This past week in youth group the high schoolers ate some BBQ (thank you Ritsema fam!), played some Mario Kart, prayed, and kind of finished our conversation on whether or not Jesus is the only way to heaven!

After some delicious food, we took prayer requests, prayed for one another, and then jumped back into our “Can I Ask That” books!

As the students and I continue to feel each other out and get to know one another, it's been clear that our group is mostly made up of lifelong Christians who almost exclusively hang out with other Christians. This is both a huge blessing and a subtle curse. Growing up in a Christian culture with Christian friends is certainly a good thing and students who grow up in the church typically have a ton of “head knowledge” when it comes to the Bible, but those cultures can also breed complacency or comfortability.

When we first started asking this question, I think students felt like it was a little silly - of course Jesus is the only way to heaven! The deeper goal is making sure our students can articulate why they believe that Jesus is the only way to heaven, biblically, and with grace. They will inevitably leave this place and encounter people who do not think or believe the way we do, and their ability to process why they believe that the Bible is true, Jesus is lord, and the only way to heaven will be crucial.

More than anything, I want our high schoolers to fall in love with Jesus, know how to make disciples, feel comfortable reading the Bible, and prioritizing the things that really matter.

I’m so encouraged though by their willingness to engage in these kinds of conversations and talk about the things that truly matter. I’m even more excited to see where we are a year from now, and the kinds of things that come about as we establish ourselves as a healthy community centered on Christ!

Next week there is no youth group, because we get to meet instead! The following week we will be choosing a new topic to dive into in the new year!

Thanks for stopping by!

Last night we ate some pancakes, made some unorthodox mac n’ cheese (I’m sensing a theme here…), played some mario kart, worshiped, and took some time to pray for one another.

Last week in youth group we discovered some giant bags of pancake mix in the youth snack closet, and this week we put those to good use! Unsurprisingly, chocolate chip pancakes were a hit. Some students also decided to put their culinary skills to the test and make some boxed mac n’ cheese. It’s been fantastic to see the students start to come out of their shells and get more comfortable as a large group, and the packed kitchen was evidence of that last night.

When food was done Eli led us in some worship, and I am continually inspired by how loudly our high schoolers sing praise :) We took prayer requests, prayed for one another, and then jumped back into our game of “We’re not really strangers!”

Many of the questions that we asked each other last night could be answered at varying levels of vulnerability. At first, questions like “have you changed your mind about anything recently,” got some surface-level answers like “I snoozed my alarm and changed my mind about waking up.” Eventually though, some really honest answers came through with questions like “how are you, really” getting some beautiful answers.

As we continue to try and build a sense of Christ-centered community I am hopeful that these students will keep trying to love one another like Jesus loves them. I feel so strongly that a strong and authentic community will foster more helpful conversations, a desire to serve together, and a beautiful place to invite those that may not know Jesus to come and experience what faith in practice looks like.

Next week we are returning to some of the deeper questions students have had about other faiths, relationships, and how to talk about Jesus with their friends!

I’m still feeling like I’m learning on the fly and trying to play a bit of “catch-up,” but I am looking forward to meeting you all on the 27th!

Thanks for checking in, and have a wonderful week

Happy November!

Last night we determined that Banquet mac n’ cheese is not food, had chips and dip, and continued to try and foster a sense of vulnerable community by asking each other some crazy questions!

I had the opportunity to spend some time with a smaller group of students this past Friday who came to help with a trunk or treat at Appletree Estates, and it was fantastic! One of the themes I sensed in the conversations we had that night was a lingering sense that our students still don’t feel like they know each other very well. After reflecting on those conversations, I think I may have put the cart before the horse a little bit in my effort to have students engage in the kind of conversations we have been having the last two weeks.

Faith is inherently an intimate thing, and expecting students who may not feel comfortable with one another (let alone me as their youth leader) to share openly was probably naive. It’s been my experience that the most valuable conversations (especially about faith) happen when people feel safe enough to be vulnerable with the other people in the room, and I desperately want to foster that kind of environment in our high school youth group.

If it’s not obvious already, I dream about youth group being a place that is free of cliques, unafraid of hard questions, and defined by the kind of community that we see Jesus foster with his disciples. I can’t imagine our students being fully formed into disciples without the trust and support of you as their parents, the volunteers at church,  and their peers in youth group. So in order to start building that kind of community, we have to know and feel comfortable with one another! So after our weekly prayer requests and taking some time to pray for one another, we tried to take an intentional step toward that kind of community.

To make that process a bit less awkward and more fun, we played the first round of a game called “we’re not really strangers.” This is a game I’ve played with groups in the past, and it has always led to deeper trust, inside jokes, and more friendships. The first round is “skin deep” and just focuses on our impressions of one another. Every person draws a card and chooses two people to answer the question written on it. They are questions like “Do you think I am a cat or a dog person? Why?” or “What do my shoes tell you about me?” You can see a few more here.

They are simple icebreakers that the whole group can benefit from and giggle at, and everyone managed to get a turn before we ran out of time.

As silly as it sounds to spend time in youth group just playing a get-to-know-you game, I think that we are laying the first bricks of a foundation of trust and authenticity. I want our students to feel comfortable expressing doubts so we can address them or even comfortable respectfully disagreeing with one another to prepare them for a world that will certainly disagree with them. Those kinds of conversations would be much harder or even impossible without that foundation in place. Round two is much more intentional, and you can take a sneak peek at the kind of cards we will be answering next week below. It’s my prayer that as we get to know one another better our students and volunteers will come to love one another as Christ loves them, and as a result, be better prepared to pursue Him in earnest together.

Thank you all for checking in! I hope your students are finding our time together as meaningful and enjoyable as I do. We’ll keep pressing into relationships with each other next week, and then try to capitalize on those relationships with more great discussion!

Have a wonderful week!