That blog title is a lot more fun when you sing it to the Alice Cooper tune, but yes, school is somehow still out for Sumner schools. I know your students (and you guys too) are itching to get back out of the house, out of the "boredom" of no school so that 3 weeks from now they can talk about how much they hate school and are ready to be out again....it's a vicious cycle!
In other news, here's what's going on @FBCG this week:
1) Tomorrow night is our second session of our Intersect series...more about that in a minute...but the short version is we are going to talk about when something starts as a good idea but ends up being less than that. Send your students to The Attic @ 5:45 for some good stuff.
2) Sunday mornings our Sunday School classes kick off at 9:30 so we hope to see your students there!
3) This Sunday night, we will be starting our Sunday night Bible studies back up and we're going to be going through a series called "Generation Change" from Dave Ramsey. We'll be talking about money and money principles from a Biblical standpoint and hopefully helping to build a solid foundation for your students and their finances moving forward. This series will be taught by myself and Kathy Decker and it'll be up in The Attic from 6 -7.
4) Wednesday September 5th will be BIGNITE and we'll be getting messy playing some OMC as schools...in other words...send your kids and their friends for some good food and make sure they bring a change of clothes cause they're gonna need it! More info coming!
Now back to our Intersect series.....Tomorrow night your student is going to walk through the New Testament to get a better understanding of the temple (we walked through a bit of the Old Testament last week). But not just the temple as the building where God chose to meet with His people; they will also be studying and journeying through the idea of the ways that God chooses to intersect with His people - to intersect with us - and the purpose He is serving through that intersection: to bring the kingdom of heaven to Earth through us. We're going to be challenging them to think about their own role in bringing the particular elements of God's kingdom - peace, justice, mercy - to the world around them. And in doing this, we also recognize the major role that you, as their parent, play in this.
So, in order to move into a deeper understanding of your role as an encourager of your student's desire to be a partner with God in communicating God's kingdom here on Earth, we are going to take a quick look a roundtable discussion conducted by the Fuller Youth Institute...check this out:
I was midway through my Wednesday night youth group clean up routine. Working with a team of student leaders and adult volunteers, we were stowing away our sound system, stacking up chairs, and scooping up the candy wrappers and smashed paper cups that littered our youth room floor.
But then came a not-so-routine conversation, one that forever altered the way I involved parents in justice and service. Two mothers walked up to me, both of whom were concerned about their 14-year old sons.
The mother who reached me first shared her anxiety: "Ever since the series that you taught on missions, my son keeps saying he wants to go to Guatemala on a short-term missions trip this summer. I lay awake at night, worried that something bad will happen to him. He's only 14 and I'm afraid that he'll get hurt."
The second mother, having overheard the first mom, sighed and shared one of the more convicting statements I've ever heard one parent share with another. "I wish that was my problem. My son doesn't want anything to do with church or God anymore, and I think his friends are into drugs. I'd give anything to have a son who wants to serve the Lord in Guatemala this summer."
Was the first mother wrong to be concerned about her son's safety? Of course not, but seeking to right wrongs through acts of justice and service are always risky on some level. Perhaps the deeper issue was her hesitation about justice work in the first place. God was inviting her son to participate in the kingdom through acts of justice, but allowing her son to RSVP to that invitation felt way too uncomfortable.
As youth workers, the justice invitation we extend doesn't stop at the in-box of the 14-year old. Like pretty much everything else we do in youth ministry, our impact on both the 14-year-old and our planet will be magnified when we do the hard work of adding parents' names to our invitation list.
Look, here's why parents matter. In 2006, MTV conducted a nationwide survey in order to understand how and why youth in America are already active in social causes. Here's what that study found:
- Of the kids they surveyed, 70% say it's important to help others in need. Only 19% are "very involved" in doing so.
- 62% say the issues that matter most to them are those that have touched them or someone they know.
- 70% of kids involved in activism report that their parents' encouragement played a major factor in their choice to get involved.
In the midst of these findings, one theme emerges: Justice needs to hit kids close to home. It needs to hit close to home thematically as we help students understand how particular injustices relate to their lives. But it also needs to hit home literally as we invite parents both to exemplify and to encourage their own kids to right wrongs around them.
Have a great Tuesday and we hope to see your students tomorrow night....also remember by text box, email box and office door is always open if you guys ever want to chat about your students or whatever you want!
Jeff
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