Interesting New Strategy?

And you thought you'd tried everything to get your kid up and out the door for Sunday school. 

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20100129/NEWS03/100129005/Pastor+accused+of+threatening+son+at+church+

Cell Groups in January

In the month of January, the discussion topic for Cell Groups is Baptism.  As a Church of Christ youth ministry, you might assume that we would talk about baptism right off the bat when discussing the book of Acts.  It would not be a horrible assumption to make - I believe baptism is a vitally important part of the Christian experience.  I heard a speaker recently say that baptism is the only physical ritual that Churches of Christ really have.  I am not sure about the only ritual, but certainly it is our most important.  I do agree that it is the only ceremony that you could logically glean from an exclusive reading of the book of Acts.  It's a procedure that recurs over and over again.  On Wednesday night at Sanctuary, we ran through a lengthy (but not exhaustive) list of instances of people being immersed as an initiation into the way of Jesus.  Since baptism (or immersion) is found at the beginning of the new disciples (they weren't called Christians until halfway through Acts) walk with the Christ, it may have seemed logical to discuss this topic way back in September or October.  However, I didn't because I first wanted to highlight what the people in Acts were entering into when they chose to be immersed.  I wanted to give a thumbnail sketch of a people who were willing to love and serve one another.  A people who put the needs of others ahead of themselves.  A people committed to accept people from different cultures and backgrounds in the name of Christ.  A people who valued the well-being of their neighbors more than they valued their possessions.  We finished the evening by taking a look at what Paul believed happened at this moment of immersion.  In Romans 6, he lays out how baptism is symbolic of our participation in the death and resurrection of Jesus.  Over the course of the month, the goal is for students who have not made this very important step to consider the receiving the new life promised through baptism.  For the students who have already been baptized into Christ, the hope is that they will be reminded of the significance - that they died to sin and that sin should no longer have reign over them.

2010

In the comments, tell me what you hope is the ending to this sentence for you: 2010 was the year that...

Here's some of what I hope history has to say about 2010:

2010 was the year that the bus didn't break down on a youth trip.

... the church basketball team won the championship.

... Anna Grace very quickly figured out the potty thing.

... arguing and complaining magically disappeared.  From everywhere.

... it didn't rain at the Spring Retreat.

... the students in our ministry grasped how deeply loved they are by their heavenly father.

... those same students learned how loving their neighbor as themselves is the only appropriate response to that love.

... the families in our church that were struggling learned to lean on God and came out stronger on the other side.

... the kids who were carrying their pain all by themselves finally looked for someone to help them.

... every kid who looked for help with their burdens found a loving, mature disciple of Jesus who sacrificed to help them through.

... Summerville saw the good works of some teens who love Jesus and meet together on Trolley Rd and the Father in Heaven received all the praise. 

Some of these I know we have very little power over (if anybody knows a righteous man, ask him start praying about the second weekend in May).  But some of these we can work toward, so hopefully together we can work with the power of the Spirit to reach these goals.