4/30/23 - Food, friendship, and dating to round out the year!

Happy Monday parents! 

Last night we ate pizza, prayed, and finished up our Christian Sexuality series by talking about friendship and dating. 

Relationships are increasingly complicated in a digital age, and our students generation is the first to grow up with ubiquitous social media. The video this week focused on a Biblical definition of intimacy, and circled all the way back to identity in Christ. It cautioned students that if they do date, it should be for the right reasons. The reasons they cited were all healthy (things like discovering what kind of character traits you are looking for in a spouse), but came with the HUGE caveat of maintaining healthy boundaries. If I wanted to summarize the entire video, I'd say that it cautioned students against forming their identity on anything other than Jesus. If we base a piece of our identity on a boyfriend or girlfriend, or even just a platonic friend, we are setting ourselves up for failure. 

After the video we took a few minutes to imagine the perfect "dream couple." The students named them Brian and Regina, and I asked them to list the benefits that Brian and Regina experience in their relationship. You can see the results of that below :) 

When that was all done, I simply asked which of those benefits were only available in the context of a romantic relationship. The only one we identified was a sense that they were heading toward a marriage relationship. 

Every other benefit that comes from being in an "exclusive" romantic relationship is also available in healthy platonic relationships. This doesn't even take into account the potentially negative expectations that come with being in a relationship, or the very real emotional pain students feel during a break-up. 

We ended the night by reflecting on the year as a whole, and talking about some of the hopes that we have for the summer. 

It has been an absolute honor to walk alongside your students this year, and I can't wait to keep getting to know them better. I know that God is going to do amazing things in and through these kids, and I am so grateful for the time and investment you have poured into them. It shows! 

The summer schedule is being finalized this week, and I will make sure to post that here when its complete! 

Thanks for stopping by, and I'll see you all around :)