Session 1-Intro & Benign Whateversim

This week we looked at the Introduction and Lesson 1- Benign Whateversim. The hand out below gives you some of the highlights of the chapters, the book will give you more information to fill in the holes throughout the week. 

Faith Tools:

One of the items we had some conversations about, but was not in the book, surrounds the idea of the Faith Tools. As a church we have become really good at giving families tools to use. Whether it is devotions, study ideas, take home sheets, etc. We often times miss the need for families/parents/guardians to learn how to use these resources or to become comfortable talking about faith in the home.

We spent a few minutes at the end of the session talking about "Roadblocks" when it comes to talking about faith in the home. Here is a list of things which came up:

• schedule
• topics
• engaging youth/children
• not having the "right" answers
• not pushing too hard

As church workers we can sometimes forget the need for encouragement and processing to happen before families jump into using these tools. Take some time to think about your own roadblocks and how you can maneuver around them to try one of the Faith Tools in the coming week.​

Each week we will talk about and process how your Faith Tool activity/discussion went. This will give us a chance as parent/guardians to bounce ideas off of one another and to gain perspective from other parents/guardians.

Who is God?

One of the ways to get faith conversations going is to ask questions. Questions ignite discussions and give you a chance to explain your faith journey to your student. Questions also give students opportunities to express their faith, and their doubt as well. When we engage students in faith conversations through questions, we should be prepared for a variety of potential topics. If you ask a child or youth a question, then you should be prepared to receive a question in return. If you do, you have started a conversation. Consider exploring the following questions with your students sometime this week. Youth might want to bring up a question while you're on your way to school or to the store. Or, consider bringing up one of these questions after dinner.

• Do you know why i believe in God? Jesus?
• What do you believe about God? Jesus?
• Where have you seen God today? Or this week?

If those questions don't feel like a correct fit for the kind of faith conversations you want to have with your student, consider asking them a question you haven't answered. Ask them about one of God's character traits that you don't understand, or invite them to discuss a theological concept. When you ask the question, allow your student time to respond to the question. Don't try to correct their thinking by telling them they are wrong, as that will close off the conversation. Instead, teach them by sharing what you believe.

The reality is this may fail at bringing any meaningful conversation. But it will allow your student to know the conversation can happen when/if they are ever ready for it. Be ready to say "I don't know," to some of the questions. Send me an email with any questions you may not have considered and I'll try to locate some resources for you to check out!