A lesson · One Way, or One Road?
TeenOne Way, or One Road?
One way to heaven sounds like a lot of pressure — until you read the rest of the sentence and find a very different kind of “only.”
Assumptions & Caveats
Before you begin
What you should know
At this age, faith often stops being something you were handed and starts being something you have to decide about. Teens leaving home, starting jobs, dating, and meeting close friends from other faiths (or none) run straight into “one way” language — and often into a quiet fear: if I question it, am I off the road? Some have been told they’re doing faith wrong. Some tell themselves that.
This lesson puts three “one way” texts side by side — Matthew 7, John 14, and Mary Baker Eddy’s “There is but one way to heaven” — and asks a real question: is the “one way” a route, or a consciousness? Then it holds the tension honestly. If the way is about where you’re looking and what you’re honestly after, that’s not less accountability. It might be more.
Nothing you don’t already have for prep. Read the Science and Health passages once beforehand so you can read them aloud slowly.
What we're assuming
- The room holds real diversity: students from Christian traditions that teach one way to God, students from other faiths, students exploring, students who’ve walked away. Many sincere people hold a “one way” belief out of real love for God. No one’s tradition gets mocked or argued down here, including the one you might disagree with. - Some students may be in active conflict with family about faith right now. Don’t ask anyone to share their family’s beliefs. - Some students carry real shame about “doing it wrong.” Expect that some of what comes up will be heavier than it first sounds.
Learning goals
What they walk away with
1. Can distinguish “one way” as a route you can fall off from “one way” as a consciousness you can turn toward — and can hold both readings with respect. 2. Leaves knowing that questioning and honest seeking aren’t the same as being off the road. 3. Sees that self-condemnation isn’t the same as taking something seriously. 4. Carries a real question into the week: “What am I honestly after right now?”
How to hold the room
Before you start talking
- Open with your own honesty. Something like: “I’m often tempted to think I’m doing it wrong. What exactly? I couldn’t tell you. Prayer, faith, life, all of it.” - Treat disagreement as the lesson working. If a student says “Jesus said he’s the only way,” say “He did. Let’s read it,” and read it together. - You’re not there to resolve the tension neatly by the end of the hour. Let students leave with it still open if that’s where they are. - Anyone can pass on any question, any time.
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.
Naming the pressure
Ask for a quick show of hands, eyes closed if you like: “Who has ever worried they’re doing faith, or prayer, or life ‘wrong’ — even if you couldn’t say exactly how?” Most hands usually go up. Then an open question: “Where does that feeling come from?” Let it be messy — something someone said, something they picked up, probably both.
Three “one way” texts, side by side
Read all three aloud, slowly, one after the other:
Enter ye in at the strait gate... narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
Matthew 7:13–14, KJV
I am the way, the truth, and the life.
John 14:6, KJV
There is but one way to heaven, harmony, and Christ in divine Science shows us this way. It is to know no other reality — to have no other consciousness of life — than good, God and His reflection.
Science and Health, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 242:9–13
Ask: “What kind of ‘way’ is each one describing — a road, a person, a way of seeing? Could they be describing the same thing?” Notice together that Jesus calls himself the way — a person and a life, not a map. And Eddy’s “one way” turns out to be about what you know to be real.
Road or sunrise?
Add Eddy’s definition of 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 See. Yield. Follow. on the board. Offer the sunrise picture: the sun comes up every morning, looks different depending on where you’re standing, and doesn’t skip anybody. You don’t force the sunrise. You keep facing east. Ask: “If the narrow part isn’t the path but where you’re looking — what changes for you? What gets easier? What gets harder?”
Does that mean anything goes?
Name the obvious pushback before someone else does: “If it’s not one road, is there any accountability at all?” Read:
‘Work out your own salvation,’ is the demand of Life and Love, for to this end God worketh with you.
Science and Health, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 22:11–12
Offer this line and let them react to it: “No one grades my homework except me and Truth — and Truth doesn’t grade on a curve.” Ask: “Is that more freedom, or more responsibility? Can it be both?” Then turn the corner:
A mental state of self-condemnation and guilt or a faltering and doubting trust in Truth are unsuitable conditions for healing the sick.
Science and Health, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 455:3–5
Ask: “What’s the difference between taking something seriously and beating yourself up about it?”
The honest father, and what you’re after
Tell the story of the father in Mark 9 briefly, and read his cry: “Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.” (Mark 9:24, KJV). He didn’t have it figured out. He was honest, and his son was healed. Ask: “What did the father’s honesty make room for?”
Close with private writing, two to three minutes, no sharing required: “What am I honestly after right now?” Hand out the wallet card as they leave.
What you'll need
The materials
- A whiteboard or big paper - Paper and pens, or a private digital note - This lesson’s printable wallet card, “Keep Facing East”, for everyone to take; the full handout, “A Road or a Sunrise?”, is a good option for a group that likes to write
If it's not going well
When this one gets heavy
Silence after a hard question is normal — let it sit for a full breath before you rescue it. Strong disagreement (“this is just making religion easier so nobody feels bad”) is the lesson working — thank them and ask the room to respond, rather than defending it yourself. If a student gets visibly upset — especially about family conflict over faith, or about feeling rejected by a community — pause, acknowledge it without fixing it, and check in privately afterward. A disclosure of real harm — self-harm, being kicked out or threatened at home, abuse, spiritual abuse, or a student who seems unsafe — stops the facilitating. Respond as a caring adult first, don’t try to resolve it in the group, and follow the site’s mentor safety guidelines along with your own local mandatory-reporting obligations (which may apply differently to students over 18).
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.