i'm back! i didn't really go anywhere, but it's been too long since my last post. feels like forever! i even got a comment while i was gone. hate i missed it.
so what's been going on? plenty. but i'll try to put it all in seperate posts so i don't run out of stuff to blog about. (haha). last night we finished our second week of "facing the giant topics" by doing a discussion on God's identity and love. of course, there is absolutely no way possible to learn all that's included in this in a lifetime, much less an hour on a sunday night. we had fun trying, though. the way we've approached the giant topic thing is basically, we've taken a bunch of Scriptures that deal with the topic of the night, put them on paper for the students to read, and listed questions under each Scripture. then we go through the verses one at a time and discuss the questions listed under each. it's amazing the direction some of the discussion goes in. we don't really end up reading the questions and answering them in a clean, orderly fashion. the questions usually lead to other questions, which then lead to even more questions as the students try to wrap there minds around the meaning and application of each. and as they talk their way through the topics in light of the Bible, the expressions of "aha!" are, to borrow a worn out description, priceless. i love it!
the relationship topic we went at last week was a lot of fun, especially as the students analyzed their own relationships by thinking about what the Bible says about them. we had the verses seperated into sub-points of the topic. in other words, the first several passages dealt with the importance of relationships, the next group was under "think about your relationships," followed by "who should your relationships include?" to finish things off, we looked at Psalm 41:9 Even my best friend, the one I trusted completely, the one who shared my food, has turned against me. It took some coaching, but with this verse we helped them understand that every human relationship has the capacity to fail, which means we should be extra careful to put our most energy into our relationship with Christ - the only One who cannot fail.
last night was about who God is and His love. I hope we didn't keep any parents waiting too long, but even after 7:00 we had three big questions that spun off of the original topic and could have gone on for hours. everyone seemed to be easy going when talking about the ever existence of God, but the pre-existence of Christ and the Trinity made things interesting. we got through it though, and i believe and pray that the students gained a deeper knowledge of who God is, and a strong assurance of His perfect, unchanging love that will help them get through the challenges they face.
while it's all about helping our students understand God in deeper, more relevant ways, i get a little out of it too. these last two sunday nights have been some of the most fun for me. and it's going to get better with small groups starting at the end of the month. before then, though, we have one more giant topic - school and grades. i'd better start doing some studying!
so what's been going on? plenty. but i'll try to put it all in seperate posts so i don't run out of stuff to blog about. (haha). last night we finished our second week of "facing the giant topics" by doing a discussion on God's identity and love. of course, there is absolutely no way possible to learn all that's included in this in a lifetime, much less an hour on a sunday night. we had fun trying, though. the way we've approached the giant topic thing is basically, we've taken a bunch of Scriptures that deal with the topic of the night, put them on paper for the students to read, and listed questions under each Scripture. then we go through the verses one at a time and discuss the questions listed under each. it's amazing the direction some of the discussion goes in. we don't really end up reading the questions and answering them in a clean, orderly fashion. the questions usually lead to other questions, which then lead to even more questions as the students try to wrap there minds around the meaning and application of each. and as they talk their way through the topics in light of the Bible, the expressions of "aha!" are, to borrow a worn out description, priceless. i love it!
the relationship topic we went at last week was a lot of fun, especially as the students analyzed their own relationships by thinking about what the Bible says about them. we had the verses seperated into sub-points of the topic. in other words, the first several passages dealt with the importance of relationships, the next group was under "think about your relationships," followed by "who should your relationships include?" to finish things off, we looked at Psalm 41:9 Even my best friend, the one I trusted completely, the one who shared my food, has turned against me. It took some coaching, but with this verse we helped them understand that every human relationship has the capacity to fail, which means we should be extra careful to put our most energy into our relationship with Christ - the only One who cannot fail.
last night was about who God is and His love. I hope we didn't keep any parents waiting too long, but even after 7:00 we had three big questions that spun off of the original topic and could have gone on for hours. everyone seemed to be easy going when talking about the ever existence of God, but the pre-existence of Christ and the Trinity made things interesting. we got through it though, and i believe and pray that the students gained a deeper knowledge of who God is, and a strong assurance of His perfect, unchanging love that will help them get through the challenges they face.
while it's all about helping our students understand God in deeper, more relevant ways, i get a little out of it too. these last two sunday nights have been some of the most fun for me. and it's going to get better with small groups starting at the end of the month. before then, though, we have one more giant topic - school and grades. i'd better start doing some studying!
posted by Jonathan Branch at 9:16 AM
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