If your class is meeting online, invite students to bring supplies with them to class.

A 2018 study said it takes:
50 hours for an acquaintance to become a casual friend
90 hours for a casual friend to become a friend
200 hours for a friend to become a best friend

• When it comes to your relationship with God, would you consider yourself acquaintances, casual friends, friends, or best friends? Why? (Accept all reasonable answers, ensuring there’s no right or wrong answer. Some students may feel very close to God because of an active prayer life or involvement with Christian ministries; others may feel that church is something they attend without feeling a connection with God.) 
• How would growing in your relationship with God be similar or different to growing in your relationship with friends? (Accept all reasonable answers. The physical difference in relating to God vs. people may seem challenging to students. But, as mentioned earlier, time and conversation would be two similar elements. What that time and conversation consists of might look different… or maybe not so much.) 

Encourage students to set a goal of a number of hours they’d like to spend growing in their friendship with God this year. Lead a discussion that helps them consider how they will count the hours (Worship? Sunday school? Prayer? Bible or devotional reading? What else might count, such as star gazing or nature walks with Him?) Remind them that it isn’t just time that makes a friendship, but the conversation too. Lead the discussion to help students consider how they will speak to God and how they will listen. What will they speak about and what will they listen for? You may want to jot down ideas on a whiteboard (or screenshared document) so students can jot down their own plan before leaving.

Distribute supplies (or invite students to have them ready at home). Invite students to write down their personal goal and plan on an index card. Challenge them to grow their friendship with God this week and making note of what that was like—when they felt a connection, when they didn’t, what they might have heard God say to them, etc. Ask them to come prepared to share about their experience next week.

Close in prayer.