PARENT’S GUIDE
This Sunday, we continued our discussion about having balanced beliefs, and finding the healthy tension between extremes. We discussed a pretty tough topic: either through ignorance or arrogance concerning the knowledge provided in scripture, we can easily form unbalanced beliefs that lead us away from God. Please click here to read this week’s guide! It’s a little longer this week, but it was a great discussion!
MIDDLE SCHOLARS LOCK-IN (BUT ACTUALLY MOSTLY OUT)
Parents of middle scholars, including an exception that we’ll also include the current 8th graders/rising 9th graders one last fling, please mark your calendars for the lock-in starting at 7PM on June 15th, and ending at 6:30AM on June 16th.
SMALL GROUP NEWS/ADMINISTRATIVE BUSINESS
I am getting excited about the upcoming changes to our Life Group model – I hope you are too! If I may once again ask, if you have not yet read the letter about these changes, please read it here.
I want to highlight the fact that our last night of Life Groups at the church will be the evening of May 20, 2012. Before June 3, 2012, your teen’s small group leader will contact you and your teen about when/where you will meet. My hope is that they will base the time and location off of your input. This new model affords nearly infinite flexibility. Many of the leaders will open their homes, while others may choose a local coffee shop, etc. to create a comfortable space for honest dialogue...a place to ask questions and be vulnerable.
As I said in my previous letter, we thankfully do not need to fix a broken system, but instead, we have a chance to take the next step toward a community steeped in relationship with God and each other. So many times, in an effort to improve a program, leaders look to invent and add the next layer that will make that program more effective. Each of us has seen this in many situations. We are doing the opposite of that: What we are doing here is removing a layer with the intent of stripping this down to relationship. If relationship is not the sole focus of our Life Groups, we are allowing distraction into discipleship.
I am excited to engage in our stripped down, authentic, and genuine community that goes deep – to the heart. We’ll make great use of the church facilities on Sunday morning, but even they can become a distraction on Sunday nights.
GOD BLESS YOUR MINISTRY TO YOUR TEEN!
I am always available to you.
Mike Childress
