EVANGEL YOUTH NEWSLETTER
Informing and Equipping Parents of teens at Evangel Church
EVANGEL YOUTH NEWSLETTER
Informing and Equipping Parents of teens at Evangel Church
Sunday morning Youth classes resume in September
August 2018
Fri 10th: Youth Leaders are hosting a Youth Night at the Lighthouse, 7-9pm!
16th-19th: Youth @Calibrate 18: Ottawa Valley Youth Camp! Fun, friends, faith! There are still a few spots left! Some sponsorship options available. Registration below!
24th-26th: A 3-day camping trip into the great-outdoors in St Come, QC. Registration below!
Fri 31st: Our Friday Youth Night kick-off, bringing in the school-year with a bang! 7-9pm @Lighthouse. A monthly Parent Connect Group will be launching in the Livingroom during youth!! Don’t miss this night!
Grades: 7 to 11 (Sec 1-5)
There is SO MUCH going on this summer for your teenagers! Please take advantage of these opportunities to help them make lasting FRIENDSHIPS with other teens and adult leaders, have a ton of FUN, and grow in their FAITH in Christ!
SIGN UP FOR THESE & MORE TODAY! CLICK HERE!
$200 -- Everything Included
For the first time in over 7 years, we will be taking our church’s teenagers away for a 4-day summer camp experience like none other! Held at the beautiful Ottawa Valley Pentecostal Camp, students and leaders will make lasting friendships, have a ton of fun, and grow in their faith in HUGE ways! Food, accommodations (bring your own tents!!), and transportation included. *Parent Release Form Required. More info here*
Participants will be running a Sunday morning fundraiser on August 12 in the Connect Cafe to help cover travel expenses!
$50 -- Everything included (except transportation costs)
Join us for an amazing youth & young adult weekend outdoors, in REAL tents, at an amazing river-side chalet in St Come QC. Fireside worship, alone and group times with God and His Word, amazing food, inspirational scenery, canning, kayaking, group games, and MORE!
Get away from the city, closer to Christ and community just before school starts again. Register today! Only 30 spots. Organized by the Youth Council & Young Adult Committee of Evangel Church.
Luke 5:16 -- But Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness for prayer.
PARENT GUIDES: FOMO (CLICK HERE FOR FREE DOWNLOAD)
What is Fear Of Missing Out? Imagine yourself as a teenager again. Try to remember some of the experiences, thoughts, and feelings you had. Do any of the following scenarios ring a bell?
• You heard all about the excitement that went down at a party that you weren’t invited to.
• Your friends planned a fun trip, but you couldn’t go.
• You opted not to go to a movie with friends and ended up sitting at home wondering what you were missing.
• It seemed that everyone in school was whispering about something, but you had no idea what it was.
• Your summer vacation was boring and uneventful, so much so that you sat around envisioning all the exciting things everyone else at school was doing.
The desire not to be left out is universal: No one wants to be miss out on something interesting or important. This desire, which is especially strong during adolescence, stems from a God-given yearning to participate in meaningful experiences and be in meaningful community. So while it’s a natural human tendency to fear being excluded, it’s unhealthy when we let this fear control our lives.
So how can you help your teen not be slave to fear? Use this free guide! God hasn't designed them to live this way. 2 Tim 1:7
I fear that too many parents have indulged and enabled their children to such an extent that they have helped create irresponsible and even narcissistic ones. When we have weak, inconsistent discipline and poor boundaries, kids just aren’t willing to grow up. I don’t mean that kids shouldn’t be nurtured and affirmed. Every child needs parents who can be irrationally positive toward them. But they also need us to express expectations, set high standards, and hold them accountable. In other words, our kids need us to lead.
What does leadership mean? I have spoken to and studied leaders in all fields of life. One thing they have in common is a consistent message. They model what they expect and they keep on task. With an excellent leader there is seldom a doubt about who is in charge and. Parents are the leaders in their home. But the question in many homes of rebellious teenagers is “Who is really in charge?” This question must be settled, and the only healthy answer is that the parents must take the lead. Inconsistency or poor modeling will place your kids in the leadership position--that isn’t healthy for anyone. So parents must eliminate any power struggle from the relationship and. resolve authority issues. I tell people at our seminars, “Don’t argue and don’t fight with your kids.” It is much more difficult to mentor and lead if you and your children are always fighting and arguing all the time.
Cathy and I have a daughter who could win most of the arguments in our home. She is dynamic, articulate, and can argue either side of an issue. When she was a teenager she liked to argue for the sake of arguing, and she stretched the boundaries whenever possible. There were times she was just exhausting. Then one day, a therapist friend gave us two words of advice: “Quit arguing.” If you think about it, people seldom argue with their leaders. We had to hold our ground.
Holding your ground can be wearisome, but it is always worth it (although you probably already know this from your own life experience). To help communicate with our kids about discipline-related issues, Cathy and I came up “Confident Parenting Talking Points.” I wrote about them in greater detail in my book, Confident Parenting.
Learning to resist arguing with a teen who is pushing your buttons isn’t easy, but there are three phrases I’ve found to be extremely helpful to diffuse potential arguments with teens:
Excerpted from Understanding Your Teen: Shaping Their Character, Facing Their Realities by Jim Burns.
We're SO THANKFUL for our amazing team of volunteers! And we're continually looking for caring adults to join us.
Do you love teens, Jesus and are you committed to Evangel Church? Give a year and watch what God does through you!
CLICK HERE to inquire about youth leadership today!
Hope this was helpful! Praying for you,