A lesson · Am I Doing It Wrong?
Grade 6-8Am I Doing It Wrong?
Everyone else seems to have the instructions. You’re off to the side, squinting. What if the “narrow way” was never about the road at all?
Assumptions & Caveats
Before you begin
What you should know
Middle schoolers are often quietly convinced that everyone else got a set of instructions they missed — for friendships, for school, for how to look and act, and sometimes for faith (“am I praying right?”). That feeling of standing off to the side of a narrow road, squinting, is very common at this age and almost never said out loud.
This lesson offers a different picture: the “straight and narrow way,” in Mary Baker Eddy’s words, isn’t a route you can fall off. It’s a posture — see, yield, follow — and it’s open from wherever you’re standing. The centerpiece is a short Bible story about a father who was honest enough to say “I believe; help my unbelief,” and was answered anyway.
Quiet in this room is very often engagement, not disinterest. The private-writing beat exists because most students will go somewhere honest on paper that they’d never say in front of peers. That’s a full, successful use of this lesson. Nothing you don’t already have for prep.
What we're assuming
- The room holds a real range of faith backgrounds. Some students come from traditions that teach there is one narrow way to God, sincerely and out of love. This lesson doesn’t argue with that — it offers a picture of what “narrow” might mean. Never set it up as “some churches get this wrong.” - Every student can privately name at least one place they feel like they’re “doing it wrong.” Nobody has to say what it is. - Being hard on yourself at this age can shade into real distress. Watch for a student who seems more upset than reflective during the writing beat.
Learning goals
What they walk away with
1. Recognizes the “everyone else has the instructions” feeling as something many people carry — not proof that they’re actually behind. 2. Feels the difference between a road you can fall off and a direction you can always turn toward. 3. Carries a private question into real moments: “Which way am I facing right now?” 4. Has written one honest sentence to God, in their own words — and knows honesty is a real place to start, not a failure.
How to hold the room
Before you start talking
- Open by being a little honest yourself: “I sometimes catch myself thinking I’m doing it wrong — and I couldn’t even tell you what ‘it’ is.” That gives students permission. - Never require sharing. Offer it, and mean it when most of the room stays quiet. - If a student pushes back (“but the Bible says the way is narrow!”), welcome it. That verse is real, and it’s part of this lesson. You’re exploring what “narrow” means, not erasing it.
The lesson flow
Step by step
Each beat alternates a little input, a little doing, and a little reflecting. Skip, slow down, or stretch any of these to fit your group.
The squint
Draw a simple picture on the board: a thin road, and a stick figure standing off to one side, squinting at it. Ask, no sharing required yet: “Have you ever felt like this person? Like there’s a right way to do something, everyone else knows it, and you’re off to the side trying to figure it out?”
Invite a one-word category if anyone wants to offer one — “school,” “friends,” “sports,” “prayer,” “family.” No details needed.
What “narrow” might mean
Read Jesus’ words:
Narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
Matthew 7:14, KJV
Say plainly: “A lot of people picture this as a thin road. Lots of sincere people believe that, and they believe it because they love God. Here’s how Mary Baker Eddy described the narrow way.”
The straight and narrow way is to see and acknowledge this fact, yield to this power, and follow the leadings of truth.
Science and Health, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 151:28–30
Write three words on the board: See. Yield. Follow. Ask: “Is that a road? Or is it more like which way you’re facing?” Let them talk. Offer a picture if they need one: a sunrise comes up every morning. It looks a little different depending on where you’re standing, but it’s the same sun, and it doesn’t skip anybody. The narrow part might not be the road. It might be where you’re looking.
The honest father
Tell the story from Mark 9:17–27 in your own words, as a real scene: a father brings his son, who is very sick, to Jesus’ followers, and they can’t help. He comes to Jesus desperate. Jesus says all things are possible to someone who believes. And the father cries out, in tears:
Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.
Mark 9:24, KJV
Slow down there. He didn’t say “I have perfect faith.” He said, basically, “I’m trying, and I’m not all the way there.” And Jesus healed his son. Ask: “What do you notice about what the father said?” Take a few answers. You don’t have to land it.
Private writing: one honest sentence
Hand out paper, or have students open a private note. Invite them to write one honest sentence to God, in the father’s shape, using their own words. Offer the frame on the board:
“I _______; help me with _______.”
Examples if they need them: “I’m trying to be a good friend; help me with how jealous I feel.” “I want to believe you’re there; help me with the part of me that isn’t sure.” Give real quiet — at least four minutes. Nobody turns it in. Nobody has to share. Offer: “If anyone wants to read theirs, I’d love to hear it.”
Carry it
Say it simply: being really hard on yourself isn’t the narrow way. It just feels serious. Honest trying — like the father’s — is.
Teach the carry-question: Not “Am I on the right road?” — “Which way am I facing?” Ask them to think privately of one place this week where they might use it: before a test, in a group chat, after a fight, when they’re praying and it feels like nothing’s happening. Close by handing out the wallet card.
What you'll need
The materials
- A whiteboard or big paper for the road-and-squint drawing and the three words - Paper and pens (or a private digital note) for the writing beat - This lesson’s printable wallet card, “Keep Facing East” — hand it out at the close as something to keep, not something to fill out in the room. The full handout, “A Road or a Sunrise?”, also works well here if you’d rather use it.
If it's not going well
When this one gets heavy
Silence is the expected shape of the writing beat — don’t fill it. Pushback about the Bible verse, or about whether prayer works at all, is welcome; meet it honestly (“I’m still learning this too”) rather than defending. Snickering or deflection usually means the topic hit close — keep your tone steady and move to the next beat. A strong emotional reaction (tears, visible distress, a student who writes or says something like “I always ruin everything”) calls for a pause, a private check-in, and space to step out. A disclosure of real harm — self-harm, abuse, being unsafe at home or online — should not be worked through in the room. Stay warm and receive it (“Thank you for telling me. I take that seriously.”), and follow the site’s mentor safety guidelines together with your own church’s mandatory-reporting obligations. This age often discloses inside private writing rather than out loud, so read anything handed to you with care.
For the fuller tiered guidance — including what to do if someone discloses something serious — see For Mentors.
Help this get better
Teaching this to a group we haven't planned for?
Tell us — this only gets better with your eyes on it. We read every one of these.