Sunday Followup 3/26/17

Grades 9-12 | Who do YOU say Jesus is? 
Dear parents,
     While your teenager undoubtedly hears some negative or critical opinions about Jesus from the secular culture, they likely also hear opinions like this: “Jesus was a kind man who worked for peace” or “Jesus was a wise and good teacher.” These generally positive ideas about Jesus cloak a dangerous idea: Jesus was tame and innocuous.
     This type of stance toward Jesus fails to deal with the historical, biblical accounts detailing Jesus’ own claims about himself—and they were anything but tame! This week, as we continued exploring Jesus’ question “Who do you say I am?” (Matthew 16:15), our teenagers looked at the confrontational nature of Jesus’ identity claims and the response they demand from each of us. We must either accept Jesus at his word or reject him. There is no safe, tame, nice-guy option.
     Ask your teenager about our study, using questions like:

• What stands out to you as Jesus’ more radical claims?
• How would you describe the options for how people could respond to Jesus during his time and culture? How about today?
• What’s been most challenging or inspiring to you about this series so far? Why?

Thanks for all you do, and have a great week!

Grades 6-8 | Everybody's Good at Something 
Dear parents,
     We’ve launched a new series for our group that helps teenagers explore their spiritual gifts—what they are, why God gives them, and how kids can discover and use their gifts.
     Every child is special—a truth that you already know. Our first lesson focused on Romans 12:3-8—we experienced the way God has gifted every follower of Jesus with unique spiritual gifts. A spiritual gift is something God gives us when we become followers of Jesus. Everyone has talents—skills we develop, or abilities that seem natural to us. We can call them “God-given talents” because God created us, and we can use those talents for both “spiritual” and “non-spiritual” things. But only Christ-followers have spiritual gifts, which are designed to help others and to bring glory to God.
     I encourage you to continue the conversation at home with your child this week. Here are some questions that can fuel your dialogue:

• Why do you think God decided to give us unique spiritual gifts and not just give us all the same gift or gifts?
• If you think you know what spiritual gifts God has given you, how have you learned to develop them?
• If you have no idea what spiritual gifts God has given you, what can you do to discover them?
• How can I better help you discover and develop your spiritual gifts?

God bless you, and thank you for allowing us to minister to your child!