Paul's Friends and Fellow Workers

There is a very specific way to feel lonely: being in the middle of a crowd.

At recess, surrounded by people. In the class group chat, with two hundred unread messages. Three hundred followers. And even so, the feeling that if you disappeared for a week, no one would ask where you went.

You are not being dramatic, and it is not all in your head. It is one of the most common things at your age — and almost no one says it out loud, because admitting it feels like admitting there is something wrong with you.

There isn't.

In the last lesson we left Paul in prison, accused without evidence, speaking of hope before a king. Today we open a part of his letters that almost everyone skips: the list of names at the end.

Romans 16 has nearly thirty names in a row. It looks like a roll call sheet. But read it slowly and you will see what it really is: a man who went through persecution, prison, beatings, and shipwreck making a point of writing down, one by one, the name of everyone who stood by him.

Because no one fulfills alone a mission that God planned to be lived in fellowship.

I — The men who stayed

The Bible mentions several brothers who worked with Paul and held him up in hard times. Look at who they were.

Luke was a physician and was not Jewish. He wrote the book of Acts, and his name does not appear even once in the story — yet he is there. In certain passages the narration shifts from they to we, and that is how we find out that the author was inside the boat (Acts 16:10). Years later, in Paul's last letter, there is a short sentence that hurts: that only Luke was with him (2 Timothy 4:11). The friend who stayed until the end is the same one who wrote everything down, without putting his own name anywhere. In the greeting to the Colossians, Paul calls him the beloved physician (Colossians 4:14).

Barnabas was the one who took a chance on Paul when no one wanted to go near him. He was Jewish, from Cyprus, and Luke describes him as a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith (Acts 11:24). He was the one who went all the way to Tarsus to look for Paul and bring him to Antioch (Acts 11:25, 26) — in other words, someone had to go after him. And he was the one who wanted to give a second chance to John Mark, who had quit in the middle of a journey. Paul did not want to. And what the Bible does not hide happened: the disagreement between them was so sharp that they parted from each other (Acts 15:39).

Hold on to that, because it comes back at the end of the lesson.

Silas stepped into Barnabas's place on the second journey. And he proved his worth in Philippi: he was arrested and beaten with rods alongside Paul, the two of them with their feet in the stocks. Around midnight, bruised and battered, they were praying and singing hymns to God — and the other prisoners were listening (Acts 16:23-25). A friendship that sings in jail is not the kind that just makes plans to hang out on Saturday. It is in another category.

Timothy was a grown teen from Lystra, the son of a Jewish mother and a Greek father (Acts 16:1). Paul met him on the second journey, and the young man became the closest disciple he ever had. Many years later, writing to the Philippians, Paul says something impressive about him: "I have nobody else like him who will genuinely care for your needs." (Philippians 2:20) In plain words: there is no one else who cares about you the way he does.

Titus was Greek; he does not appear in Acts, only in the letters — and even so he received one of the heaviest assignments: organizing the churches in Crete (Titus 1:5). Philemon was the owner of the house where the church in Colossae probably met, and he was the one who received from Paul the most delicate request in the Bible: to forgive Onesimus, the slave who had run away from him and was now coming back as a brother in Christ. Tychicus is introduced as a beloved brother, faithful minister, and fellow servant in the Lord (Colossians 4:7) — he was the one who carried the letters. There was no postal service. Someone had to cross the sea and the road with the scroll in hand, with no applause at all, and get there.

And there is one name that ruins the happy ending.

Demas. He appears in the greeting of Colossians (Colossians 4:14), next to Luke, as part of the team. In the last letter, he appears like this: Demas had forsaken Paul, having loved this present world (2 Timothy 4:10).

Paul wrote the name down. He did not cover it up, did not pretend it never happened, and did not spend the whole letter talking about it either. He wrote it, it hurt, and he kept going.

🕊 Our reading. Notice what shows up three times on this list. Barnabas took a chance on Paul when no one else would. Silas took a beating alongside him. Luke stayed when everyone else had already left. Christian friendship, in the Bible, is not measured by how much fun it is — it is measured by what it can endure. And it is worth saying plainly: this is not about having lots of friends. Paul had a huge list and wrote, about the most frightening day of his life, that no one showed up (2 Timothy 4:16). Anyone who is counting friends is doing the wrong math. The right question is not "how many?", it is "for whom have I been that kind of person?"

II — The women who sustained the work

Acts and Paul's letters mention many women working for the Gospel. Of some, we only have the name — Claudia, Nympha, Junia, Tryphena, Tryphosa, Persis. Of others, we have a whole story.

Lydia sold purple cloth, the most expensive fabric in the ancient world. In other words, she was a businesswoman, and a very good one. She came to know Jesus while listening to Paul preach at a place of prayer by the riverbank in Philippi, and the very first thing she did after believing was open her home to that group of outsiders (Acts 16:13-15). Many scholars understand that the church in Philippi was born right there, in her living room.

Damaris was at the Areopagus in Athens, the place where the most educated people in the city gathered to debate ideas. When Paul spoke of the resurrection, a good part of the audience laughed. She believed (Acts 17:34). One person in the middle of a whole room that was mocking.

Phoebe worked alongside Paul in Cenchreae, a port city next to Corinth, and she was the one who carried the letter to the Romans all the way to Rome. Paul calls her our sister and asks the church to welcome her and help her with whatever she needs — and gives the reason: because she had been a host and helper to many, including Paul himself (Romans 16:2). The deepest letter Paul ever wrote crossed the sea in the luggage of a woman the church in Rome had never met.

And then comes the list in Romans 16, which is where things get really good. Priscilla and Aquila, his fellow workers in Christ Jesus, who risked their own necks for his life (Romans 16:3, 4) — meaning they nearly died for him. Mary, who worked very hard for them (Romans 16:6). Tryphena and Tryphosa, who labor in the Lord, and Persis, who labored much in the Lord (Romans 16:12). Rufus's mother, whom Paul calls his own mother as well (Romans 16:13) — somewhere along that road, a woman cared for him the way she would care for a son, and he never forgot it.

There is even the secretary's name: "I, Tertius, who wrote down this letter, greet you in the Lord." (Romans 16:22) The guy holding the pen asked permission and signed his name.

🏛 In the traces of history. Look at the names in Romans 16 together and a portrait of the early church appears that is hard to forget. There are Greek names and Jewish names. There are names that, back then, were typical of slaves and freedmen — and there is Erastus, the city treasurer (Romans 16:23), a public official in Corinth. Very poor people and people with money, in the same room, treated as brothers and sisters on the same list. And that room was probably someone's home: Paul speaks of the church that meets in their house (Romans 16:5) and sends greetings to the church that meets in her house in Colossae as well (Colossians 4:15). Christian church buildings, as we know them, did not exist yet. There is suggestive evidence, from excavations of large houses from that world, that dining rooms and courtyards held groups of a few dozen people — and that is roughly the size we should picture. No auditorium. A borrowed living room, people sitting too close together, and the Gospel right in the middle.

III — A couple, a workshop, a church

The third group in the lesson is just two people, and it may be the story that looks most like your life.

Aquila and Priscilla were Jewish and had been expelled from Rome when Emperor Claudius ordered the Jews to leave the city. They lost everything they had built and started over in Corinth. That was where Paul arrived:

"and he stayed and worked with them because they were tentmakers by trade, just as he was." (Acts 18:3)

Read what happened there again. Paul, the greatest missionary in the history of the church, spent months working. Cutting and sewing thick cloth — made of goat hair, according to what is known about the trade in the region he came from — with calloused hands, alongside a couple he had just met.

And while they sewed, they became friends. Then they became a team. The couple went with him to Ephesus, opened their home for the church to meet in, and when a brilliant preacher named Apollos showed up teaching the truth only halfway, it was the two of them who took him aside and explained the way of God more accurately (Acts 18:24-26) — with respect, without humiliating anyone in front of the church.

Notice one thing: they did not quit their profession to serve God. They served God inside their profession. The workshop became a meeting point, the home became a church, the job became a mission.

❤ For your life. You probably do not have a workshop. But you have the exact same thing they had: a place where you spend hours every day with the same people. It is called school. And that is where this lesson happens for real. It is not about you becoming a recess preacher. It is about the kind of person you are between one class and the next: whether people can trust you, whether you keep what they confide in you, whether you talk about people behind their backs. Priscilla and Aquila earned Apollos's respect before they had anything to teach him. First comes the way you treat people; then comes the subject. And there is one thing this story does not authorize at all: going around "cutting off the wrong friends." Paul shared a house and a trade with people he met in a workshop, and preached to philosophers who laughed at him. Choosing wisely who influences you is wisdom; discarding people is the opposite of the Gospel.

Christ in the Lesson

Put it all together now.

A man who made friends in ten cities. Who had people willing to go to prison for him, to risk their necks for him, to cross the sea delivering his letters. A list of nearly thirty names written with affection, one by one.

And at the end of his life, that very same man wrote this:

"At my first defense, no one stood with me, but everyone deserted me. May it not be charged against them." (2 Timothy 4:16)

The most important day of the trial. The courtroom packed. And by his side, no one.

Notice that Paul did not curse those who failed to show up — he asked that it not be held against them. And then came the next sentence, which is the entire lesson in a single breath:

"But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message would be fully proclaimed, and all the Gentiles would hear it. So I was delivered from the mouth of the lion." (2 Timothy 4:17)

That is why this study cannot end with "have good friends." A good friend is an enormous gift from God — and even the best of them was not made to carry the weight that only God carries. A friend falls asleep, a friend changes schools, a friend messes up, a friend sometimes walks away loving something else. Anyone who turns a friend into a savior will end up disappointed, and will also crush that friend under a weight that was never theirs to bear.

There is only One who can bear it:

"Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." (John 15:13)

And He was not talking about theory. He was hours away from the cross, looking at a group of men who, that very night, were going to run away and leave Him alone. He knew it. And He called those guys friends anyway:

"No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not understand what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, because everything I have learned from My Father I have made known to you." (John 15:15)

That is the difference. The friendships in your life are ones you earn, cultivate, and sometimes lose. This One came looking for you first. Christ did not wait for you to become interesting, popular, or put-together to call you a friend — He gave His life when there was still no reason at all to do so.

And that isouden why the church works. That list in Romans 16 — Greek with Jew, slave with government official, man and woman, rich and poor — was not a group of similar people who happened to get along by chance. They were people who had nothing in common except the Friend who died for all of them. He was the One who turned that crowd into a family.

If you are reading this and the part about loneliness hit home: take it to God before taking it to anyone else. He will not think you are overreacting.

Practical Application

Make your own list of names. Paul wrote them down one by one, along with what each person did. Think about who has been a Barnabas to you — who took a chance on you when no one else did. You have probably never told that person.

Be the kind of friend the lesson describes, not just the kind you want to receive. "No one should seek his own good, but the good of others." (1 Corinthians 10:24) Most frustration with friendship comes from expecting from others what we ourselves are not doing.

Do not measure friendship by numbers. Three hundred followers and no one to call on a bad day is the reality for many people your age. One real person is worth more than the whole list.

Notice who is alone and make the simplest move there is. Sit next to them. Ask if you can join. Save a seat. No speech is needed — a speech is almost never what fixes it.

Forgive early. Paul and Barnabas split up over an argument about Mark (Acts 15:39), and years later Paul wrote that Mark was very useful to him for the ministry (2 Timothy 4:11). There was time to mend things. There isn't always time. Do not let it turn sour.

And do not ask a friend for what only Christ can give. Human friendship is meant for walking together, not for saving. He is the only One who never leaves.

Closing Prayer

Lord Jesus, thank You for being the Friend who gave His life for His own. Thank You for not waiting until we were good enough to call us friends. Thank You for every person You have placed by our side — for those who believed in us when no one else did, for those who stayed when staying was costly. Help us to be that kind of person for someone else, and not just wait around for it. Take care of whoever is reading this prayer feeling alone: do not let that heart believe the lie that something is wrong with them. Give us eyes to see who is left out and courage to come close. And make our church a family where no one fights alone. In Your name, amen.

Soli Deo Gloria — Scripture governs; everything else, on its knees.

Teacher's Guide

Essence of the class

No one fulfills alone the mission that God planned to be lived in fellowship — and the friendship that withstands prison and shipwreck only exists because before it came Christ, the Friend who gives His life for His own.

Map of the class

Time	Stage
0–5 min	Opening — the hook of the list of names
5–14 min	Point 1 — The men who stayed
14–21 min	Point 2 — The women who sustained the work
21–29 min	Class activity — the list in Romans 16
29–36 min	Point 3 — A couple, a workshop, a church
36–42 min	Christ in the Lesson + hard questions
42–45 min	Wrap-up + challenge + prayer

Start like this

Open your Bible to Romans 16 and read aloud, without stopping, verses 1 to 16 — the whole list of names, with all the hard-to-pronounce names. Read quickly, like someone calling roll. When you finish, close the Bible and ask: "Why do you think God left a list of greetings right at the end of the most important letter Paul ever wrote?" Let two or three students take a guess. You will hear "no idea," "to say thank you," "because he liked them." Accept every answer. Then say: "This man was arrested, beaten, stoned, and shipwrecked. And he made a point of writing down, one by one, the name of everyone who stood by him. Today we are going to find out who these people were — and why no one does alone what God commanded us to do together." Say one sentence before moving on, looking at the whole class: "Just one thing before we start: today's class is about friendship, and no one here is going to have to say how many friends they have or talk about their personal life if they don't want to."

Point 1 — The men who stayed

• In the quarterly: topic I ("The men"), featuring the seven highlighted fellow workers, and the Theological Aid on the list of names in Romans 16.
• What to teach: walk through the seven without getting bogged down in details. Luke — physician, Gentile, wrote Acts and never mentioned himself; the shift to we in Acts 16:10 gives away that he was there; at the end, only Luke was still with Paul (2 Timothy 4:11). Barnabas — took a chance on Paul when no one else would and went to look for him in Tarsus (Acts 11:25, 26). Silas — arrested and beaten alongside him in Philippi, and the two of them singing at midnight (Acts 16:23-25). Timothy — a grown teen from Lystra who became his closest disciple (Philippians 2:20). Titus — Greek, was entrusted with Crete. Philemon — hosted the church in his house and received the plea to forgive Onesimus. Tychicus — the one who carried the letters when there was no postal service (Colossians 4:7). Close with Demas, who appears on the team (Colossians 4:14) and later abandons him (2 Timothy 4:10): the Bible does not sugarcoat friendships that end.
• Anchor verse (BSB): "Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is useful to me in the ministry." (2 Timothy 4:11)
• Key question: "Out of all of these, which kind of friend is the hardest to find: the one who believes in you at the start, the one who takes the hit with you, or the one who stays until the end?"
• Likely answers (+ going deeper): "the one who stays," "none of them, honestly," "the one who takes the hit with you." Go deeper by flipping the question: "Now turn it around. Which of those kinds of friend have you been to someone else?" Let the silence sit for a few seconds — that question does its own work.
• If no one speaks: share first, briefly and without drama — "my Barnabas was so-and-so, who believed in me when I..." — and hand the question back. The class opens up after the teacher goes first.

Point 2 — The women who sustained the work

• In the quarterly: topic II ("The women"), featuring Lydia, Damaris, and Phoebe, and the Theological Aid on Phoebe carrying the letter to the Romans.
• What to teach: Lydia — seller of purple cloth, a very expensive fabric; believed by the riverbank in Philippi and immediately opened her home (Acts 16:13-15); many understand that the church in Philippi was born there. Damaris — believed at the Areopagus in Athens while much of the room mocked (Acts 17:34). Phoebe — fellow worker in Cenchreae, called our sister by Paul, carried the letter to the Romans (there was no postal service), and is commended because she had been a host and helper to many (Romans 16:2). Then go through the list: Priscilla, who risked her neck for Paul (Romans 16:3, 4); Mary, Tryphena, Tryphosa, and Persis, remembered for working very hard (Romans 16:6, 12); and Tertius, the secretary, who signed the letter himself (Romans 16:22). The point is this: God recorded the names of people nobody applauded.
• Anchor verse (BSB): "Welcome her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the saints, and assist her with anything she may need from you. For she has been a great help to many people, including me." (Romans 16:2)
• Key question: "Who in your life does a ton of things for you that nobody sees and nobody thanks them for?"
• Likely answers (+ going deeper): "my mom," "my grandma," silence, laughter. Go deeper: "Paul could have written 'greetings to everyone.' Instead, he wrote name after name, and what each person did. Why do you think he went to all that trouble?"
• If no one speaks: read Romans 16:6 and Romans 16:12 slowly and ask only this: "what do these four women have in common?" The class will spot the "worked hard" on their own.
• Caution in this part: if a student brings up the debate over women pastors or deaconesses, do not improvise or turn the class into that debate. Use the ready-made answer in the "If they ask you this" section and move on.

Point 3 — A couple, a workshop, a church

• In the quarterly: topic III ("The missionary couple"), with the Teaching Aid on the tentmaking trade.
• What to teach: Aquila and Priscilla were Jews expelled from Rome by order of Emperor Claudius; they lost everything and started over in Corinth (Acts 18:2). Paul arrived, found out they shared the same trade, and stayed working with them, since they were tentmakers by trade (Acts 18:3). Explain the work — cutting and sewing thick cloth made of goat hair, according to what is known of the trade in Paul's home region; it was heavy, long work. Right there in the workshop, their friendship was born. Later the couple went with him to Ephesus (Acts 18:19), opened their home for the church to meet in (Romans 16:5), and when Apollos showed up preaching the truth halfway, the two of them took him aside and explained the way of God more accurately (Acts 18:24-26) — without humiliating anyone in public. The point: they did not quit their profession to serve God; they served God inside it. Translate it directly for the class: a teenager's "workplace" is school.
• Anchor verse (BSB): "and he stayed and worked with them because they were tentmakers by trade, just as he was." (Acts 18:3)
• Key question: "If someone from your school had to describe you in one sentence, what would that person say?"
• Likely answers (+ going deeper): laughter, "I'd rather not know," "the quiet kid," "the funny one." Go deeper without pressuring them: "Priscilla and Aquila earned Apollos's respect before they had anything to teach him. First comes the way you act, then comes the subject. What is the way you act teaching people?"
• If no one speaks: tell the story of Apollos in thirty seconds and ask only this: "why did they call him aside instead of correcting him in front of everyone?" The class answers right away — and that is the whole point.
• Caution in this part: when talking about "what others would say about you," never ask the class to describe a classmate. The question is about oneself, and the answer can stay inside each student's head.

Class activity

• Goal: to have the class discover, Bible in hand, that every name on Paul's list comes attached to something concrete the person did — and that this is what the Bible calls friendship. No one counts how many friends they have, no one picks teams, no one is left without a partner, and no one reads anything aloud about their own life.
• Materials: a Bible, strips of paper with one reference written on each (Romans 16:1, 2 / Romans 16:3, 4 / Romans 16:6 / Romans 16:12 / Romans 16:13 / Romans 16:22 / Colossians 4:7 / Colossians 4:14 / 2 Timothy 4:11 / Acts 16:14, 15), a pen for each student, and the board.
• Step by step: divide the class into pairs or trios — you form the groups; never let the class pick their own, so no one is left out. Each group draws a strip of paper and has four minutes to answer two things: who this person is and what exactly he or she did. Then each group dictates its answer and you write it on the board in two columns: NAME | WHAT THEY DID. In five minutes the board is full: hosted people, risked their life, worked hard, carried the letter, stayed until the end, was like a mother. Then ask for silence and do the last part: each student flips the strip over and writes, on the back, the name of one person who has done something like that for them. Say out loud beforehand: "it can be someone from home, from church, a teacher, someone who doesn't even come here — no one is going to read this, no one is going to collect it, and no one is going to say it out loud. It is yours; you take it home in your pocket."
• Wrap-up (back to the text): "Look at the board. Not one of these names made it onto Paul's list for being popular. They made it because they did something — they opened their home, carried a letter, stayed when staying was costly. And look at the paper in your hand: the person you wrote down there probably has no idea they are on that list. Paul made a point of writing it down. This week, you are going to do the same."

If they ask you this

• "What if I don't have any friends?" Handle this with the utmost care, without looking at anyone in particular. Tell the truth: the best-accompanied man in the New Testament wrote that no one stood with him at his first defense, but everyone forsook him (2 Timothy 4:16). Loneliness is not a diagnosis of a personal flaw, and never say or let the class say that "if you don't have friends, it's because you don't make an effort." Point to the two real ways forward: Paul's very next sentence — that the Lord stood with him and strengthened him (2 Timothy 4:17) — and the fact that friendship almost always starts with one person and one small gesture, not with a group.
• "Can Christians only be friends with believers? Do I have to cut off my friends who aren't from church?" Say no clearly, because that idea goes around and does real damage. Paul shared a home and a workshop with a couple he met through work (Acts 18:2, 3) and made friends in Athens (Acts 17:34). What Scripture tells us to choose carefully is influence, not everyday company. Never tell a teenager to cut off relationships — that turns into isolation and intolerance toward classmates of another faith.
• "My best friend ditched me. Now what?" Demas is in the Bible for this very reason (2 Timothy 4:10). Paul wrote his name down, it hurt, and he kept going — and in the very same paragraph he asked for Mark to be brought to him (2 Timothy 4:11), someone who had previously let him down. Losing one friendship does not force anyone to lock every door.
• "Paul and Barnabas had a huge fight. So is fighting among believers normal?" It really happened: the disagreement between them was so sharp that they parted from each other (Acts 15:39). Both kept serving God, and years later Paul acknowledged Mark's value (2 Timothy 4:11). Conflict happens; holding on to a conflict for a lifetime is what cannot happen.
• "Romans 16 has a lot of women working. Does that mean a woman can be a pastor?" Give a short, steady answer without turning it into a debate. What the chapter shows beyond dispute is that women were indispensable fellow workers — Phoebe carried the letter and hosted many (Romans 16:2), Priscilla risked her life (Romans 16:3, 4), and Mary, Tryphena, Tryphosa, and Persis worked hard (Romans 16:6, 12). Now, Romans 16 is a list of greetings, not a church-order manual; questions about church office are discussed from other passages and with the local church leadership. If someone brings up the name Junia (Romans 16:7), tell the truth: there is an ancient debate about that name and the meaning of the phrase, many understand that it refers to a woman while others do not, and translations differ on this point. It is not a settled matter, and it is not the subject of the lesson.

Wrap-up + challenge of the week

• Wrap-up: "Look at where this list ends. The same Paul who lovingly wrote down thirty names also wrote that no one stood with him at his first defense, but everyone forsook him (2 Timothy 4:16). He had plenty of friends and still had a day when nobody showed up. And then comes the sentence that holds the whole lesson together: that the Lord stood with him and strengthened him (2 Timothy 4:17). That is why this class does not end with 'have good friends.' A friend is a gift from God, and no friend was made to carry what only God carries. There is only One who gives His life for His own — no one has greater love than this, to lay down his life for his friends (John 15:13) — and He said that just hours before dying, looking at people who were going to run away that very night, and He called those guys friends anyway. If you feel alone today, here is the good news: He came looking for you first. And He is the One who took that whole crowd of different people in Romans 16 and turned them into a family."
• Challenge: this week, choose one person who has done something for you and tell them — in person, in a note, by text message, however you can — what exactly they did and how much it helped you. No generic "thanks for everything": it has to name the specific thing, and it has to have the person's name. It can be someone from home, from church, from school, a teacher, or someone you haven't seen in a while. On Sunday, come back with the story.
• Caution when following up: on Sunday, ask what it was like to say it and how the person responded — never "how many friends do you have" or "who thanked you." State three boundaries out loud when giving the challenge: (1) no one is required to tell the class whom they chose; (2) the challenge counts just the same if the person is a family member — this is not a popularity contest, and there is no better or worse answer; (3) if a student opens up about something serious (experiencing isolation, bullying at school, a crisis at home), thank them for their trust, do not ask for details in front of the class, and bring it to the church leadership that very same day.

Teacher's kit

• Before: read all of Romans 16 aloud in one sitting, hard-to-pronounce names and all — it is the best preparation there is for this class. Then read 2 Timothy 4:9-21 and Philippians 2:19-30. Read the three topics in the quarterly and the Aids. Prepare the paper strips for the class activity at home.
• Bring: a Bible, the strips with the references, pens, and chalk or a marker for the board. If there is time left over, the "Let's Practice" section in the quarterly wraps up Point 1 well.
• Pray beforehand: pray to God for two specific students when you may not even know who they are: the one who will walk in today feeling like they have nobody, and the one who just lost a friend. Ask for wisdom to speak to both without pointing to either.

Homework

Your mission for the week

Choose one person who has done something real for you and tell them this week — face to face, in a note, or in a text message, however you can. With just one rule: say what they actually did. No generic "thanks for everything." Make it "thank you for inviting me to sit with you on the first day," "thank you for staying with me that day I was feeling awful," "thank you for waking up early every day to make my breakfast." It can be someone at home, at church, at school, a teacher, or someone you haven't seen in a long time. One person, one concrete thing, spoken.

Why

Paul could have closed his letter to the Romans with "greetings to everyone." Instead, he wrote down nearly thirty names, one by one, and what each person had done: hosted people, worked hard, risked their life, been like a mother (Romans 16:2, 3, 4, 6, 12, 13). He was in prison, had more urgent things to write, and still spent ink on this. It is the Golden Text put into practice: "No one should seek his own good, but the good of others." (1 Corinthians 10:24) Almost no one knows they are on your list. This week, one person is going to know.

How to know you did it

You know the person's name, you know the sentence you said, and you know the day. If you can say "it was on Wednesday, I told my grandma I'm grateful because she waited up for me," you did it.

On Sunday, come back with the story

Next class starts with whoever spoke up. You do not need to say who the person was — just share what it was like to say it, and what the person answered.