Middle school service went as planned but that evening the high school kids arrived to the church and the power was out. The first reaction is always a little anxiety but very quickly the whole group relaxed and ran with it. It was great to meet with the High School students with everything stripped down to 1877 style church. We had the worship led acoustically, which sounded phenomenal and the message was done with the aid of candle light. Andy said it was the best high school service he had been a part of since coming to the Bridge and I completely agree that the simplicity of it all was powerful.
The conversation was kick started with a statistic - 88% of those who attend the church will drop out after they leave High School. We asked the students if that was shocking and why? Most said it was due to their friend groups pulling them away from church. Others addressed the superficiality and gimmicks of youth groups. We so often don’t deal with some of the tougher questions concerning the faith.
Our goal is to reclaim youth ministry from this idea that bigger is better and that entertainment is the core. We want Jesus to be the core. It all starts with Faith. Andy talked about why we should believe, what we should believe, and how we should believe.
The main point of the night was faith is hard. Why is faith so hard?
VERSES:
“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1
“Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.” James 4:8
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
• What are the greatest hurdles to Faith?
• Why do you believe in Jesus?
• We all know people who don’t believe. Even as a believer I have had some doubts. Why do you or your friends not believe? Is it rational, experiential, a bad experience, a good experience, or not really interested?
• Do you think if a person took faith serious and sought after God that they would find Him?
• Read James 4:8. How can we find God? How can we draw close to Him?
No comments:
Post a Comment