Youth Ministry
Last week, we started a two-part lesson on in our Kingdom of God series on "Kingdom of Joy". We focused on how joy is found for the Christian in belonging to Christ, coming to Christ, looking to Christ. We saw how Jesus compared what had just happened the day before in the feeding of the 5,000 and the crowds' coming after him for more bread, but Jesus had way more in mind and taught them that earthly bread satisfies only for a little while, but to instead seek after the Bread of Life, Jesus Christ himself. Tonight will be Part 2 on joy, and we'll be talking about the 4 names of Christ that bring Christmas joy to the believer, both at Christmas and every moment! We'll be focusing on the prophetic, divine names given to the coming Messiah in Isaiah 9:6. Hope to see your students!
Xalt Youth is a weekly group for the middle and high school students of Forrester Community Church. We believe that those in our church in the youth ages shouldn't be relegated to a separate entity or with an unnecessary division or segregation from the rest of the church body, but rather a vital part of it, and we strive to build that into both the parents as primary disciplers of those in the youth, as well as in the youth themselves so they grow in understanding their role(s) in the body of Christ in healthy ways as they mature in their faith. We don't view Wednesday nights as an event for parents to drop their kids off for Patrick or any of the youth leaders to be the primary discipler of their children, but would rather come alongside the parents in our church to serve them in ways to promote healthy and ongoing discipleship in the home, and then let Wednesday nights serve as an additional (though focused, certainly), mid-week Bible study, encouragement, and fun for them. And we certainly also encourage our youth to invite friends (what a great way for some to hear the Gospel who may otherwise not) to come, but our aim is to focus first on our youth, and then strive for ways to help serve those who may come whose families aren't covenanting members of our church.