Significant Relationships

What our current series "Catalysts" is all about: Sometimes our faith needs a jump start, a catalyst, something to move us in the right direction.  But what does that for us?  Throughout most people’s lives, it’s one of five key things, and if we look out for those we can see God do something awesome!

Significant Relationships

We all know the power that relationships can have in our lives; parents, friends, leaders, etc.   God knows this, too, which is why so often He uses those relationships to jumpstart our faith.  In Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 Solomon, the wisest man to ever live, gives us some common sense wisdom about relationships.  He tells us that we are better together.  That’s why at our church we meet for worship in rows, but the real life change happens within the context of relationships in small group.  That’s why we believe circles are better than rows.

This Week's Point:  Circles are Better than Rows

At Home Suggestions

Ask your kids “who is in your circle?”  Talk with them about who has permission in their lives to ask them the tough questions and point out things in their lives that they don’t see.  It is important that your teens have someone other than you with permission to speak this kind of truth into their lives.  We suggest you use their Small Group Leader (if you don’t know who their SGL is, we can help you with that, too).

Read Hebrews 10:24-25 Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works.²⁵ And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near. (NLT)

Ask: What does this passage challenge us to do for each other?  Why do you think that’s so important?  How has that kind of community helped you?

Explain that when we meet together we can help each other make better choices and show love.  This is important because those things don’t come naturally, so doing life together makes all our lives better.

Pray that your family would form the kind of relationships with other Christians that help us lean into what God wants to do in our lives.

Personal Ministry

What our current series "Catalysts" is all about: Sometimes our faith needs a jump start, a catalyst, something to move us in the right direction.  But what does that for us?  Throughout most people’s lives, it’s one of five key things, and if we look out for those we can see God do something awesome!

Personal Ministry

There are two kinds of people at any church; consumers and contributors.  It’s ok to consume, we all need to be fed at church, but if we don’t make a conscious effort to also contribute, things tend to get stale in a hurry.  Jesus understood this, which is why He said in Mark 8:35 If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it. (NLT)  The only way to feel significant at church is to find something significant to do.  The more our students serve, the more real their faith becomes and the better chance they have of being involved in church after graduation.

This Week's Point: You will never feel significant at Church until you find something significant to do

At Home Suggestions

Talk with your teens about areas of ministry where you serve and why those areas are important to you.  Ask what areas they have served in and/or what they might like to do.

Read Proverbs 11:25 Generosity will be rewarded:    Give a cup of water, and you will receive    a cup of water in return. (CEV)

Ask: What do you think the author means here?  Is he really talking about water?  And is this a promise that when we give we will get some kind of awesome present? 

Explain that giving, serving, and ministering to others are so important to our own spiritual life that God promises us that we will experience the benefit of such actions.  It may not be in the same way, and often knowing that we did something meaningful is its own reward, but if we want connect with what we were made to do, to “save our life” as Jesus put it, we need to be willing to first give it up.

 Pray that each member of your family would find a meaningful place to serve at church.

Private Disciplines

 Catalysts Week 2: Private Disciplines 

What our current series called "Catalysts" is all about: Sometimes our faith needs a jump start, a catalyst, something to move us in the right direction.  But what does that for us?  Throughout most people’s lives, it’s one of five key things, and if we look out for those we can see God do something awesome!

Private Disciplines

You wouldn’t expect big results from showing up at the gym once, randomly.  Real change happens when you show up repeatedly. 

The same is true of our walk with God. There are some disciplines, like committing to church, prayer, or reading our Bible, that set us up for real change over time.  But we can’t expect those things to change us if we do them randomly.  Daniel 6:10 shows us the power that repeating these disciplines can have in our lives. 

This Weeks Point: If we want God to jump start our faith, we have to repeat the choices that get that result.

At Home Suggestions

Talk with your kids about the things you do for your faith that they don’t always see.  If you as a parent don’t practice those disciplines, that’s ok.  Talk about that.  Maybe even set up a family challenge, not as something to check off a list but because as a family you want to see God make a big change.

 

Read Joshua 1:8 Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do. (NLT)

Ask: Who is speaking here?  What does He tell us to do?  What do you think that means?  Why does God think that’s so important to us?

Explain that God is telling Joshua, and us as well, to read His Word on a regular basis.  He tells us to meditate on it, which means to not just read it but then think about it over time and figure out how to apply the teachings in it to your life.  He says that only then will we have the kind of life He wants for us. 

Pray that your family would commit to these things so that God can speak to you.