Student Handout (Peers Can Only Pressure You if You Let Them)

Student Handout
Peers Can Only Pressure You if You Let Them

Scripture Passage: Mark 6:17-29

Key Verse: Mark 6:26b. “Because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he did not want to refuse her.”

Goals and Objectives:
• To determine what makes peer pressure influence us so strongly.
• To develop a strategy to decrease the influence of our peers over our decisions.

Main Idea: Through forethought and the power of the Holy Spirit, a believer can develop strategies to de-fuse the power of peer pressure.


We are all influenced by peer pressure. Sometimes we are influenced to do things that are good, and sometimes the choices are both all right. Other times, though, we may be pressured into doing something that we really don’t want to do, or that we consider to be wrong. Let’s look at an incident of peer pressure in the Scripture and see if we can determine what motivated the character and how he might have chosen differently if he had been prepared to stand against the influence of the group he was with.

I. Observe what led to Herod’s foolish and costly decision. What elements of the story make this an example of peer pressure?
A. Verses 21 and 26.
B. Verses 22 and 23.
C. What did Herod do as a result of trying to impress his guests?


B. Define the tempting elements present in this story. What made Herod consent to having John killed? Name at least two reasons Herod decided to behead John the Baptist.

IV. Determine if the same elements are present in today’s experiences with peer pressure.

In your small group, prepare a short skit that illustrates a peer pressure situation. After each group presents its skit, discuss the following questions in order determine how peer pressure was involved.

A. What kinds of people were present in the situation? Were they people you would want to impress in some way?

B. In the situation you were involved in, was there any pressure to make a decision quickly?

C. To what degree, on a scale of 1 to 5, did you feel pressured by the people or the situation?

D. What would have made the pressure less?

E. Do you think the people in the skit made a good, neutral, or bad decision? Why?

Action Point
Use these questions to help you state some principles for making decisions in peer pressure situations:
• In my heart, whom do I want to please most, God or my peers?
• What standards will I use to determine what is OK to do and what is not?
• When should I decide about how to respond in a peer pressure situation? In advance or on the spot? Why?
• How can the Holy Spirit living in me help me when I find myself in a situation in which I’m tempted to follow my peers by doing something I know is wrong?