How can we get our youth grounded in what they believe?

[Bobbiesue]

I want to give this its own thread as to not redirect one already on here.

I am horrible at orginizing my thoughts, Thats why I dont post much here but this thought has been heavy on my mind.

Hopefully someone can make some sense in my post

I am so glad I know for sure what is right.  My prayers go up for those who were once in the Apostolic Pentecostal Teuth and has denied it and now are lost.  I just hope they have not gone too far.

I do think  maybe some that have turned to other faiths partially because they have never got a grasp on why they believe what they do.

I come from a family where my dad and mom were never in church, Then when I was 11 my dad and mom found totaly different beliefs within 6 months of each other. My dad is Apostolic and mom is not.
It wasn't till  recently that I have fully came into the Apostolic Faith. The church My mom was in is very active on Bible study,. They would teach their kids to be able to defend their faith from the Bible. You would see kids at 10 nd 11 be able to sit down and give you not just one but 2, 3 and 4 scriptures as to why they believed why they do on various subjects
While I no longer believe as they do I admire their dedication to teaching the word to their kids and youth. It wasn't just a have to do for the kids but they made learning fun


I have started working with the youth at my church as the youth leader has moved. I started a bible study as a part of our youth activities. We have youth night every Friday and the 1st and 3rd fridays are now Bible study nights. Our 5th Friday lock in also now includes a review of what we have covered the last 3 months.
When I first started  with the youth I was doing some games to see what they knew about the Bible and why they believed as they do. One thing that started bothering me was when I was having them write out Acts 2:38. There were 3 out of the 9 that miswrote it as this

Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost and speak with other tongues

Now I 100% believe that you speak with tongues when you recieve the holy Ghost. What this and and other things have got me wondering is...
How well are we preparing our youth to defend their faith?

I am not trying to sound judgemental or anything at all. I want to learn how can I help put this love for Gods word in our youth and to help prepare our youth to have an understanding as to why do they believe as they do.
It hurt so much to see a young lady one week after I took over the youth group  totally abandon her faith and go into the group I was a part of as a teen simply because she had never had a grasp as to why she believed as she did and these people were able to come in and break down what she believed. I have been talking with her and she is now starting to realize she made a mistake and I do believe Judy will be back


OK sorry for so much rambling but  hers my question

How can we get our youth more interested in the Bible and studing it, not just at Bible study but at home  too?


I want my young people to learn to love Gods word and To be able to rely on the Bible along with prayer to understand what God wants in their lives and to live for God

OK I best shut up lol

[yosemite]

i dont know how i'm the first to reply. i may not even be the best for the advise,
but if the kids have a good home teaching from the parents and the parents provide a good example then your work is all but done.

if a kid does not have a good example in everyday life you will have to deall with them a little more than others. find their creativity and go from there. what are their interests and stem off of that. to teach or any position of that nature you must feel for the guidence of Jesus and be a prayer warior.

sorry i cant help more!!  for more help on this ask Brother dad maybe in the ask thread or i can direct him to this thread.  -YO

[titushome]

What I gather from your post is a concern about youth who have no interest in studying the Scriptures, and learning to rightly divide them.

Interest in, even love for the Scriptures must be rooted in a love for God Himself.  If a young person - a person of any age, really - does not love the Lord and long for a deeper relationship with Him, then of course they will have no interest in the Word.

So, how can we help our youth have a love for God?  Model it for them by making our own love for Him always evident.  Pray for them.  Most of all, build relationships with them by spending time with them in all sorts of different situations: not just Bible study, but working together and playing together as well.  The more time you spend with someone, the more facets of their personality you will see; and as your youth spend more time with you and see the various sides of who you are, the more your love for God in all you do will shine through.

If that love and hunger for God is in place, then a love and hunger for the Word should more or less naturally follow.  They will probably need some encouragement to develop regular habits of study, and instruction in how to properly read and understand the Bible, but the desire, or at least the beginnings of desire, should be there.

If that love and hunger for God is not there, then there's not much more you can do beyond be a good example and pray.

Also, when teaching Bible studies to youth, I encourage you to open wide the field of discussion.  Let the youth choose some of the topics for study if they wish; no topic need be off-limits.  There is far more for us to gain from the Bible than "how to be saved."  God has given us a wonderful book that addresses everything important in life.  If questions arise that you cannot answer, you can find the answers by studying, praying and discussing together.

[Brother Dad]

I would say well spoken Brother Titus.  We must have a love for God before we can love His ways.  I am happy to say I raise three kid of my own.  My oldest son Pastor a Church I started.  My daughter teaches Sunday School and works with the deaf ministry, my youngest son is 26 and still loves coming to Church.  He is always finding someone to bring with him.  Many times people even Pastors ask me what I did to keep my kids in the Church.  i always tell them we were consistant.  Living for God became our life not our hobby.  Everything we did seven days a week had to do with Church.  My son who Pastors relates to that quite a bit.  They saw we loved living the life.  Many in my family said we were wrong for been so tough on our kids when it came to Church.  But now they all tell I was right to do it the way we did. 

Also as Pastor I taught the Young people as well the older to commit to this way of life or you will never make it.  A person must not be double minded.   Teach Bible studies, If a question arises that concerns you go to your Pastor for advice.  Also get the young people involved in the Church service.  I always tried to have a youth service once a month.  That is where the Youth lead the service done all the singing, testimonies even had a Young person that felt the call to preach to do the Preaching. 

I must cut it short but I will add more later

[Bobbiesue]

Thanks for the help everyone   

[yosemite]

hey, i just thought of this. access to the word!! do these kids have their own bible?
maybe they need one. also teach them how to handle the bible with respect as people handle a flag.

i heard a story of a foreign convert who respected the bible so much he washed his hands before handleing it.(inspireing) the BOY SCOUTS had a thing when they were disposing of bibles that were kinda abused and wornout, they kinda had a respectfull full blown funerall of sorts. but of course they saved all of the bibles that could be used further. this is the kind of respect i talk of. dont just throw the bible around like a ball or a play thing.

also if the kids favor you it would be nice if you are giving them a bible to insert a phrase like "this bible will keep you from sin and sin will keep you from this bible." or something like that with your name and they will have a treasured memory of that day when you gave it.  maybe have a contest to receive a bible. something earned is always treasured more than a spontaneous gift.  -yo

[Bobbiesue]

They all do have their own bibles. I did help one of the 2 that come without any family get one .
I have one young lady that both her parents are in jail and she is living with her grandparents. She is always wanting to help and she loves getting into study. She is always wanting to get out of the house due to her grandparents not being the best place for her to be. I have given her a job of coming up with a bible game on the Fridays that we have studies. I am trying to learn their intrests and seeing how those can be worked into things

[yosemite]

Brother Dad is great in these areas and raised a deaf child, and has widened his experience in child rearing and training.(or at least i think so) ssems to me when raising a deaf child you have to be atuned to what they think, and in turn gives you an insight to how to react or respond. for the most part, titus and bro dad have covered the bases. but may have some more thoughts and helpful hints.

just remember that as a child we had apple sauce and as we grew we had steak.

we crawled before we walked. anything pushed on a child that overwhelms them will tend to slow the process. start with trust- david trusted God and faught the giant, against all odds won. why do we trust God? and what does it take to be on the winning team? ya know what? nowadays kids are into movies. has your Christian store got any movies that line up with what you are trying to do?

personally, flywheel and facing the giants were my favorite movies even if they were made by a baptist church. though they may be more on an adult level than what you kids are.

hope something here helps!!  -yo

[Brother Dad]

My oldest son constantly says how important it was for him to see this was his parents life not just a past time.  The way we loved the truth and was blessed by God caused him to stick with it.  The next generation will echo how commitment to God. 

[yosemite]

examples in day to day life are the best teachers.

but those without the advantage of that example needs a few things to hold on to when not around the ones who would normally provide that.

trying to instill a Christian value in someone you have little contact with is hard.

[Sister_Mom]

I haven't been keeping up with this thread much, but have read a little bit. All great posts here! 
The funny thing is, this thread popped in my mind at church last night when the preacher was talking about how growing up, his family never took "vacations" and how they were always so busy with church that the kids didn't have time to get into any kind of trouble and how church consumed their life so the world wasn't able to get a foothold to be a temptation to his family.

The senior pastor's wife thinking about Godplace during the sermon? Noooooo!!!!!!   

This preacher was Bro. Dad's son who pastor's the church that Bro. Dad and his previous wife started. He was preaching about loving one another and several times in the sermon cried over how much he loves the people in the church and how far he would go to defend it. This whole family has a love for God, a love for the truth and a love for each other. It's obvious to me and to everyone that these parents did a most awesome job in raising this family.

A love for church and people in the church didn't start 2 generations ago, but was handed down from one couple who decided their family would live for God in every aspect of their lives, having a love for God and a love of the truth and was accomplished by making it a priority all the time, in every decision, it was a constant and consistant goal.

Now for me the hard part is keeping that going, just because the kids are now adults and well grounded doesn't mean the battle is over and won.

[Backseat Radio]

Here's my 2 cents worth on the matter...

Don't hand their beliefs and scriptures to defend their beliefs to them on a silver platter of pre prepared material that does all the work for them.  Instead encourage them to get into the scripture and learn to defend what they believe.  Something thats handed to you isn't as much appreciated as something you put effort into yourself.  Be careful as well not to discourage or belittle them in the growing and learning process.


Model for them a love for God and for his word.  Do they see you as someone who's willing to go to scripture and search things out?  Are you willing to look into a matter thats brought to your attention from the scripture?  Are you willing to admit your wrong and so something about it if you are shown by scripture that your wrong on a matter? Or do they see in you a fear of considering that you might be wrong or an arrogance?  Your attitude towards God and searching the word of God will effect how the youth you deal with view God and the word of God.

[Brother Dad]

Don't hand their beliefs and scriptures to defend their beliefs to them on a silver platter of pre prepared material that does all the work for them.  Instead encourage them to get into the scripture and learn to defend what they believe.  Something thats handed to you isn't as much appreciated as something you put effort into yourself.  Be careful as well not to discourage or belittle them in the growing and learning process.

When Pastoring I did not like Sunday School material for teens or adults.  Smaller kids I had no problem with it.  But when you become a teenager you start facing some things.  I felt that someone in another state two years ago can not relate to what is happening in my city to someone today.  Always be ready to go to pray and to the Word of God to get the answers for them. 

[Backseat Radio]

I'm not sure that prefab material all the time is a good idea even for the younger kids.   Those kids have a lot more potential than what the church as a whole seems to acknowledge or harness. and society doesn't wait anymore till the kid is a teenager to target them with non christian ideas.

[Brother Dad]

I'm not sure that prefab material all the time is a good idea even for the younger kids.   Those kids have a lot more potential than what the church as a whole seems to acknowledge or harness. and society doesn't wait anymore till the kid is a teenager to target them with non christian ideas.

This is true also.  Younger kids will be more influenced by what they see instead of what they color.  The main thing to keeping our youth is the life we live.  We can not be one thing in church and another outside.  All the Scripture in the world can not change the example we make.  I know we are all accountable for our own lives, but have you ever heard. "if living like that will get you to heaven then I got it made".  We should show forth the Love of God in every instance in our life. 

Remember the small things do mattter.  I am reminded of a story of a new preacher coming to town.  He decided to take the bus somewhere so when he paid the bus driver gave him a dime too much back in his change.  When the preacher was setted he noticed the mistake.  When the bus stopped he went to the driver and said I am sorry but you gave me a dime too much back.  The bus driver said preacher I will see you on Sunday.  I did that on purpose to see if you would sell me out for a dime.

[titushome]

Don't hand their beliefs and scriptures to defend their beliefs to them on a silver platter of pre prepared material that does all the work for them.  Instead encourage them to get into the scripture and learn to defend what they believe.  Something thats handed to you isn't as much appreciated as something you put effort into yourself.  Be careful as well not to discourage or belittle them in the growing and learning process.

Model for them a love for God and for his word.  Do they see you as someone who's willing to go to scripture and search things out?  Are you willing to look into a matter thats brought to your attention from the scripture?  Are you willing to admit your wrong and so something about it if you are shown by scripture that your wrong on a matter? Or do they see in you a fear of considering that you might be wrong or an arrogance?  Your attitude towards God and searching the word of God will effect how the youth you deal with view God and the word of God.

All very good points.  And I agree, in general, with what's been written about using written materials in class - I find it's sometimes good to use as a starting point in preparing a lesson, but I've witnessed far too many teachers whose "lesson" consists of little more than reading aloud from the workbook.  Ugh.

[Brother Dad]

Don't hand their beliefs and scriptures to defend their beliefs to them on a silver platter of pre prepared material that does all the work for them.  Instead encourage them to get into the scripture and learn to defend what they believe.  Something thats handed to you isn't as much appreciated as something you put effort into yourself.  Be careful as well not to discourage or belittle them in the growing and learning process.

Model for them a love for God and for his word.  Do they see you as someone who's willing to go to scripture and search things out?  Are you willing to look into a matter thats brought to your attention from the scripture?  Are you willing to admit your wrong and so something about it if you are shown by scripture that your wrong on a matter? Or do they see in you a fear of considering that you might be wrong or an arrogance?  Your attitude towards God and searching the word of God will effect how the youth you deal with view God and the word of God.

All very good points.  And I agree, in general, with what's been written about using written materials in class - I find it's sometimes good to use as a starting point in preparing a lesson, but I've witnessed far too many teachers whose "lesson" consists of little more than reading aloud from the workbook.  Ugh.

Amen if all you are going to do is read it, then just copy it and give it to me, we can go eat.  I will read it myself at home.

[yosemite]

i agree you have to be entuseastic and beleive what you are doing not just going with the flow.

as some have said and even i have said, thing you do will stay with a kid for as long as they will care to remember. we had a locall tv personality here and he seemed to have a true love for God and he had a saying that he said at the end of every show that has stayed with me to this day. "every thing will be alright, if your right!"
well i have more than that one to. berreta: "if you cant do the time dont do the crime!" etc. etc.
                                            -yo

[Bobbiesue]

I'm not sure that prefab material all the time is a good idea even for the younger kids.   Those kids have a lot more potential than what the church as a whole seems to acknowledge or harness. and society doesn't wait anymore till the kid is a teenager to target them with non christian ideas.

This is true also.  Younger kids will be more influenced by what they see instead of what they color.  The main thing to keeping our youth is the life we live.  We can not be one thing in church and another outside.  All the Scripture in the world can not change the example we make.  I know we are all accountable for our own lives, but have you ever heard. "if living like that will get you to heaven then I got it made".  We should show forth the Love of God in every instance in our life. 

Remember the small things do mattter.  I am reminded of a story of a new preacher coming to town.  He decided to take the bus somewhere so when he paid the bus driver gave him a dime too much back in his change.  When the preacher was setted he noticed the mistake.  When the bus stopped he went to the driver and said I am sorry but you gave me a dime too much back.  The bus driver said preacher I will see you on Sunday.  I did that on purpose to see if you would sell me out for a dime.

I do agree that lessons are best prepared by the teacher and not a publisher that has no idea of what is going on.
I do have one 21 year old that is mentaly challanged that has recently started coming and want things that he can also learn from also   

Here's my 2 cents worth on the matter...

Don't hand their beliefs and scriptures to defend their beliefs to them on a silver platter of pre prepared material that does all the work for them.  Instead encourage them to get into the scripture and learn to defend what they believe.  Something thats handed to you isn't as much appreciated as something you put effort into yourself.  Be careful as well not to discourage or belittle them in the growing and learning process.

Yes thats true
I want them to be able to learn to search the scripture for themself

I would say well spoken Brother Titus.  We must have a love for God before we can love His ways.  I am happy to say I raise three kid of my own.  My oldest son Pastor a Church I started.  My daughter teaches Sunday School and works with the deaf ministry, my youngest son is 26 and still loves coming to Church.  He is always finding someone to bring with him.  Many times people even Pastors ask me what I did to keep my kids in the Church.  i always tell them we were consistant.  Living for God became our life not our hobby.  Everything we did seven days a week had to do with Church.  My son who Pastors relates to that quite a bit.  They saw we loved living the life.  Many in my family said we were wrong for been so tough on our kids when it came to Church.  But now they all tell I was right to do it the way we did. 

Also as Pastor I taught the Young people as well the older to commit to this way of life or you will never make it.  A person must not be double minded.   Teach Bible studies, If a question arises that concerns you go to your Pastor for advice.  Also get the young people involved in the Church service.  I always tried to have a youth service once a month.  That is where the Youth lead the service done all the singing, testimonies even had a Young person that felt the call to preach to do the Preaching. 

I must cut it short but I will add more later

Thanks
I know a love for Gods word has to be there before a love to study and learn from it will be there.

I am thinking of setting up a suggestion box where they can put in subjects they want to learn about and also can do it annomously if it may be a touchy subject

[yosemite]

I am thinking of setting up a suggestion box where they can put in subjects they want to learn about and also can do it annomously if it may be a touchy subject



hmmmmm! good idea!! atleast it will get them involved and might keep them motivated in class.

[Backseat Radio]

ultimately getting grounded in scripture comes down to what the young person has determined in their own heart to do.  If their heart is set to search the scripture and follow what it says, they may stumble but they'll get back in scripture and back on the right path.  On the other hand if the youth has determined in their heart not to follow the scripture or get grounded in truth theres not much we can do except encourage them to love the scripture and pray that they will have a change of heart.

[Bobbiesue]

ultimately getting grounded in scripture comes down to what the young person has determined in their own heart to do.  If their heart is set to search the scripture and follow what it says, they may stumble but they'll get back in scripture and back on the right path.  On the other hand if the youth has determined in their heart not to follow the scripture or get grounded in truth theres not much we can do except encourage them to love the scripture and pray that they will have a change of heart.

Thats true

[Brother Dad]

Just a thought.  Our young people will get rooted and grounded in the Truth when they see the older people making an example.  Just a thought.

[Bobbiesue]

Thats true, our youth will learn from what they see.  We need to lead by example






I know I posted this in the prayer request thread, but would everyone please keep Judy, the girl I mentioned in my first post here in prayer. She attempted suicide today and is in the hospital

[titushome]

Oh, my.  I certainly will.