Youth Ministry
We work hard to make Colonial be a perfect place for students to grow in their relationship with God!
Need some more detail? Yes? Well, our hope is that students will have a growing relationship with God, placing their identity in Jesus, that they’d learn to make Biblically-informed decisions, that they’d love others, worship God, and ultimately say YES! to God’s call on their lives.
Our goal is that Colonial would be a safe place for students to build great friendships with one another and with our great adult leaders as well. Here’s the goal: that each student will have at least three adults at Colonial with which they can share a care, a concern, or a joy. Don’t we all really need that in our lives?
Then we done went and got all crazy and have some really great events like Pyro 2. [Contact us] if you have any questions. We’d love to talk to you.
The Blog
Valentine’s day is a week away. And naturally at CRASH, for the next two weeks we will take full advantage of this calendar holiday to talk about dating.
For middle schoolers, navigating the world of dating can be a huge challenge. There are so many voices surrounding them telling them what to think, feel and believe about love, dating and sexuality. But if recent research is correct in showing how young people reflect the values of their parents, then be encouraged that parents, you have a strong voice here. Your students listen to you and they want to hear from you. Especially about their new favorite topic: the opposite sex.
At some point, likely in the middle school years, your student will begin the delicate life phase of puberty. Those preteen and early teen years will bring about a sudden interest in the opposite sex, and if that freaks you out, you’re not alone. It’s likely that your students won’t know what to think about this newfound interest either!
Our challenge as the church, as adults and parents, is to counter their expectation that we will default to NO regarding this topic. We need to surprise them by affirming that YES, we actually think love, dating, and sex are all pretty great…within moderation intended to honor the value of each person involved.
The truth of the matter is, sexuality is just a part of our human existence. We can’t limit our influence to lowering the value of sex or sexuality so that young people won’t do it. But instead, let us aim to deepen the value of each student as a child of God, so that young people will feel confident in choosing not to rush or misuse this gift from God.
Here are some ideas on where to start:
Have “the talk”… often. It’s awkward, it just is. But by beginning this ongoing conversation you will show your student that you are a safe source of knowledge.
Choose to be an active listener. And then, just listen. You might ask questions like, “Are any of your friends dating?” “What kind of boy/girl are you looking for?” “Is dating important to you?” By continuing to ask questions, you approach the topic in a non-threatening way and your student may even choose one to open up on.
Keep track of their relationships/friendships. Ask students who they spend time with, meet their friends, and know their friend’s curfews.
Use movies, television, and music as an entryway. As you well know, sex is everywhere in media today, but we can use these powerful influencers as tools to begin talking to our young people.
Assist your student in determining appropriate boundaries. Talk with other parents about curfews and expectations regarding appropriate ages to date, etc. Learn from parents who have been there already.
Model your family values through behavior. As you already know and the research verifies, you as parents or key adults in your child’s life, have the largest influence on young people today.
So parents, stepparents, adopted parents, grandparents… keep up the good work!
And of course, I’m always available to talk more about this if you are interested.
-Nicole
Post influenced by D. Scott Miller
Slant33.com
On Wednesday, January 25th, students and adult leaders from Collision and Confo visited the non-profit organization – Impact Lives – in St. Louis Park to learn about world poverty and hunger and to help pack meals for those very same folks. Through service learning and community partnerships, Impact Lives seeks to train and equip people to create sustainable change globally and to provide short-term relief for those in need. Their self-professed goal is to “transform the lives of people locally and around the world by providing leadership training, expanded self-awareness and cross-cultural humanitarian experiences.”
Our group got to tour through an exhibit that portrayed conditions in places like Haiti and India. We learned about poor hospital conditions, the difficulties in getting water, orphanages, hunger, sex trade, and the disproportionate distribution of wealth and resources on our planet. Our problems when compared to these travesties were really put into perspective. Students and adults alike left with a stronger awareness of global poverty, an appreciation of what we have, and a conviction to help and live differently.
We divided into five teams and packed meal bags that were filled with vegetables, vitamins, soy, and rice. Groups created assembly lines that divvied up the various tasks of scooping, weighing, sealing, and packing. With each box holding 36 400 gram bags of food, the group from Colonial was able to fill over 20 boxes.
The overall experience was a good one for everyone involved. The high school group did a Water Project night back in November, where they were able to learn about unclean water facts in other countries, do simulations to understand what it was like to have to gather their own water, calculate their daily water usage, and have the opportunity to share what they’d learned. We also spent a couple of months collecting money that we were able to give to the folks at Impact Lives.
Visit the youth Facebook page for some photos of the event.
I have said before that I see my mission here at Colonial in very simple terms: I am to love God, love teenagers, and find other adults who do those things as well.
A strong team of adults who pour their lives into students is the backbone of a healthy youth ministry. In fact, the size and health of a youth ministry is directly proportional to the number of adults invested in the program.
Let’s look at two scenarios:
A. A lone youth worker is in a room with 40 jr. high students or
B. A youth worker invests in 10 adults who love God and love teenagers, and equips and encourages those volunteer leaders to minister to those same 40 jr. high students.
Which is the healthier environment for students to encounter Christ? In which environment do students feel most loved and cared for? In which environment are students more likely to invite their friends? In which environment is the youth worker less likely to question is sanity and life choices?
I hope for each of those questions you immediately answered B, the environment where there is a strong team of adults investing in students! Needless to say, we value the adults (and student leaders) who invest in Colonial’s youth program and we wanted you to know that it is these volunteers who are responsible for the great youth ministry we have at Colonial.