Student Leader Training for Refresh
4 Parts of the Training
Why We Have Spiritual Conversations – John 4
John 4
4 Now [Jesus] had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.
7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)
9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)
10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water” …
John 4
21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you — I am he.”...
John 4
34 “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. 35 Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 36 Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. 37 Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. 38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”
39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. 41 And because of his words many more became believers. 42 They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”
John 4 Listening Prayer
Refresh Proxe &
Script Walk-through
Panel 1
Hello, I’m _______ with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. We are having conversations today about how our world is full of beauty and brokenness. We believe that beauty is a gift from God and refreshes our soul. Where do you go to refresh? Please vote with this sticker.
Panel 2
But the bad news is that our world is on fire.
Which destructive force in our world bothers you most?
(Be curious. Ask why. Share personally which bothers you most, and why.)
These destructive forces can be very overwhelming.
This is why we seek refreshment at… (insert the one they voted on.)
The back and forth between brokenness and refreshment can feel exhausting. I believe that Jesus steps into our exhaustion, and transforms our brokenness with his hope.
Panel 3
I don’t think the goal is to take a break from destruction. I believe that Jesus enters into our deserts to transform everything. Check out this quote on Jesus’ robe.
You can either read the quote out loud, or ask them to read it out loud.
“I have come to give the good life, a life that overflows with beauty and harmony.”
— Creator Sets Free (Jesus), John 10:10, First Nations Version
What do you like about this quote from Jesus?
Some Native American leaders wrote an allegory that inspired the art here. Let’s take a look!
Panel 4
You can either read panel 4 out loud, or ask them to read it out loud.
In the desert, we turned our backs on Creator. We drank the sand to satisfy our thirst. In a stunning act of love, Creator Sets Free joined us in the desert and brought us living water. Creator invites us to drink freely and journey with him. On a scale of 1 to 10, how interested are you in a close relationship with Creator Sets Free?
If they are interested:
GETTING PERSONAL
Go through the Proxe again.
Think about your personal feelings and answers to each panel.
Gospel Allegory Walk-through
What is a gospel allegory? What Scripture inspired it?
Allegory: a story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one. (https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/allegory)
“It starts in the beginning. Creator God was there in nothingness. Then Creator spoke and made the light, the land, the water, and the people. Creator gave us water to nourish the land. And our bodies and souls thrived.”
What is the biblical foundation for this?
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men.”
– John 1:1-4
The Gospel Allegory
“In Creator’s garden, everything was beautiful. We would talk and take walks with Creator in perfect harmony. But one day, a seed of suspicion grew in our minds. We questioned if there was something better than Creator’s water. We decided to quench our thirst our own way.”
What is the biblical foundation for this?
“But the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’ So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. … [God] drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword which turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.” – Genesis 3:4-8, 24
The Gospel Allegory
“We turned our backs on Creator, and made our home in the parched desert. And it claimed us. In the desert, we drank the sand to satisfy our thirst. We became like the sand we were drinking. We turned on one another, we hurt and killed each other, and we abused the land. We wandered in the dry and thirsty desert, and lost hope.”
What is the biblical foundation for this?
“For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin. As it is written: ’There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.’ ‘Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.’ ‘The poison of vipers is on their lips.’ ‘Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.’ ‘Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know.’ ‘There is no fear of God before their eyes.’” – Romans 3:9-18
The Gospel Allegory
“Creator saw our suffering, and how we turned on each other. In a surprising act of love, Creator joined us in the desert. He entered our dry and dusty world. Creator sent his Son, Jesus, which means ‘Creator Sets Free.’ Jesus came to set us free from our thirsty and cracked souls. He brought hope to the desert, offering us living water. Some people drank freely of this delicious gift, but others continued to �choke down sand.”
What is the biblical foundation for this?
“The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God — children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”– John 1:9-14
The Gospel Allegory
“They saw the living water as a threat, and decided to kill Jesus. Creator Sets Free died. But the story doesn’t end there. Creator tricked death and the tomb became a spring! Creator Sets Free rose from the dead and became the living water to the world.”
What is the biblical foundation for this?
“Now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place; for Jesus often met there with his disciples. So Judas, having procured a band of soldiers and some officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, went there with lanterns and torches and weapons. … So they took Jesus, and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramiac is called Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them. … But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb. And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. They said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping?’ She said to them, ‘They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.’ Having said this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus.” – John 18:2-3; 19:16-18; 20:11-14
The Gospel Allegory
“From then until now, we all may drink of his living water, and our deepest thirsts can finally be satisfied. When we trust Jesus and walk with Creator, this new life and love overflows our souls, rippling through our lives and communities.”
What is the biblical foundation for this?
“Jesus answered her, ‘If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, “Give me a drink,” you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.’ The woman said to him, ‘Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock?’ Jesus said to her, ‘Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.’” – John 4:10-14
The Gospel Allegory
FAQs
&
Pro Tips
Native Themes & Questions
Meet the Authors
Terry Wildman
(Ojibwe and Yaqui)
Author, Theologian @TerryMWildman
Ceidric Platero
(Diné)
Campus Staff Minister - �University of New Mexico
Courtland Hopkins
(Sicangu Lakota)
Area Minister Director - �Four Corners
Support Native Staff and Students
Native Students have the opportunity to attend a life-changing conference created specifically for them. Would Jesus Eat Frybread (WJEF) is a weekend for Native Students to gather and experience what it means to be both Christian and Native.
You have two opportunities to support the Native Staff and Students who brought you this beautiful allegory: