Gospel Culture: Burden Bearing
Note: this resource is part of our gospel culture series, written by Vince Greenwald, the student ministry director at Immanuel Church in Nashville, TN. As part of an effort to embody a gospel culture in their student ministry, they practice Honor Time, Walking in the Light, and Burden Bearing Time together during their regular Wednesday night meetings. These regular practices are centered on the idea that gospel doctrine creates a gospel culture. They help students see that the gospel shapes their real lives and is more than just a good idea. For more on these, listen to the YPT Podcast with Vince on episode 10, “Growing Gospel Culture in Student Ministry.”
“Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” Galatians 6:2
One of the key ways that we are called to live out the gospel in the church is by bearing one another’s burdens. This means both sharing the things that weigh on our hearts with each other and then carrying the burdens of our fellow believers. Burden-bearing Time is a regular opportunity for us to tangibly obey and live out this command from Galatians 6:2.
What is a burden? A burden could be many things: a broken relationship with a relative or friend, having been betrayed, sinned against, or wounded, anxiety related to school or a sport, a sin struggle that you are in that you can’t seem to get out of, the loss of a loved one, pain from living in a broken, sinful world. All of these are burdens. And all of us carry them. And none of us who belong to Christ and his church have to carry them alone.
How do we share during burden-bearing time?
Scripture: Introduce the time by reading Galatians 6:2 and explaining what we are about to do, share our burdens, pray for one another, and then carry our burdens together.
Sharing: A leader will go first and share with the group a heavy burden that is weighing them down. They’re not going to use fancy language or lots of words, but just explain the burden as clearly and plainly as they can.
Prayer: Then at least one other person, but up to 3 or 4 people will come around them, and pray for them, for God to act and move in this situation. Anyone who feels led to pray for the person can just jump right in and ask for the Lord to help.
Carrying the Burden Together: In that sharing and praying, the burden goes from just being on one person’s shoulders to being shared by all of us. Now we’re living like Christians, carrying each other’s burdens, by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Repeat: After the leader goes, the person to their left is invited to go next.
Follow up: We’re now bearing these burdens together. Let’s keep bearing them through prayer and tangibly caring for one another and checking on one another.
How is this different from Walking in the Light?
Walking in the Light is focused on confessing sins that we have committed. Burden-bearing Time is sharing heavy things in our life such as anxiety in school, a broken relationship, the death of a loved one, being sinned against, things that may not be caused by our sin but that weigh us down.
IMPORTANT NOTE: As your group members are sharing, leaders should write down the burdens being shared and pray for and, to the extent possible, tangibly help carry these burdens. If we don’t follow up with our sister or brother who shares, we risk hypocrisy and students feeling like they are alone with the burden that they shared.