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Student Ministry - June 2021

Dear Church Family,

We are just at the beginning of our Summer Calendar, and if you know much about what Summer looks like for the Student Ministry, then you know we have a lot to look forward to! Thankfully, this year we are able to do much of what we have done in the past as a church family. Last year was certainly challenging (to say the least), so I’m very thankful we will be able to pursue intentional, relational discipleship at a much higher capacity than in 2020. But as we are thinking about the Summer and doing relational discipleship, that begs the question; what is intentional, relational discipleship?

I think we all understand what it means to be intentional. Simply stated, when we are being intentional, we are doing something with purpose. It isn’t an accident or an unforeseen by-product of something else. We are doing something with a goal in mind, and everything we are doing is done on purpose. So if that is how we want to approach relational discipleship, we need to know what relational discipleship is. Deuteronomy 6:4-7 gives us a crystal clear picture of what this means. It says:

4 “Hear, O Israel:The Lord our God, the Lord is one! 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.

6 “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.

This text gives us the greatest commandment, on which the Law rests, to which the gospel restores us. And in v7 we see that formal teaching is vital to the lives of our students. But it goes way beyond formal teaching and also describes what we often call relational discipleship. Notice how it moves into the realm of normal daily life. It describes our need to talk about things of the Lord in four all-inclusive ways. While walking, while sitting, while laying down, and while rising up. This is saying that while you are active and doing things together whether it is work or play, you are to be discussing godly things. As you are relaxing, eating food together, or just chilling, you are to be discussing godly things. As you prepare for bed or lay down to rest, you should end the day discussing godly things. And the first thing we should do in the morning is start the day off making mention of God and His work in our lives. There is never really a time during the day when we shouldn’t be purposefully bringing God into the conversation.

This can be incredibly simple. It doesn’t require singing hymns and quoting scripture four times a day in some kind of unnatural and forced sort of way. It can just look like asking questions about God and talking about what the Bible says regarding those questions. When I was a young boy my grandfather used to always ask me while we were fishing, hunting, washing the car, etc. “Brian, who's your hero?!” To which I would respond, “Jesus!” We used to have some of the best conversations about God doing some of the most normal and mundane things you can imagine. I learned so much in those times.

That is what intentional relational discipleship looks like. And that is what we are going for this Summer in the Student Ministry. There are going to be so many purposeful, gospel-centered conversations as we hang out this Summer! I hope our students, and maybe even their parents, will come out and partake in all that God wants to do! 

Student Ministry - May 2021

Dear Church Family,

Is freedom a Christian virtue? Most people would agree that freedom is a good thing that one should strive for and protect. But is freedom something we as Christians should hold as a necessary reality for our lives? You might be surprised to hear that for many people today this is a difficult question to answer. Some might say that freedom is simply a cultural value. Many people of the younger generation are willing to trade freedom for safety. Don’t worry, this is not a political conversation, but because of the reality experienced by many people today (especially the younger generation) we have to ask this question: does Christianity value freedom? 

The answer is an emphatic YES! To be Christian is to be free. Now, this does not mean that people will never try to force us to act against our freedom. It doesn’t mean that we will never suffer for the sake of our freedom. It does mean, however, that while people will push vigorously against our freedom, they can never take away our freedom. But what freedom are we talking about? We know Christians have been imprisoned and enslaved for millennia, so in what way are we immutably free? We are free in the most significant way. We are free to live according to the truth. We are free from things like the fear of man and the fear of failure. We are free from performance driven lives. All of this is true because of the ultimate freedom we have; freedom from sin and the result of sin.

Listen to what Jesus says about the freedom He gives to those who trust in Him in John 8:31-36:
31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” 33 They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. 35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. 

Here Jesus is telling us that everyone is a slave to sin, and that He is the only one who can give us freedom. This means that freedom isn’t just a virtue of Christianity, but that Christ is in fact the only source of freedom at all. Without Jesus, all other freedoms in life are nullified by mankind’s slavery to sin. We have to understand that real freedom is only attained in Christ. This is true because in Jesus, no weapon can defeat us, and even our own failures have been overcome. Sin is no longer our master, and death itself cannot separate us from our freedom to live.

This means I don’t have to cave to peer pressure. I don’t have to give in to lust. I don’t have to bow down to cultural idols. I don’t have to compete with the Jones family. I don’t need to have the nicest newest things. I am so free that I don’t need anything, because I have what I need the most, Jesus. And in this, we are not isolated and enslaved to selfishness. Paul reminds us that this freedom does not lead back to sin when he says, “For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another” (Gal. 5:13). In Christ, we are free from only loving and protecting ourselves, and now we can love God and love each other without fear.

This is the freedom that the world needs. We have the key to their freedom. It is the gospel of Jesus Christ. We just need to share this amazing truth and boldly let freedom ring.