Buya Parents – Sunday’s Discussion Guide
March 29, 2010
Announcements- Please sign up if you’re interested in the Mission Adelante service trip in 3 weeks
DEFINITELY come to the Easter Experience this Wednesday night
Video – Moste
Discussion Guide:
- Pretty intense, huh? What did you think of the movie? Did you understand what was happening, even with the subtitle thing going on? If not, recap as a group.
- What did you think about or feel towards the dad? The passengers? The son?
- This movie is a retelling of the Easter story. It’s a contemporary version of God sending Jesus as a sacrifice so that others may live. Read this scripture below:
John 3:16-18 (The Message)
16-18“This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.
- What does the word sacrifice mean to you?
- What’s the greatest personal sacrifice you’ve ever had to make? What did you lose? What did you gain from making that sacrifice?
- The bible says that God sacrificed Jesus so that forgiven of our debt. What is a “debt”? What could you possibly be in debt to God for? Anything?
- Is there anything in your life that shows you what you can gain by Jesus’ sacrifice? Do you have any signs that have shown you that following Jesus is, or could be, worth it?
- God allowed Jesus to be sacrificed for us so that He could rightfully give us the love we need. Has anybody felt God’s love in their life during the past week? Where in your life do you feel you need God’s love the most?
Parents – Sunday Buya Discussion Guide
March 21, 2010
(Below is the lesson plan we used this past Sunday)
Announcements – Be at Shoal Creek in 2 Wednesdays for an amazing Easter Experience Service (Mar 31st 6:30-8:00)
Sign up if you’re interested in going on a Mission Adelante Service Trip next month. (email justin.talley@shoalcreek.org to RSVP)
Video – Skit Guys “Don’t Let The Rabbit Get In The Way Of Easter”
Extra Materials Needed: Butcher paper and markers
Discussion Questions:
- Take the sheet of butcher paper and some markers and write out everything you can think of that is associated with Easter. It can be things related to church, or things not related to church at all. Just write down anything that you think of when you think about Easter.
- Now, out of all the different things you’ve written out on that paper, about what percentage of those things are directly related to Jesus? There’s no right or wrong here, we’re just trying to observe.
- Is there anybody in the group, or can a leader, sum up what the Easter story is about? Doesn’t have to be in detail at all. What is the “resurrection” of Jesus and what does it mean?
- Can anyone hear give a definition of another bigger word – commercialism? (definition from Webster-merriam’s online dictionary: “excessive emphasis on profit”)
- In your opinion how has commercialism-an excessive emphasis on profit-affected holidays like Easter and Christmas? Is there both good and bad to be found in the commercialization of spiritual holidays?
- Read the scripture below about Jesus at the Temple in Jerusalem. What you need to know is that the Temple was not just any temple, but a specific Temple that God told his people to build directly for Him. The Temple was the holiest place that God’s people could visit. God had this temple built so that the people of that time could have a healthy relationship with God. People would visit the Temple, offer sacrifices (like doves) or give money to the temple to worship God and ask for forgiveness, and grow closer to God through that ritual. At least that was the way God planned it to be. But listen to what Jesus found when he visited the Temple in the week before he died on the Cross.
Matthew 21:12-14 – Jesus Visits The Temple
12-14Jesus went straight to the Temple and threw out everyone who had set up shop, buying and selling. He kicked over the tables of loan sharks and the stalls of dove merchants. He quoted this text:
“ My house was designated a house of prayer”;
You have made it a hangout for thieves.
Now there was room for the blind and crippled to get in. They came to Jesus and he healed them.
- When Jesus got to the temple, he was outraged because he found that people were trying to make money off of other people’s relationship with God. The sellers were selling things not to help others become closer to God, but to make a personal profit. Has Easter, today, become more about a personal profit, or about celebrating Jesus’ death for our sins?
- As your family begins to get ready to celebrate Easter, what are going to be the ways that the Rabbit gets in the way of the Resurrection? Is there anything you think your family can try to do to make Jesus’ death the center of attention, and not the Easter Bunny?
Taking It Home: Tell your family that this Easter you want to make sure that as a family you give Jesus as much attention as you do the Easter Bunny, dyed eggs, fake plastic grass, and those gross little peeps. Ask you parents “what’s one thing we can do to make sure we celebrate Jesus, not the Rabbit?”
Parent Weekly Update
March 21, 2010
Hey Families, here’s what you need to know this week…
1. Easter Communion Experience Wednesday March 31st 6:30-8:00 – Do Not MISS! This night will truly be unique and transformational for you and your family. Plan on making the time to come to this evening, filled with music, interactive dramas, environments, reflective and meditative stations, and spiritual breathing. The Easter Experience is GREAT for students, because of how experiential it is–meaning students just don’t sit there and listen to Roy, lol.
2. Mission Adelante Service Trip Saturday April 17th 3:00-8:30 – Mission Adelante (link to their site here) is a faith-based non-profit that works with Hispanic immigrant families in Kansas City, KS. Our Shoal Creek Student Ministries have been partnering with them, for events like this one, for two years now. On this particular trip, our students will serve Mission Adelante by providing childrens games and programming while the Mission Adelante adult community celebrates a successful semester of English learning classes and tutoring. We DEFINITELY need some volunteer parents to signup for the evening for supervision and for driving, so please email Justin.talley@shoalcreek.org if you would be interested in serving with your son or daughter on this trip. And please email me if your student wants to go to so that we can get a proper count, thanks!
3 Core Practices Revealing 3 Core Principles
March 9, 2010
For parents wondering “what should I hope to see in my student as they try to grow deeper in a relationship with Christ?”
Eric Haynes (Shoal Creek Children’s Ministry Director) and I had another one of our regular meetings, and we got to talking about what we believe our core principles are that guide the way Shoal Creek does student ministry. I said that I wasn’t sure that I knew what my principles were that have guided me, but over the past 3-4 years I’ve been leading the student ministries at Shoal Creek, I’ve seen three practices that more often than not, lead a student to a vital and growing relationship with God.
These are the 3 things that if a student regularly participates in, they will have the best chance in growing closer to Christ:
1. Personal Time With God - Spent alone and away from distraction! Students who make time for God (through prayer, journaling, solitude, reading scripture, reading spiritual formational books and articles or blogs, whatever) are more likely to express a feeling that God is with them, showing them the way forward through life. This is time students have to carve out of there own schedules at home, not the time they’re already planning on spending at the church or in groups.
2. Authentic Relationships and Vulnerable Sharing in a Small Group – Students who regular attend a small group of peers, led by an adult, mentor figure, seem to get the most out of their relationship with God because personal relationships help reveal what God is doing in their lives. Students who get real, open up, and are honest in small group settings are able to process, evaluate, and make conclusions about what they believe and how that affects who they are becoming.
3. Serving Regularly on Sunday Mornings (or regularly on another frequently meeting ministry team) - The students that have been most involved in the student ministries and have not fallen away from pursuing a relationship with God are the ones who serve one service on a Sunday morning and attend one service on a Sunday morning. Serving regularly with other adult believers allows them to participate in God’s plan without having to verbalize and articulate it, and it gives them experiences of what it would be like to continue to give their life away for God, if they choose to continue down the Christ-path. Regular serving lets them “try it on” before they necessarily buy it.
As Eric and I talked, he told me that I have my foundational ministry principle/truths right there. I can easily say that I want my students to leave Shoal Creek knowing, understanding, and believing these three truths, and that these three truths will profoundly affect their lives:
- God created me to depend on Him through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ (practiced by spending personal time with God).
- God designed me to become more like Christ by relating authentically with the people he’s put in my life (practiced by fully jumping into a small group environment).
- God has called me to share His redeeming and transforming love with words and actions in the world around me (practiced by serving regularly in the church I attend).
Weekly Parent Update
March 8, 2010
Hey Families, here’s what you need to know:
1. Charlie Hall Concert This Wed – Doors open at 6:30, concert starts at 7:30. It’s not just Charlie Hall, it’s also the Robbie Seay Band and Audrey Assad. So $15 a ticket is well worth your money! Here’s a link that can give you a better description of what will be going on.
2. Mission Adelante Serve Day Saturday April 17th – Just wanting to make sure you know this ahead of time, cause we only have 3-4 opportunities a year to interact with Mission Adelante (visit their website here), and we REALLY like partnering with Mission Adelante. They have an extremely compassionate heart for Hispanic immigrant families here locally in Kansas City. So if your students haven’t gotten any exposure to our partnership with Mission Adelante yet, jump on the bus!
3. Buya Discussion Guide From Sunday – Here’s the link to the Buya Discussion Guide our middle school students went through this past Sunday.