New Student Ministry Series | Relate

Douglas Kersten  |  News  |  Student Ministry

The student ministry is beginning a new teaching series this weekend called “Relate.” We will be looking to God’s word to learn about his perfect and beautiful designs for love, sex, and dating.

The truth is that students are being bombarded with a variety of messages regarding love, sex, gender, dating, marriage, and all that lies in between those larger themes. They are receiving these messages through music, video games, tv, movies, youtube, the internet, social media, through friends, and at school. I feel that we have a huge responsibility to speak to God’s plans for how we would relate to each other in the areas of love, sex, and dating.

CS Lewis, theologian and author, is quoted saying “A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line.” Contextually he is speaking to his days as an atheist when he would argue against God because of the cruelty and lack of justice he was seeing in the world. While this teaching series is not about cruelty and justice, we will be taking an approach that is inspired by his concept of the straight and crooked lines.

How are students to receive God’s truth on love, sex, and dating in a world that often teaches that religion and Christianity is judgmental and unloving? We want to reveal the beauty and perfection of God’s designs for how we are to love each other, how sex within God’s design is a wonderful gift, and how followers of Jesus should approach dating. Essentially, we want to define the “straight line” first so there is context when we lovingly share the ways humans have swerved from God’s designs in these areas.

As we work to present these difficult truths, the leadership team of the student ministry has been reading, studying, and praying together so that we can do so with love and grace. That is the beautiful thing about Jesus and how he addressed people who were straying from the path of God. He never backed down from truth, but He remained loving and full of grace. He saw through “issues” to see people who need to be loved.

“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” – John 1:14.

Will you help us? Please pray that the leaders would lead with truth and grace. Pray that the students would have hearts that are like fertile soil to receive the truths and that they feel comfortable to wrestle and struggle through questions, doubts, and fears at youth group. If you are a parent or guardian of junior or senior high students, please consider joining our private Facebook group for parents by searching for “cfc student ministry parents” and clicking “Join+.”

Douglas Kersten