Jesus and Culture: Lesson 2

Dear Parents,

Greetings! We just wrapped up our second lesson in our four-lesson look at what Jesus had to say about how we, His followers, are to engage with our culture. This week’s lesson was titled “Different Than The Rest.” In this lesson, we helped students learn that Jesus wants His followers to be countercultural in their humility, living in the world as servants of others. Your teenager was challenged to identify any actions or attitudes in his or her life that represent culture’s definition of success through selfishness, and to commit to embracing Jesus’ idea of success through serving others. It was a really meaningful time of Bible study and discussion.

We looked at the following Scripture passages:

• Mark 10:35-45
• Ephesians 4:2

Please take a few minutes this week to read these passages.

Next Steps...
During the next week as you have time to talk with your teenager, remember that one way that will help him or her to understand and apply what he or she has learned is to explain it to someone else. Use the following questions to guide your conversation:

• Ask your teenager if he or she can summarize what he or she learned in Bible study this week. Focus as much on the application of what was learned as you would on the knowledge itself.

• Ask your teenager if he or she had a chance to think about his or her attitude when it came to achieving or succeeding at the things he or she is passionate about. Encourage honesty: could he or she think of times when he or she sought success over the well being of others?

• Encourage your teenager that humility and serving others are really tough characteristics to master, especially since they go against much of what our world says about how to get ahead.

• Brainstorm with your teenager ways he or she can serve some specific people in his or her life, showing humility to this individual and putting this person’s needs above his or her own.

Thank you for your support as we partner together to help our students grow closer to Christ. If you have any questions about anything, please don’t hesitate to call me.

REMINDERS
DNOW16 is this weekend – March 4-6. Parents, this is a “don’t miss” ministry event that engages students in Bible study, inspiring worship, and group-building fellowship. We have top-notch college students that join us for the weekend that do a super job ministering to our group. If your student is not signed up yet please know it is NOT too late. Contact Linka, Jim, or Eric at the office and we will make it happen. A special Wed night FUEL at 6:30pm will provide students everything they need for the big weekend. PARENTS, we can use some more help with lunch set up and serving on Saturday. Also, please try to come to the ADULT ONLY breakout session at NSBC this Sat. morning @ 11am on “Communicating Successfully about Sex with Teens”.