inside that counts, that we love people not because of how they look but because of how they behave. But the truth is society often sends out very different messages, we see celebrity magazines filled with perfect people, who can afford to look perfect.

But think about it if people change the way they look in order to be accepted, isn’t it true that if they felt accepted already they wouldn’t need to alter a thing about themselves?

What you believe about what makes a person valuable will change how you treat them. And how you treat people can change how people see themselves.
So what changes do you need to make in order to treat people with the respect they deserve, in order to challenge a society that says you have to look perfect in order to be accepted?

Because how you choose to change can make all the difference in the world.

For Further Illustration:

Christian Perspective:

1 Samuel 16.7 God doesn’t look at outward appearance but at the heart.

Film:

Shrek 2 50mins 19 seconds to 52.16
Ugly ogre Shrek awakes after taking a potion to turn him into a stud so that he’ll be accepted by Princess Fiona and her family.

Powerpoint Tips:

Could use some images from magazine covers, if you’ve got the technical know how why not swap the model’s faces with picture of people from the school/ youth group.