We had a great Wednesday night small groups!  High school attendance was average for this year while the middle school students had their biggest night yet!  The middle school kids all gave a big cheer to Sean and Raven who just got married this last weekend – talk about dedication to their small groups, they showed up this week!!!  Here’s a recap of the night with some discussion ideas for parents to use:

The middle school students covered the ‘Local and Global Missions’ lesson from SYM’s Active Bible Studies.  We focused on Matthew 22:37-39 (the great commandment) and Matthew 28:19-20 (the great commission).  We talked about local and global missions opportunities, from Sojourners Place, a homeless ministry here in Wilmington that our small groups work with, to praying for and supporting our international missionaries.  If you’re a parent of a middle schooler, here are some follow up activities and questions you can use this week:

• What aspect of missions does your heart connect with most?  Why?
• Is there something that you, or we as a family, could get involved with regularly?
• Do you have a better understanding of some of the ways you can get involved in missions?
• An idea for practical application: participate as a family in one of our church’s Third Saturday missions opportunities.  Dianna Shatley, our missions director, puts together local service opportunities every month that happen on the third Saturday of the month.  Check out our church website, www.bvbcnet.org for more information!

The high school small groups were in week three of a four week series entitled ‘Who am I?’ It’s a dvd series by Chuck Bomar that is absolutely amazing.  Each lesson features a ten minute or so video, followed by Bible study and discussion, all on the topic of finding our identity in Christ.  Ultimately, we are looking at different ways people are defined and some of the ways we try to define ourselves.  The focus of last night was moving beyond vocation – to help students move away from identifying themselves by their future job, their current role, etc., and see themselves and others as so much more.  Our identity needs to be rooted in truth, in how God sees us.  I like the way Chuck Bomar puts it, “Let your life be defined by your character as a follower of Christ.  Here are some follow up discussion questions from the study you can use at home:

• What was the video about?  How would you sum it up?  What did you think of it?
• In the video the following statement was made: “Doesn’t it seem shallow to let what we do for a living define who we are as a being?” What do you think about that statement? What do you think he meant?
• Why do you think it’s so easy to gain a sense of identity in what we do for a living?
• Read Ephesians 4:28. The context shows how believers should live differently, standing out from the rest of culture. What is the reason this specific verse says we should work or labor? How does this compare with our typical approach to working?