One of my favorite things about the DYM Membership is the Parent Newsletter. It really is worth the praice in itself. This month has been a huge month as we are entering into a relationship and sex series (based off Crazy Town in the DYM store) and we are splitting our jr. high and high school students for steaching times. So in addition to our parent newsletter, I added a little explaination for parents of the upcoming things. I thought I would post it for y’all to see how we communicated all these things to parents. We got a really good response from it. Would love to hear what types of things you add to things like this to your parents:

 

Hello Parents,

Thank you for taking the time to read this. There is a lot happening in our ministry and I just wanted to let you know of some big, but exciting, changes happening here in a few weeks. So take a look and if you have any questions, please email us and we will get back you with answers:

New SHIFT Website:

We are excited for our new website. This is going to become the central hub for all things SHIFT. It has all the general info about who we are and all registration will be done here for summer camps. There is still work to be done on the site, but it is up and running.

ccvshift.com

Jr High & High School Split on Wednesdays

As you know, our jr. high and high school students have been enjoying and learning about God together under one roof for a while now. I love it and I think there are some good things about this. We learn to be together as one body worshipping God and I think this is amazing. On the other hand, jr. high students and high school students are in a different place developmentally. I was here with SHIFT when they were combined and I saw the necessary reasons behind of making this decision. At the same time, coming from a place where jr. high and high school had separate teachings, I see the importance of hitting both topical and Biblical teachings in their own settings. Even as a speaker, it is really hard to teach effectively to both a jr. high student and a high school student.

So, with all of that said:

Starting January 28th, we will be doing a relationship series (info about this series is below) and we are going to be splitting for our teaching from here on out. Here is what the night will look like:

Before service –Jr high students will have the Fireside Room to hang out in before and high school students will have the patio/café. **It’s not mandatory to go in there, it is just offered.

Service – All students, 7th-12th grade will worship through music, play games, hear announcements and have fun together. There is a huge win in this as we worship together as one body.

Greeting Time – Students will then be dismissed into their grade appropriate settings.

Teaching – High school students will stay in the Worship Center with Justin Knowles (Lead Next-Gen Pastor) and jr high students will be dismissed into the Fireside Room with Chris Avery (Next Gen Pastor). Both will be going through the same series, but each will be taught in their own age appropriate context.

Dismissal – Both will be dismissed from their areas to be picked up.

** Side note: Most events will be jr high or high school specific. Dates and info on what is to come is coming soon.

Relationship Series – Crazy Town

We strive to be a ministry that teaches Biblical truth to our students in all things that are relevant to them and what they are going through. There will be times we talk straight from the Bible and there will be things we teach on what the Bible has to say about certain subjects. Relationships are a huge deal for students. Friendships, relationships, hardships and their relationship with God are all important. This series we hope to tackle head on what we feel students are wanting to know in order to have Godly, healthy relationships and what the Bible has to say about pornography and sex. We are going to talk about all of it.

**We understand that if you are not ready for your student to hear about certain things, you have every right to not allow your student to attend those nights.

Below is an outline of the direction we will be going for both jr. high and high school students during this series:

Jr. High Students – Crazy Town

Here is a message from Chris Avery about the direction he is going for this series:

JR High students are at a developing stage for relationships in their live. They are adapting to having multiple classes where they are exposed to a lot of new students on a daily basis. We as the church want to spend a few weeks talking about relationships and give JR High students key biblical principals for establishing healthy relationships. As we know, relationships are what will have the greatest impact on people throughout their life. We will be taking them through 2 Timothy 2: 22, “Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.” (NASB) The first week we will talk about how to “flee from youthful lusts”, and flee literally means to run away from the things that cause us to have unhealthy relationships. Some of the things we will address on this night is: snapchat, texting, pornography, signs of good / true friends, what we look for when selecting friends and how to actually “flee” from the unhealthy things. Week 2 we will talk about what we should “pursue” in establishing healthy relationships. There are 4 key elements in establishing healthy relationships and we will start with talking about “righteousness” and “faith”. Then week 3 we will talk about the other 2, “love” and “peace”. That genuine love for others is what drives us to create healthy relationships.  Furthermore, that healthy relationship should not be filled with tension and uncertainty, but with peace and joy. On week 4 we will talk about what having a “pure heart” means and that the sign of healthy relationships is having a pure heart, that you are open and honest with friends. It means that you are not engaging in behavior or activities in secret, as 1 Corinthians 10: 31 tells us, “…..whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” We will talk about purity and accountability and its importance in our lives. This will be a great series for JR Highers and we are excited to engage them in meaningful teaching that will impact their relationships for the rest of their lives.

High School Students – Crazy Town

Week 1: We have Craig Gross coming to speak to us. He is the leading speaker on pornography, sexuality and parenting with technology. He is the creator of XXXchurch.com and iparent.tv, resources to manage pornography on computers/cell phones and a parent resource for helping you understand what apps and things your students are might be into.

This week he is going to be speaking to our high school students about pornography, its effects and what the Bible has to say about it. He travels all across the US to speak on this subject and we are excited to have him come speak to our students.

Week 2: Justin Knowles will be sharing a message entitled “5 Things Guys Wish Girls Knew.” He will be addressing girls when speaking but the guys are a fly on the wall as we talk about the things godly guys want out of relationships.

Week 3: Justin Knowles will be sharing a message entitled “5 Things Girls Wish Guys Knew” and will be taking the same direction as the week before just flipped.

Week 4: This night will be looking a little bit different. I have not finalized the format quite yet but it is going to go one of two ways:

  • We will have a panel of people of different stages of life and relationships and students will text in any question they have about sex and our panel will answer them with life experience and Biblical truths.
  • Or we will have students write down their questions the week before and Justin will compile them and give a message off the most popular ones asked.

We are really excited for this series and to be able to engage our students in conversation about these tough subjects. If you have any questions, please email us and we will do our best to answer them.

Thank you for trusting us with your student week in and week out. We do not take it for granted and we love the time that we get with them. Thank you for allowing us to partner with you in raising your student to love the Lord.

 

Justin Knowles

Lead Next-Gen Pastor

Christ’s Church of the Valley