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Dangerous Kindness

Exploring the parable of the Good Samaritan as a story of courageous, costly love and grace—helping pupils see that eternal life is a gift from God, not earned by trying harder, and inspiring them to respond with compassion and justice. Sessions are highly interactive and can be condensed or extended to suit your programme timetable.    

Ingredients

What you'll need

Leaders

1-2

Children

Easily scalable to all group sizes 

Prep

  • Read the teaching programme 

  • Print the resource sheets 

  • Gather equipment 

Delivery time

2.5-6 hours  

Equipment

  • Screen and laptop 

  • Printed resource sheets (see downloads) 

  • Session equipment (listed in the teaching programme) 

  

Method

How to do it

  • Session 1 (40 mins): 
    Love God and Love your neighbour as yourself - is this attainable? 
  • Session 2 (30 mins): 
    Unpack the narrative—notice how Jesus’ challenge goes even further…! 
  • Session 3 (45 mins): 
    Puzzle together why Jesus gave this impossible command to ‘go and do likewise’. See how the answer can free people to love others well. 
  • Prayer space: 
    An invitational and inclusive space where pupils can imaginatively respond to Jesus’ teaching and where they can choose to pray for others. 

Supplementary components: 

  • Meal Times/Campfire: Conversation starters 
  • Bedtime story: Suggestions of books that could be used in spare moments of the day or at bedtime. 
  • Activities/craft/games: 
    Suggestions of additional ways to creatively extend the teaching themes 
  • Session 4: Consider how the abundance and goodness of God has spurred Christians through history to have compassion and kindness upon others in their community and to seek justice and goodness on their account. 
  • Session 5: Look at the places of pain in the local, national and international community and consider what it might look like to bring compassion, seeking restoration and flourishing for others. 

Downloads:


  • Full teaching programme and sessions 

  • Prayer Space overview 

  • Prayer Space printable resources 

  • Full worksheet resource pack 

  • Session 1 

  • Session 2 

  • Session 3 

  • Session 4 

  • Session 5 



Outcome

From completing this teaching programme, pupils will: 

Tips:


Consider a collaborative approach, delegating session delivery or resourcing to local church volunteers. This lightens the load for school staff and makes best use of the local church’s expertise. Many schools and churches report that residential collaboration feeds into greater partnership beyond the time away.  

School residentials vary in length and programme structure. This material is written with flexibility so that you can adjust the sessions to suit your context and the time you have available. Many schools use a morning slot straight after breakfast and an evening session after supper. You could easily dwell longer on each session, timetabling more time for discussion. You may also like to make use of the ‘supplementary components’.  


FAQs

No. Sessions 1-3 are core teaching, with the Prayer Space offering pupils the opportunity to reflect on their learning personally. Sessions 4 and 5 are supplementary and offer a menu of options so that schools can situate the practical applications to meet their own context. 

The Teaching Programme gives the shortest time it is possible to complete each session in. You may wish to take longer to allow time for deeper discussion or reflection.  

The material can be delivered by school staff alone. However, working in partnership with your local church/other local Christians, will offer pupils a richer experience and build opportunities for ongoing collaboration.    

Sure.