Children's Ministries
Faith Journey's Children's Ministry seeks to equip parents to train up their kids in the way they should go (Proverbs 22:6), along with providing Bible teaching and Scripture memory opportunities at church, all in an atmosphere of love and lots of fun.
On Sundays, we provide classes for all preschoolers during the worship services, and Children's Church is optional for K-3rd grades.
On the first Wednesday evening of each month, "Firm Foundations" is offered for Kindergarten through 6th graders at the Faith Journey campus from 6:45 to 8:00 p.m. Childcare is also provided for younger children during this time.
Youth Ministries
For the Spring of 2010, Faith Journey’s 7th-12th graders are meeting the first Wednesday of each month for large group worship and teaching time.
In a recent study, the Barna Research Group revealed a stunning statistic that continues to reverberate throughout the evangelical world. Only 9 percent of professing Christians have a biblical worldview.
Because of this, believers of today live very similarly to non-believers. A personal sense of significance is rarely experienced, we spend our money and time on things that fail to satisfy and we begin to wonder what life’s ultimate purpose really is. We are, in short, losing our bearings as a people and a nation.
It’s first and foremost the parent’s job to instill a Biblical worldview in their kids. But we wanted to give parents access to a great tool to help them in discussing these issues with their teens. That is why we’re offering The Truth Project.
The Truth Project is a DVD-based small group curriculum comprised of 12 one-hour lessons taught by Dr. Del Tackett. This home study is the starting point for looking at life from a biblical perspective. Each lesson discusses in great detail the relevance and importance of living the Christian worldview in daily life.
The study will begin Sunday, January 31 at the Hastings’ home. Other families will host future sessions of the study in their homes. Parents are welcomed to attend with teenagers. The class is recommended for 9th-12th graders, but we are opening up the option for 8th graders in their Spring semester to participate subject to parental approval.
An Intro to the Youth Ministry of Faith Journey
“GX” is the term we’ll use to refer to Faith Journey’s youth ministry at this early point in its conception. The name could change, but the philosophy of ministry will stay the same. The name is taken in part from 1 Timothy 4:12 which speaks to our teenagers’ desires to be great examples to others in every aspect of their lives:
“Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.” (1 Timothy 4:12)
It is also taken from our belief that we should have great expectations for our youth. They are held back by a society that has very low expectations for them. We expect much more from our youth because they are empowered by the gospel and the Holy Spirit and are able to do “all things through Christ who strengthens [them]”. (Philippians 4:13).
The Problem with Today’s Youth Ministries...
The vast majority of today’s youth ministries are entertainment-driven rather than Bible-driven. Most youth ministries remain entertainment-driven because of the demands of parents. These parents desire programs which will keep teenagers coming to their events. This usually results in programs that do not consistently challenge teens to follow Christ. There is often a heavy emphasis on appealing to the desire to be entertained in a hip or trendy way. Rather than challenging teens consistently to walk in the way of Christ, these programs are heavy on entertainment and light on discipleship.
The fruit of entertainment-driven youth ministry is tragic. Between 80 and 90% of teenagers are leaving the church after they graduate high school. Not only are most youth ministries failing to make disciples, they are making adults who walk away from the church as soon as they have the chance. And many of them never return. It’s undeniable that a massive overhaul of youth ministry in America is needed, yet it is not happening. Why? Because too many parents are short-sighted. They desire ministries that occupy their childrens’ time and keep them entertained. For some, the desire to minimize conflict in their family outweighs their desire to make disciples of their children, and, in many cases, tragedy ensues.
MISSION STATEMENT
Under the authority of the church and parents, the GX youth ministry exists to teach and equip teens to live exemplary lives, empowered by the gospel and the Spirit of Christ.
In this mission statement, there are three categories that drive all we should do as a youth ministry:
1) Pastor and Parent-driven: “Under the authority of the church and parents...”
Scripture places the responsibility on the parents to be the primary influencers in the spiritual growth of their children. Ephesians 6:4 states that parents are to
“…bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.”
(Ephesians 6:4)
As pastors, we want to assist the parents in training, teaching and equipping teens to engage this world with a biblical perspective.
Even though our meetings target the teenager, our goal of parental equipping remains the same because we believe this is in keeping with scripture. So, at any one of our youth events, parents are encouraged to come and participate with their children.
2) Teaching driven: “…teach and equip teens”
Life is a classroom, and our textbook is the Bible. Our culture never ceases in its pursuit to shape the thinking of youth. They will daily face many unique temptations, and often these temptations are faced for the first time. Not only do we need to preach and teach Jesus Christ, but, we need to come alongside parents to teach our youth how the gospel informs and directs how we live.
“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one! You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
“And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up".(Deut. 6:4-7)
3) Gospel and Spirit-driven: “…empowered by the gospel and the Spirit”
The teen years are unique years in the Christian walk. In the teen years, youth are faced with new temptations and feelings that they haven’t faced before. Their own sinful nature finds a strong ally in the world, and therefore, these years are critical in helping young people avoid the lies of the world, and to pursue true life in Christ. Youth ministry is an evangelistic ministry because the teen years are a time when young people often intentionally choose to walk with the Lord. Therefore, the best thing we can do for our teens is to preach Christ, and to provoke them to follow Christ more passionately. We recognize that the starting place for true change is ONLY from a heart that has been changed by the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is from that converted heart that a teen can live worthy of the gospel. This heart that has been converted through the gospel is now empowered by the Holy Spirit. Teens, and all of us, need help understanding how we can change our sinful attitudes and habits. We will direct them again and again to their hearts as the control center of their lives. The Holy Spirit working through the gospel is more than powerful enough to change attitudes of the heart, which will then result in changes of outward behavior. (2 Corinthians 3:18)
“We all, with unveiled faces, are reflecting the glory of the Lord and are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory; this is from the Lord who is the Spirit.” (2 Corinthians 3:18)
We want to see every graduating senior loving God with “all their heart, soul, mind and strength”. Teens should be able to articulate the gospel, and describe how the gospel informs their life choices and goals. We desire that, upon exiting the youth ministry, that every teen be committed to a local church (either locally or at college) and active in serving there.
We also want to see teens leaving the youth ministry with a commitment to “love their neighbors as themselves”. We desire that every teen be equipped to engage the world with a biblical worldview that enables them to advance the Kingdom of God in their community.
Each teen that enters the GX ministry begins a race that has a finish line at the time of graduation. A child enters GX under the direct authority of his parents. A 12th grader has already begun the process of transitioning out from under the direct authority of his parents, to being under direct pastoral authority. During this transition, we believe parental influence is to remain high. It is our hope that upon graduation, these young adults will enter into a more meaningful personal membership of the church through the church’s membership class. They will enter a singles ministry where parents are not present, with a more direct relationship with their pastor. We would desire that every graduating senior become an active fruitful member of the local church. All our efforts, teaching, and ministry, point to this transition. We want teens to leave the GX ministry equipped to live the Christian life in the context of the local church.
The transition from youth ministry to singles ministry is not to be marked by simply switching off parental responsibility, and turning on pastoral responsibility. Rather, an ideal scenario is a gradual transfer of parental—pastoral responsibility for their teens. This responsibility should overlap between parents and pastor for some time until the transition is complete. Even with this transition, we understand that the role of a parent remains unique and powerful throughout the life of an adult child.
The biblical principle in Genesis 2, “a man shall leave his father and his mother and cleave to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh”, should inform our goal in youth ministry and parent training. Youth ministry is an intense 6-year journey in which the parent and church leaders are trying to equip the teenager to leave the home and function in the world with a biblical worldview, while making wise God-honoring choices.
The premise of youth ministry is that we have this special responsibility in the life of the teen for 6 years. Once they have graduated high school, our goal is that 9th -12th graders would receive instruction from God’s Word on the following topics:
Every year:
Gospel
•The truth of Christ’s life, death, resurrection and ascension
Relationship with parents
•Honor, obedience and friendship with parents
Friendships
•Biblical friendships: encouragement; prayer; serving; carry burdens
Fear of God/Fear of man
•Teaching the Holiness of God
•Putting to death a love for other’s attention and praise
Relationship with God
•prayer; bible study
Holy Spirit
•Explanation of who He is and what He does
Evangelism
•How to share the gospel
Missions
•The urgency of taking the gospel to the nations
Worship
•What it is and what it isn’t
•Call for youth to be more passionate
Media
•Music/ facebook/ movies/internet/tv – How to use these for God’s glory
Conversion
•What is it and how do I know it has happened?
Relationship with opposite sex
•Dating/Courtship
Biblical Manhood and Womanhood
•Cultivating your role as a man/woman while in your teen years
Every 2 years:
Participation and ownership of the local church
•Serving the church
•Membership in the church
Doctrine of scripture:
•Sufficiency and Practicality of God’s Word
Heaven and Hell
•Living in light of eternity
Attributes of God
•omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence
Holy Spirit
•Gifts
7th and 8th graders will receive teaching in the same areas, with the exception of dating/courtship.
