LCYouth September 2018 Newsletter
LCYouth September 2018 Newsletter
Thanks for taking some time to read the September LCYouth Newletter! School is back in session and I know that there are a lot of activities this Fall. My hope is that this will help you stay in the loop as you organize your schedule!
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me!
Thanks,
T.R. Stewart
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel to keep up to date with what's happening at LCYouth!
Here's a checklist for parents to use in the run-up to the new school year that can help make your home less "back-to-stress" and more "back-to-school."
Academics: Encourage your children to do their best, learn all they can, and do the best they can do. Intervene when they do not, and affirm them when they live up to their academic potential.
Anxiety: It's normal for students to feel stress over the upcoming school year. Make your home a calming, secure environment and reassure kids that their feelings are normal.
Calendar: Create a family calendar helps everyone keep up-to-date on what's going on and to help avoid scheduling conflicts.
Connect: Establish connections with school faculty, administrators, and staff who can help with your questions and provide direction for school-related issues as they arise.
Diet: Establish expectations for a healthy diet for your student. Think through breakfast and lunch preparation responsibilities.
Family Dinners: Set a schedule for regular family dinnertimes during the school year. This will help maintain family connections and allows for staying current with what's going on in each other's lives.
Homework: Establish expectations for your child regarding daily homework. Create a reasonable homework routine that allows for completion of daily assignments.
Physical Activity: Plan now to ensure your child has opportunities for regular, adequate exercise.
Scheduling: Remember the adage, no one can do everything. Help your kids set reasonable activity levels for participation in sports, clubs, and extracurricular activities.
Set a Positive Tone: Start talking positively about the new school year: classes, friends, and activities. Create positive anticipation.
Shopping: Get an early start by taking advantage of back-to-school sales now and to avoid the stress of shopping at the last minute.
Sleep: Adjust bed and wake-up times to create healthy school-year sleep patterns before the first day of school.
Transportation: If traveling by school or public bus, be sure to confirm bus stops and schedules. If carpooling, remember to connect and confirm schedules with the other parents involved.
Filters: Living Real Life is a series we're starting on Wednesday September 5th! We'll take a look at our tendencies to use different filters instead of being real. Your student won't want to miss a single Wednesday night this month!
Maybe your family devotions need a few adjustments to restore excitement and growth. Maybe your kids openly groan when you tell them it’s time to study the Bible. Or maybe your family has never even made devotions a part of your schedule but you want that to change.
No matter where your family is right now, here are some tips to help you move everyone in the right direction, right away.
Kids’ Pick
If you want to increase the buy-in your kids have toward your family devotion, let them make a few of the decisions. For instance, they could be given the responsibility of picking a topic or book from the Bible to study. They could also choose something out of the norm that surprisingly opens meaningful discussion about scriptural truth. Of course, your kids might also want to weigh in on when family devotions take place. Everybody – including your kid – likes to have input in decisions that impact them.
Be Consistent
Yeah, I know what life looks like for the average American family. But I’ve also seen the impact intentional devotions can have on kids. You don’t have to do Gregorian chants at 5am every day followed by hours of reading from ancient theologians. Start simple. Pick two nights each week you can set aside 20 minutes to talk about God, life, and faith (and increase your frequency from there). You can also make it easy on yourselves by having family devotions during dinner. Or use the car ride to school each morning as a great time to have spiritual conversations. Whatever you decide, make sure you’re consistent. That’s the key!
Engaging Resources
So you haven’t gone to seminary. You can’t translate the original Greek. And you don’t know the difference between sanctification and soteriology. None of that matters – at all! – if you have engaging resources to use during your times of family devotion. Fortunately, The Source for Parents (and even The Source for Youth Ministry) offers you tons of great FREE tools to help you make the most of your time together.
I strongly suggest taking a few moments to peruse those resources. Pick out a few you’d like to try and use them in the coming week. Not only will your kids love them, but it’ll bolster your confidence in teaching God’s Word because we help you at every step.
The Greenhouse of Faith
The very first “group” God put us in was the family. Families predate the Boy Scouts, study groups, travel ball clubs…and even the church. While a family has many purposes, one of the most crucial is the development of our kids’ faith. In Deuteronomy 6:4-9, God’s Word says:
“Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD alone. And you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are away on a journey, when you are lying down and when you are getting up again. Tie them to your hands as a reminder, and wear them on your forehead. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
This passage makes it crystal clear that our responsibility as parents is to help our kids develop a life-changing faith for themselves. God even outlines a few strategies to help us accomplish the crucial task. I can’t promise you it will be easy, but I can promise you it will be worth it. Pick a time, pick a resource, and pick your kids’ brains about their faith.
FUN BIBLICAL RESOURCES THAT ACTUALLY ENGAGE MEANINGFUL CONVERSATION
The Teen’s Guide to Social Media & Mobile Devices: The guide that Focus on Family’s President Jim Daly just interviewed author Jonathan McKee about—helping teens think about wise posting in an insecure world.
Christianity—It’s Like This: It’s basically Christianity for Dummies. A fantastic look at who is God, Jesus, the Bible, The Holy Spirit, Heaven and Hell… etc.
The Zombie Apocalypse Survival Guide for Teenagers: A fictional story- divided into bite sized chapters with discussion questions—of three teenagers surviving in a post apocalyptic world and the question they keep finding themselves asking is, “What is right?”
The Guy’s Guide to God, Girls and the Phone in Your Pocket: An Amazon Best Seller from Jonathan McKee challenging young men to grow into Godly men.
David R. Smith is a 15-year youth ministry veteran who helps youth workers and parents through his writing, training, and speaking. David specializes in sharing the gospel, and equipping others do the same. He co-authored his first book this year, Ministry By Teenagers. David provides free resources to anyone who works with teenagers on his website, DavidRSmith.org David resides with his wife and son in Tampa, Florida.