Students and Faith

Dr. Kara Powell was interviewed on why kids walk away from faith and what churches can do to help kids along their faith journey.

Check out the video below:

Sticky Faith

Total Commitment

Tonight, ARSM discussed how committed we are to Christ. We asked the question, “Are you a chicken or a pig?” Consider this story below (copied from www.thesource4ym.com):

How committed are you to your faith? One way to find out is to determine if you are a chicken or a pig?

A chicken and a pig went for a walk around the farm. As they passed the farmers window they noticed a wonderful breakfast prepared for the farmer and his wife sitting on the breakfast table. As they peeked closer they noticed ham and eggs on the plates.

The pig and chicken were silent for a moment as they took in the impact of what they saw. Finally, looking at the eggs and prideful of her contribution, the chicken said, “now that was a sacrifice!” The pig looked at the ham on the plate and finally turned to the chicken and said, “Yes, for you it is a sacrifice. But for us it is total commitment!”

So this week, ask you teen, “Are you a chicken or a pig?” and see what responses you get!

ARSM Junior High Parent Connection 10-5-11

This week, we examined the question, “Was Jesus All That (and a Bag of Chips)?” The main theme of the lesson was that Jesus Is the Promised Messiah as found in Luke 24:13-35.
Have you ever taken a sip of a drink that you thought was a lemon-lime soda,
only to find out it was water? It kind of throws you off-balance for a second when
you’re expecting one thing but get something else.

The Jews in Jesus’ day were expecting a certain type of Messiah. They thought
he would be a powerful political or military leader. Imagine their surprise when the
Messiah came in the form of a helpless baby! And imagine their dismay when he
grew up to teach a way of living that was opposite the way people acted—turning
the other cheek, paying taxes, and carrying the packs of Roman soldiers for an
extra mile, for example.

Talk to your child about a time things turned out differently than you had
expected. Maybe you were disappointed by a movie you’d been looking forward
to, or maybe you dreaded a job change that turned out to be rewarding. Remind
your child that things aren’t always as they seem.

Spiritual Disciplines and Children

About two years ago, a friend recommended an author that I needed to become familiar with. That author was Richard Foster. I have read several books by Foster, including his classic work, “Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth.”

Recently, Foster released a new book that I hope to begin reading over the next couple of weeks, “Sanctuary of the Soul: Journey into Meditative Prayer.” You can check it out on Amazon.com by clicking the image here:

In conjunction with the release of this book, Richard Foster did an interview with Timothy Dalrymple of the blog Philosophical Fragments. Over the next few weeks, Dalrymple will release this interview in small segments.

The first article is titled, “Richard Foster on Teaching the Spiritual Disciplines to Your Church and Your Children.” This first article is great and definitely worth the couple of minutes it takes to read. You can check it out here.

I look forward to the remaining articles as they are released in the coming weeks.

What’s Your Pet Peeve?

Recently, churchrelevance.com did a survey to ask people, “What are your pet peeves about your worship leader?” I appreciate the disclaimer churchrelevance.com put at the top that said:

This list may offend you, particularly if you are a worship leader. It is saddening that people think this way, but I know that I am guilty of thinking some of these complaints before, too. Unfortunately, many people have thought these complaints. Reading this list may be offensive, but it can also be insightful into how picky congregations can be. It can give insights into what can be stumbling blocks of distraction for worshippers. And it also makes it clear that you can’t please everyone.

As a worship leader, I identified with some of the things on the list.  In fact, I would say some of them are my own pet peeves about worship leaders!You can check out the list here.

So what do you think about this list?

ARSM Junior High Parent Connection Sept. 28, 2011

This week, the students answered the question, “Did Jesus Sin?” The central truth was that Jesus Obeyed God found in Matthew 12:1-14.

The Bible clearly tells us that Jesus never sinned (check out Hebrews 4:14-15, 1 Peter 2:21-22, and James 1:13). That’s a foundational belief for Christians, but you might be surprised by surveys that find that many teenagers don’t understand this belief. In one survey, the Barna Group, an organization that gathers information about churches and spiritual development, found that almost half of the teenagers surveyed believe that Jesus sinned while he lived on earth, just like other people.

Sometimes we get so caught up in debating the finer points of Christianity that our kids forget or miss out on learning the basics. Spend some time talking to your child about your core Christian beliefs—even if they seem basic or obvious. You’ll be helping your child create a solid foundation for lifelong faith. Here are some basics:

• The Bible is the inspired, authoritative Word of God.
• There is one God, eternally existent in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
• Jesus Christ is God, was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, died on the cross, physically came back to life, ascended to the right hand of the Father, and will personally return.
• People receive forgiveness of sins and eternal life through Jesus.

Leaving the Church

If you have been even close to youth ministry in the last several years, you know that a huge problem is that many youth are leaving the church when they go to college. In fact, depending on what statistics you believe, the percentage of youth leaving the church after high school is anywhere from 40%-88%. Even on the low side, this is alarming.

George Barna just released a new study on Six Reasons Young Christians Leave Church. You can check out the research here.

What do you think? Is this a real issue? How can youth pastors and the church do a better job of reversing this trend?