This weekend was the last weekend of our Inked Series at Reach Student Ministries. I have seen God moving in our youth group throughout this series, but I think it has more to do with the adult volunteers than the teaching. Actually, I don't think, I know. Starting on the first week of this series, we started coming 30 minutes before service to talk about the evening schedule, the lesson, and small group questions. More importantly than that, we've been taking time to pray for each evening. I think coming together to pray before the service builds unity, provides focus, and creates momentum going into the night. I think that when we, as leaders, are united, ready, and rolling, the impact is huge. On the flip side, when there isn't unity and we're not moving in the same direction, the impact is huge, but the exact opposite of the impact you want. So you might suspect that I'm glad that it is going the way it is going.
Tonight we talked about forgiveness. First, we looked at the story of the prodigal son, and how he was instantly forgiven by his dad. Then we quickly shifted over to talking about the brother who did not forgive him, and how that is not the way God intended His children to behave. We looked at the story of the debtor who was forgiven, but did not forgive the one in debt to him. This story obviously represents the relationship between the debt we were in due to our sin, which has been forgiven by Christ, compared to the debt we feel is owed to us due to someone offending us. How can we hold someone liable for hurting us after Christ has forgiven us for all we have done to Him?
Main Scripture Passage
Luke 15:25-32; Matthew 18:32-35
Attendance
Students: 42
Adult Leaders: 14
Game/Activity
Haley asks if we can play hide n seek every week; since it was her birthday, we played that tonight.
Can I just say I think it's awesome you are teaching your students about forgiveness? My hubs and I used to teach a small group for college aged kids and I was amazed when we started the series, that no one had ever broached that subject with them before. I'm glad you are seeing the importance of it and bringing it with your kids.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Marni. I seem to teach a lot of things that I feel I wasn't taught in youth group, and really things that might be counter to the arrogant religious attitude that I came to know and love. Forgiveness, love, and acceptance are big issues that I struggled with as a religious kid. Sometimes I think I might just be trying to protect them from becoming the way I was!
ReplyDelete