Backstage passes. VIP lines. Insider trading. Inside jokes. We love to be in the inner circle or to get a private look into the worlds of the famous people we follow. In this week's blog post, I want to give you an inside look into another group of "famous" people: our Wednesday evening Discipleship Groups.
Discipleship Groups (D-Groups as we call them) are not about lectures or preaching. Kids often refer to them as "lessons" but they aren't even supposed to be that. The whole point is to get them talking about their faith, beliefs, struggles and doubts. We want students to have a safe place to ask tough questions or even silly questions that they might be otherwise embarrassed to bring up. Students don't have to have all the right answers at D-Groups. They don't even have to have questions. Many students come on Wednesday night and say very little, and that's ok. The key is that they know they have a safe place for fellowship and open, honest discussion about both the spiritual realities of our world and the day-to-day stuff that often keeps teenagers mystified. Because of this I believe D-Groups are an invaluable resource for anyone ages 11 to 18.
Let me give you an example of how D-Groups are supposed to work. In the high school guys group, which I lead along with Doug Moore, we are currently reading through the Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis. Amidst the many tangents we got off on last week (and tangents are almost always ok in D-Groups) we ended up talking about how we are designed to function best when we are willing to surrender our lives to Jesus and desire the things that he desires. This was a discussion that the students were genuinely engaged in and were participating in. Discussions like this are so rare in any setting these days, but D-Groups provide the right atmosphere for such rare but wonderful things to occur. Through reading Screwtape and talking about real life situations and questions, we ended up discussing the source of new life: Jesus Christ himself, and what it looks like to live for him.
I bring all this up to make one simple point: there is real discipleship going on at these groups. Students are finding out what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. Maybe you're a student who hasn't been to D-Groups before because it doesn't sound like fun or you just don't know what to expect. I invite you to come check it out and see that it's a safe place where you are free to be yourself. Or maybe you're a parent and you just don't see the value of having your kids out another night of the week. I invite you to give your teenager the opportunity to come to D-Groups sometime and to see the value of what we're "teaching" there.
If you want to know more about this, anything else Youth Ministry related, or another topic of your choosing, feel free to hmu (hit me up, as the kids say, which means email or call me.)
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
What We're Teaching at Underground
In an attempt to be like all the cool Youth Pastors out there, I'm going to start blogging a little this year. I'm also growing a full beard as opposed to the ole' chin strap beard. That should really aid the coolness. Anyway, the purpose of this blog entry is to talk about what we're teaching at Underground these days and why we're teaching it.
Middle School
One of the key strategies for the middle school years is getting the group to bond together. With that in mind, Ben Jones and Bo Wheeler will be teaching from Young Peacemakers this semester. With any group of people inevitably comes conflict. People often default to very poor conflict resolution skills, especially in middle school. Unless they know how to handle conflict in a Christ-like way, the students can hurt each other badly and it can have a corrosive effect on the group. Hopefully by teaching about peacemaking, we can give middle school students tools and a vision for loving each other, especially through conflict.
High School
High School students need peacemaking skills too, and we'll get to that. But for the next 6 weeks we're doing a series called The Real World. The idea is to get these young adults thinking about what lies ahead in their futures and to help them understand that planning for the real world now is the right idea. Mostly, we want them to see how following Jesus should shape our plans for the future, including our college, job, marriage, money and church choices.
If you want to know more about this, anything else Youth Ministry related, or another topic of your choosing, feel free to hmu (hit me up, as the kids say, which means email or call me.)
Middle School
One of the key strategies for the middle school years is getting the group to bond together. With that in mind, Ben Jones and Bo Wheeler will be teaching from Young Peacemakers this semester. With any group of people inevitably comes conflict. People often default to very poor conflict resolution skills, especially in middle school. Unless they know how to handle conflict in a Christ-like way, the students can hurt each other badly and it can have a corrosive effect on the group. Hopefully by teaching about peacemaking, we can give middle school students tools and a vision for loving each other, especially through conflict.
High School
High School students need peacemaking skills too, and we'll get to that. But for the next 6 weeks we're doing a series called The Real World. The idea is to get these young adults thinking about what lies ahead in their futures and to help them understand that planning for the real world now is the right idea. Mostly, we want them to see how following Jesus should shape our plans for the future, including our college, job, marriage, money and church choices.
If you want to know more about this, anything else Youth Ministry related, or another topic of your choosing, feel free to hmu (hit me up, as the kids say, which means email or call me.)
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