Go-deeper ideas

Group, Jul/Aug 2001 by Slatter, Dan

4 ways to satisfy your kids' desire to take the plunge with God

Not long ago I was thinking about the teenagers in my group and feeling a weight of responsibility for their spiritual health. In my mind's eye, I saw the faces of those who still haven't committed themselves to Christ, and those who've taken that step but gone no farther. These young people are clearly gifted, but they seem more interested in refining their PlayStation skills than living a life of adventure for God.

During this time I was reading the Apostle Paul's conversion story in Acts. One encounter with God transformed a notorious persecutor of Christians into a great man of faith. I asked God how I could create encounters that function as U-turns in the lives of the young Christians I have in my care. In my spirit, I felt God say, "That's my problem-your job is to provide openings for me to move in their lives."

So I've since acted on God's prompting and created openings and opportunities for our teenagers to make deeper commitments to God.

#1-label fast

Self-image drives youth culture. That's why kids so easily buy into the lie: "You are what you wear." And that's why companies such as Nike and Levi's can dictate to young people what's right and wrong. So we decided to stand against "the spirit of the age" with our twice-- annual Label Fast Sunday. Basically, we tell kids they're not allowed to wear labeled clothing, makeup, or hair products to church on a particular Sunday. We also ask teenagers to bring a favorite piece of labeled clothing to donate to young people in our community who need them more than us. We distribute the clothing to teen-focused social service projects in our area.1

Cautions and tips: The Label Fast can devolve into just another fashion show with kids competing to see who can wear the most uncool clothing. That undermines the aim. Shoes are tricky because it's difficult to find an unlabeled pair. Therefore, we ask our young people to take off their shoes and pile them just inside our front door.

#2--40-day stand

Our group recently decided to pursue God to deeper levels-to make a public statement that God is our lives' priority. We called it our 40-Day Stand, and modeled it after Jesus' 40-day sojourn in the wilderness. Our kids agreed to sacrifice things important to them for 40 days-from chocolate to television. The only guideline was that the sacrifice had to be costly.2 We also did a daylight food fast on Fridays during the 40-day span. Included in the stand was a Label Fast on one of the middle Sundays. During this amazing season, we saw kids make significant breakthroughs in their lives.

Cautions and tips: We wanted all of our kids-no matter where they were on their faith journey-to participate in our 40-Day Stand. So some gave up one simple thing while others went "whole hog" and gave up quite a bit. Some of our cell groups decided to have their friends choose the things they gave up-this added a sharper element of challenge to the Stand. Make sure you communicate to kids' parents what this idea is all about-especially those kids' parents who aren't Christians. And during the fast days, carefully monitor those who are struggling with eating disorders.

#3--Bible blitz

We minister to kids who read few books and know little about the Bible. So one of our young people who has a heart for teaching the Scriptures came up with the Bible Blitz idea. During our kids' breaks from school, we run daylong Bible Blitz courses that use creative techniques to help them understand Bible basics. We cover topics as diverse as "Heaven and Hell" to "Spiritual Gifts."

For example, on the day we tackled spiritual gifts we formed teams of kids and gave each team a piece of string, some paper, tape, and an egg. We challenged teams to design a way to protect their egg from breaking when they dropped it from the roof of our building. After we cleaned up the mess, we asked teammates to discuss how their individual gifts meshed together. Then we gathered as a large group to make connections from their discussions to Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12.

Cautions and tips: Make the Bible Blitz time as creative and interactive as possible-it must not look like a school history lesson. We use lots of games, artistic projects, and group challenges to teach?

#4--life audit

For college students in our ministry, we've developed a Life Audit that helps them assess where they are with God. The audit is in two parts: the first part is a questionnaire they fill out, the second part is an in-depth interview with one of our staffers to go over their answers to the questionnaire. The audit focuses on four main areas-I've included a sample question from each section.

1. Reflecting on your student life.

* What was your hardest challenge and how did you handle it?

2. Reflecting on your journey with Christ.

* On a scale from 1 to 10, how much have you used the gifts God has given you to impact others?

3. Reflecting on your participation in the church and your calling.

* What is the main God-given call on your life, and how are you moving toward living it out?