Dear Parents,

This Sunday we started our summer series Alpha Youth. Alpha Youth is a Christian video series designed to facilitate discussion about God, Faith, and Christianity.

We began the first session with a short preface describing the importance of knowing, not only what you believe, but also why you believe it. We also highlighted the fact that this series is a great resource to use when sharing your faith.

The video is broken down into three different sections. Each section consists of a short video that presents thoughts and ideas about God and a question that follows. We then pause the video and discuss the question as a class. 

These were the three questions that were asked in Session 1: Life. Is this it?:

• If you only had 24 hours left to live, what would you do? 
• Why do you think people find it awkward to talk about their religious beliefs?
• Assuming God is real; if you could ask God one question, what would you ask? 

Have a blessed week! 

Be a Happy Chewbacca and sign up for Teen Week NOW!

​Camp is happening July 10-16 out at Camp Caudle! All registration is handled online HERE. Simply add a "Teen Week (Regular)" item to the cart and the proceed to checkout. Let us know if you have any questions! 

This week we concluded our study on sharing Jesus with others. These lessons were designed to help our students understand the basics of evangelism and how they can share the amazing things that God is doing in their lives.

The first lesson focused on why we share Jesus with others and what God’s Word has to say about it. The second lesson focused on acting like a follower of Jesus. This last lesson strived to...

1. To develop in students a new passion for evangelism
2. To excite students with the possibility of witnessing explisive church growth 
3. To motivate students to take ownership in the evangelism process

​As you go throughout the week, help reinforce this teaching in your child’s life by reading Acts 28:30-31 together.

Forget for a moment that Paul is who that last verse is written about. Instead, read it again, silently, and instead of saying the word “he,” say your name.“Boldly and without hindrance, ______ preached the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ.”

General Discussion:
1. Talk about how you as a family can boldly share about the Kingdom of God with others in your different contexts (work, friends, school, etc). 

You can, and if you do, the church will grow. Just like it did in Acts 2, from 12 to 3,000. Just like it did by 100 AD, from 3,000 to 7,500. Just like it did by 300 AD to 6.3 million. And from 6.3 million to over 2 billion today, the church continues to grow. God continues to work, and He wants your help.

​In your home, in your school, in the world!

We are having a cookout THIS SUNDAY at the Lamberson's (1700 Shiloh Road) to wrap up our school year and kick off summer! We'll have burgers and hotdogs! We need you all to bring a 2 liter drink and a side to share. Bring lawn chairs! Bring your families!

​Please RSVP (jake@westsidear.org) and let us know if you and your family are coming! We hope you do!

Dear parents,

We’re continuing our three-lesson study on sharing Jesus with others. The first lesson focused on why we share Jesus with others and what God’s Word has to say about it. This week’s lesson focused on living like a follower of Jesus. We talked about God’s desire for us to lead lives that imitate and reflect Christ, and how this is one of the most powerful ways to share Jesus with friends and point friends to Jesus. 

As you go throughout the week, help reinforce this teaching in your teenager’s life by asking the following questions as you have the opportunity:

• How is the idea of imitating a famous person similar to the goal of imitating Jesus? How is it different?
• How do we recognize the best time to share our faith with a friend? How do we know it’s the right opportunity, not an awkward time or an ineffective time to share?
• How can you make the most of every opportunity to be like Jesus?

​Have a blessed week!