Earthly father v/s Heavenly father

When my earthly father says, "You are nothing."
My Heavenly Father says, "You are my beloved child."

When my earthly father says, "I'll give you the piano, if you learn how to play it."
My Heavenly Father says, "Use your talents wisely."

When my earthly mother says, "Just wait until your father gets home."
My Heavenly Father says, "Just wait until my Son takes you home."

When my earthly father says, "You will never amount to anything."
My Heavenly Father says, "You will always be something special to me."

When my earthly father says, "Go stand in the corner."
My Heavenly Father says, "Go into every corner of the world and tell about my Son."

When my earthly father says, "Clean up this mess."
My Heavenly Father says, "If your life is a mess, I will clean it up for you."

When my earthly father says, "You will never do anything right."
My Heavenly Father says, "I will make all things right."

When my earthly father says, "Go away. Can't you see I'm busy?"
My Heavenly Father says, "I am available twenty-four hours a day."

When my earthly father says, "Why don't you grow up?"
My Heavenly Father says, "Grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ."

When my earthly father says, "I hate you."
My Heavenly Father says, "I love you so much. I gave my Son for you."

When my earthly father says, "I don't have time for you. I'm in a hurry."
My Heavenly Father says, "Time means nothing to me. I have all the time you need."

When my earthly father says, "I am not going to hold you. You need to do something by yourself."
My Heavenly Father says, "I will wrap my loving arms around you."

When my earthly father says, "Why don't you pick up your feet?"
My Heavenly Father says, "I will walk with you and help you up when you fall."

When my earthly father says, "You are no longer welcome in our home."
My Heavenly Father says, "Heaven is your home. I have a mansion prepared for you."
Youth Group
This is often the front door of the student ministry. While it is good to do periodic outreach events, it is critical to do solid week-to-week programming. I think about youth group through the Young Life club model with a bit more depth. In other words, it is attractive to students: fun, games, laughs, free food, great music, use of media, etc. Our youth groups need to be THE happening place to be in town on a Sunday or Wednesday night.

But more important than any bells or whistles are the relationships developed. Our youth groups also need to be one of the leading environments in a student's life where they know they belong, are accepted, loved and cared for. Better than school and thier other activities, for some our youth goups are a more nurtuting environment than even their homes. The end result, of course, being a relationship with Jesus Christ. I love how Jeanne Mayo puts this in "Thriving Youth Groups." Relationships are all about building bridges between hearts Jesus can cross over.

Providing for an encounter with Jesus Christ, we also need powerful teaching or powerful experiences and great worship. As Greg Stier of Dare 2 Share talks about, we also present the GOSPEL and give them a chance to respond whenever students meet within our context. This is (1) God-honoring, (2) gives students a chance to cross the line, and (3) creates a psychological agreement with students that if they bring their friends, the Good News of Jesus Christ WILL be preached. Sharing Christ is made a little easier: students can begin a conversation with "what did you think about what you heard tonight?"

L.I.F.E. Groups
The next level program is a small group ministry striving to help students Live In Faith Everyday. This is where the beginnings of discipleship but mainly deeper fellowship and faith nurturing occur. Students are part of a smaller and therefore closer-knit community. The link between Youth Group and L.I.F.E. Groups is going deeper with the topic or Bible message from Youth Group. L.I.F.E. Groups are teased at Youth Group: "if you want to talk more about tonight's message, check out our L.I.F.E. Groups!"

Some Bible study and discussion occurs here, but Biblical fellowship--doing life together--is the key focus. This is also where students begin to develop the spiritual H.A.B.I.T.S. Doug Fields talks about and we can help to resource them to learn to Hang out with God, be Accountable to another Christian, do personal Bible Study, get Involved in the church or youth ministry, begin a Tithing or giving commitment, and work on Scripture memory. Again, it's all about learning to Live In Faith Everyday.

Students iN Leadership (SNL)
Students iN Leadership are the students I and other leaders work most closely with to disciple. They are helping to lead ministry team of other students at every level. These are servant leaders and not students looking to be seen as someone in charge or as some sort of spiritual superior to others. They are the ones who really are "getting it" and are reaching out to their friends and better yet taking a risk and making new friends in order to bring them into the top of the funnel. More than anything, this is where discipleship and the ministry of multiplication is modeled.