Growing Young

STUDENT LED WORSHIP

This Sunday, we had the beautiful experience of being led in worship by our students as well as our Student Minister, Michael Waldrop. This week, they pointed us to the reality that as a church we must reach and engage and empower our young people if we want to bring new vitality to our body and community. 

  • Share a time when someone made you feel particularly connected to a church, ideally a time when you were a teen or young adult.

This week we are inviting your group to choose questions from the multiple options below.  Our hope is that these questions might help you to lead your discussion in a way that makes sense for your group this week as y’all “talk it out” and “live it out”.

TALK IT OUT AFTER READING 1 CORINTHIANS 9:19-23

STUDY

  • When Paul says, “I have become all things to all people”, what does he mean by this? How does that look in your life? 

  • Can you think of other times in the Bible where Jesus or the Apostles laid down their rights or their freedom to advance the Gospel?

PROCESS

  • How have young people added vitality to your life personally and/or the life of our congregation?

  • Share a time when someone gave you “keys” of access, authority or responsibility in ministry or elsewhere. What was significant about that?

  • Which of these three big questions—Who am i? Where do I fit? What difference do I make?--surfaced for you most when you were a young adult? What about today?

LIVE IT OUT 

PRACTICE

  • What gets in the way of our church empathizing with teenagers & young adults?

  • Where do you see intergenerational relationships thriving in our church? What could you do in your life to foster more–and deeper connections across generations?

  • If our church moved from this neighborhood, for what would we be missed? Who would miss us most? What does this tell us?

PRAY

  • Pray for the young people in our congregation and in our community, inviting God to open their hearts towards the church and for God to open each of our hearts towards them. 

  • Pray for groups in your church–young people or otherwise–who may feel alienated, overlooked, or undervalued.

Matt DeLano