Thriving Parents!

We’re continuing our group series on friendships, and this week we used the biblical example of Matthew to encourage and inspire our teenagers. Matthew was one of the first disciples chosen by Jesus, and after responding to Jesus’ call, he turned around and invited a whole bunch of friends to his house for a banquet with Jesus.

We told our students that one of the best ideas to help friends learn more about Jesus is to invite them to an appropriate setting within our youth ministry where they will feel welcome and accepted. Everyone loves being invited to fun, exciting places. Matthew understood this idea and created an opportunity to introduce his friends to Jesus.

This week, I encourage you to find time to talk with your child about the principle of inviting friends to places they feel welcome:

• Do you have specific ideas for making your youth group a friendlier place for your non-believing friends?
• Would our home be a place where your friends could hang out and interact with some friends who follow Jesus?
• How can I help support your efforts to have a positive influence on your friends?

Have a blessed week! Thanks for your prayers and your support!

Thriving Parents,
This week we started a new group series talking about the role of friendships in teenagers’ lives. Our focus is on the importance of telling our friends about Jesus—not in a pushy way and not because we see our friends as “spiritual projects.” We looked at words Paul wrote in Ephesians 6, asking other Christians to pray for him as he spread the message of Jesus.

Paul asked his friends in Ephesus to pray for God to open the right opportunity and the right timing to share the message of Jesus with people. In our lesson, we challenged our students to pray for God to open up opportunities for their friends to hear about Christ. Our teenagers can ask God to open their friends’ hearts and provide the boldness to talk about Jesus.

I’d encourage you to find time this week to talk with your teenager about the importance of having spiritually focused conversations. Remember to offer stories and examples of how you do this in your everyday life or how you struggle with it.

Here are some possible questions to ask:
• What are some opportunities you regularly have for talking to your friends about Jesus?
• Which friends or groups of friends might be most interested in a spiritually focused conversation?
• What fears might you have in taking steps to talk about Jesus?

Pray with your teenager that God would give the right words, the boldness, and the conviction to share the good news of Jesus. Thanks for your prayers and support for our ministry!

(Update) Lesson FollowUp

This was an amazing night.  Over an hour of listening to God, in silence.  Our youth did an amazing job surrendering this time as an offering to God.  Rather than go into details of the night, I’ll simple include our “guide book” for you to explore that walks you through 5 stations, and to use as a conversation starter with your youth.  These were simple experiences, that are easily for anyone to do at home or at school.

Click here to download the guide.

Something Different

This Wednesday, we’re taking a break from “the norm” after finishing up an AWESOME lesson series about finding our purpose in God.  The idea of listening to God was something that carried throughout all of our lessons.  So, this Wednesday we are taking some time to do just that.  Through silence, we’ll have several different experiences in which we will practice quieting the rest of our life, so that we can listen to God.

These experiences are highly practical, in that they can be used just about anywhere and anytime.  There’s nothing magical in them, except that they help us pay careful attention His Voice.

We’re still meeting from 6:30pm-8:00pm.

Thriving Parents!
We finished our five-week group study designed to help students understand God’s purposes for their life. The first week, “Reaching Out to Your Friends,” focused on helping students understand that we are created in God’s image and we have the opportunity to share God’s love with the world. Week two, “Making Significant Connections,” focused on understanding the basic need that humans have to be connected with others on a deeper level. Week three, “Growing in Your Faith,” focused on the truth that we were created to know God and grow spiritually by spending time with God.Week four, “Serving in Ministry,” focused on the truth that God’s unique design provides us with the privilege to serve others. This week our final study was “Honoring God In All That You Do,” and we focused on the truth that God rested on the seventh day to show us the importance of taking time to stop and express our love and worship for God. Using Genesis 2:2-3 and Psalm 46:10, we saw that we were created to honor God.

Sometime this week, generate some discussion with your teenager about honoring God:

• What are some traits of a healthy attitude toward worship?
• As a family do we honor the Sabbath as a day of rest, or does it look just like every other day of the week?
• What are some great ways to prepare yourself to worship God when you come to church?

Thanks for your love for God and your love for your teenager. Have a blessed day!

Dear thriving parents,

We just completed week four in our five-week group study designed to help students understand God’s purposes for their lives. This week’s lesson, called “Serving in Ministry,” focused on the truth that God’s unique design provides us with the privilege to serve others. Our hope is that students will have realized they are gifted to serve and will begin serving others today!  Sometime this week, ask some questions to generate discussion with your teenager about serving others in ministry. Here are some possible questions to ask:

• Share with your teenager how you believe God has gifted you to serve others. What are some ways that you serve others individually?
• As a family, how much do we value the importance of serving? What are some ways that we as a family could serve others in our neighborhood, in our church, and in our community?
• How does serving others in ministry help us grow in our faith?

This connects directly to our SERVESunday program, in which youth can engage in service within the church on Sunday mornings.
Have an incredible week!

Thriving Parents!

We’ve finished week three in a five-week group study designed to help youth understand God’s purposes for their lives. This week’s lesson, called “Growing in  Your Faith,” focused on the truth that we were created to know God. This relationship without God grows as we spend time with him.   Each week I suggest some questions you can ask your student to generate conversation:

• Share with your teenager how you spend time with God. What helps you in your relationship with God? What are the things that hinder your  relationship?
• How is talking with God similar to talking with your friends? How is it different?
• What might your faith look like a year from now if you made a decision to spend time with God each day? How might your life be different?

Thanks for your prayers for our small group ministry! I’m praying for you and your family, too!