Student Quest was great yesterday!  We had a good turnout, great worship and solid teaching!  We used the above video to help shift our focus to worship before the student worship team led us in some great praise music.  If you want to download a copy of the video, Youth Specialties has it as a free download here (it’s called ‘The Truth’).  We were in week three of a five week series working through the five purposes behind our student ministry purpose statement.  We’re using a series from the Live Curriculum from Simply Youth Ministry called ‘A Well Rounded Faith’ as a launching point for the series.  These purposes are specifically tied to our student ministry purpose state, ‘we are a real people in love with a real God, making a real difference in the world.’  This week’s lesson on discipleship specifically dealt with how we are in love with a real God.

George F taught the high school group while Melissa M was with the middle school group.  Paul’s letters included many instructions and insights on how to be a committed, growing follower of Christ.  We focused on Paul’s words from Colossians 2:6-7 to discover what characterizes the life of a growing Christian. Paul emphasized that salvation is the beginning of our spiritual journey, not the end. Following Christ means actively learning and living out our faith daily.

We used these verses to talk about the continual journey that teenagers can travel to strengthen their faith. We challenged students to commit to various spiritual disciplines as a way of helping them grow. Paul stressed the importance of faith being lived out in practical ways, not just as head knowledge.

At some point this week, take some time and talk with your child about your own faith journey and the importance of roots as a follower of Jesus. Here are some questions that could help guide this conversation:

• What does it mean to be rooted in Christ?
• What happens to your spiritual life if you only feed yourself two or three times each week, in settings like small group, a youth service, or our main weekend services? What kind of spiritual “health issues” might you face if those are your only “feeding” times?
• What is the difference between feeding yourself spiritually and being fed spiritually by other people? Which one is your primary way of growing spiritually right now, and how might this affect your long-term spiritual growth?

You and your teenager might want to spend some time and create a list of habits or disciplines that a person could follow to strengthen spiritual roots. Be willing to share with your student different ways you have been able to grow personally in your faith. Have an awesome week!