The Apostle John
A Rooted Yearlong Curriculum – $225
This 32-lesson curriculum walks students through John’s gospel and John’s letters, giving students countless narrative pictures of what it means to believe in Jesus and to walk with Him.
BUY NOWWhy teach The Apostle John?
With this package, students will have a chance to learn straight from the “apostle whom Jesus loved.” As they study John’s gospel and his letters to the early church, they will grow in their understanding of who Jesus is and how His work on the cross impacts their daily lives.
For students in a dark season of life, they will be encouraged to see Jesus as the “light of the world.” For students with a difficult sibling relationship, they will be encouraged to “love because [Jesus] first loved [them].” For students wrestling with a recurring sin, they will be comforted with the truth that in Jesus, they have an advocate who has come to take away their sin and present them as righteous before the Father.
John’s gospel and letters will strengthen students’ affections for Jesus and instruct them in what it looks like to live the abundant life Jesus calls them to.
1 John, 2 John, 3 John: Written by Mac Harris, Edited by Elisabeth Elliott Hayes
John: Written by Dr. Ben Birdsong, Edited by Elisabeth Elliott Hayes
Lesson Outline
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123 John
Written by Mac Harris, Edited by Elisabeth Elliott Hayes
- Lesson 1: Living Out Your Faith: Walking in the Light (1 Jn 1:1-2:6)
- Lesson 2: Living Out Your Faith: Abiding in God (1 Jn 2:7-2:27)
- Lesson 3: Living as Children of God (1 Jn 2:28-3:24)
- Lesson 4: Living and Loving by the Love of God (1 Jn 4:1-4:21)
- Lesson 5: The Character of Jesus (1 Jn 5:1-21)
- Lesson 6: Faithful Living by Faithfully Loving the Stranger (2 Jn-3 Jn)
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John
Written by Edited by Dr. Ben Birdsong, Edited by Elisabeth Elliott Hayes
ACT I: JESUS AS THE WORD
- Lesson 1: Light Moves into the Neighborhood (Jn 1:1-18)
ACT II: SIGNS OF THE MESSIAH
- Lesson 2: Who Are You Pointing To? (Jn 1:19-51)
- Lesson 3: Mixed Motives (Jn 2:1-25)
- Lesson 4: Experiencing God’s Love for the World (Jn 3:1-21)
- Lesson 5: What is Greatness? (Jn 3:22-36)
- Lesson 6: Known and Loved (Jn 4:1-45)
- Lesson 7: Seeing is Believing? (Jn 4:46-5:17)
- Lesson 8: The Struggle of Surrender (Jn 5:18-46)
- Lesson 9: Bread of Life (Jn 6:1-71)
- Lesson 10: Who Is this Jesus? (Jn 7:1-52)
- Lesson 11: When Our Sin Is Exposed (Jn 7:53-8:11)
- Lesson 12: Jesus as the Eternal Light (Jn 8:12-59)
- Lesson 13: The Blind Leading the Blind (Jn 9:1-42)
- Lesson 14: Following the Good Shepherd (Jn 10:1-41)
- Lesson 15: Lazarus Back to Life (Jn 11:1-57)
- Lesson 16: Worshipping the One Who Is Worthy (Jn 12:1-11)
- Lesson 17: The Misunderstood King (Jn 12:12-50)
ACT III: THE PASSION NARRATIVE AND TEACHING
- Lesson 18: A Parting Gift (Jn 13:1-39)
- Lesson 19: Preparing a Room (Jn 14:1-31)
- Lesson 20: The Vine and the Branches (Jn 15:1-17)
- Lesson 21: Joy Comes in the Morning (Jn 15:18-16:33)
- Lesson 22: Jesus’ Prayer for His Followers (Jn 17:1-26)
- Lesson 23: Justice Denied (Jn 18:1-40)
- Lesson 24: The Road to the Cross (Jn 19:1-42)
- Lesson 25: Raised to New Life (Jn 20:1-31)
ACT IV: THE MINISTRY OF PETER AND JOHN
- Lesson 26: Do You Love Me? Feed My Sheep. (Jn 21:1-25)
Contributors
Mac Harris, Writer
After graduating from Davidson College, where he studied history and religious studies, Mac Harris worked for a year as a Charlotte Fellow. He interned in the youth ministries at two churches, both in Birmingham, AL. He currently serves as Assistant Coordinator of Youth and Families at Hope Community Church while working towards his M.Div at RTS Charlotte. An avid Alabama football fan, Mac also enjoys fly fishing, ultimate frisbee, and Bojangles’ fried chicken.
Dr. Ben Birdsong, Writer
Dr. Ben Birdsong serves as a writer, speaker, and minister based in Birmingham, Alabama. Ben has served in student ministry for 12 years both in local church and the para-church settings. He is the author of the devotional Words from the Cross: 7 Statements to Transform Your Life. Ben has bachelors degrees in Marketing and Human Resource Management from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, a Masters of Divinity degree from Samford University’s Beeson Divinity School, and a Doctor of Ministry focusing in Ministry to Emerging Generations from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Ben is married to Liz, who teaches middle school English/Language Arts and serves as a cheerleading coach. He enjoys reading, writing, watching movies, and good conversations over a drink at Starbucks. You can learn more about Ben at www.benbirdsong.com.
Elisabeth Elliott Hayes, Editor
Elisabeth Elliott Hayes worked in student ministry for 7 years – first as a youth minister in Birmingham, Alabama, and later as Director of Spiritual Formation at Nicaragua Christian Academy in Matagalpa, Nicaragua. She has been involved with Rooted since its humble beginnings in 2010. Elisabeth holds a Master of Arts in Biblical Studies from Reformed Theological Seminary and is pursuing a ThM in Theology and Ethics from Union Presbyterian Seminary in Richmond, Virginia. She loves to travel, cook, garden, and explore Richmond with her friends and her husband, Will.
Rooted’s Scope & Sequence
Don’t know where to start? Check out our Scope & Sequence
All the lessons you need for your students’ entire time in your ministry — from brand new middle schooler to high school graduate. Whether you choose to walk through the Bible chronologically or you’d rather stick with a developmental stage approach, we have both plans written out for you, free of charge! Download the Scope & Sequence Plans for free, and purchase all the included curriculum in the Scope and Sequence Bundle to get started.
LEARN MORE“Unlike some of the other Student Ministry curriculum we have used that tries to cover the entire Bible in a year, Rooted allows us to carefully and exegetically walk through books of the Bible at our own pace. We truly enjoy the fact that Rooted has many options that allow us to pick the books of the Bible that we want to study for the year. We love how engaged our students have become with the Holy Scriptures, the lesson, and each other.”
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Download NowWhat will students learn from 1 John, 2 John, and 3 John?
John’s letters are written to Christians in the early church who have just experienced a schism. A group of their brothers and sisters left the church, claiming to have a new, better morality and belief system. There was immense confusion for the early Christians, and for some of them, pressure to follow those who left.
Our students are surrounded by loud, competing voices claiming to hold the truth. In our current “cancel culture,” there is more pressure than ever before for our students to hold a morality and belief system—religious or otherwise—that is acceptable to their peers and to the broader society. When what students read in Scripture and hear in church conflicts with those cultural norms, it can leave students feeling deep confusion, and in some cases, pressure to leave the church behind.
John’s letters ground students in the truth that was, is, and always will be true. He reminds them that claims of new, enlightened belief systems may seem easier to digest, but they are not complete. John takes us back to the basics and calls us to remember what we knew in the beginning to be true.
What will students learn from the Gospel of John?
John’s gospel demonstrates to students that Jesus truly is the Son of God and Savior of the world and that Jesus wants to be their Savior as well.
Students’ deepest longing is for a relationship with Jesus. He is the One who defines their identity, shows them what it looks like to be known, shows them what it looks like to be loved, and leads them to rest securely as His child. John compels his original readers, and our students in turn, to believe in Jesus and have new life through a relationship with Him.
John’s gospel gives students countless narrative pictures of what it means to believe in Jesus and to walk with Him. This book reminds students that life in the Kingdom is not what the crowds around us expect it to be. Jesus is constantly surprising us with the unexpected nature of the Kingdom of God, and he is met with a lot of pushback because of it. Students can expect the same as they walk with Him.