Youth Ministry
Tonight, we'll continue in our series through the book of Ecclesiastes. We'll be focusing this week on Chapter 2, Verses 1-11, which talks about the vanity of the pursuit of pleasure......the earthly kind - the king that doesn't satisfy......pleasure "under the sun." Our theme in this series has been "Under the Son," emphasizing the futility of life lived merely and only under the sun - a life only concerned with the here and now. One that God has been telling us through Solomon's quest to find wisdom, satisfaction, pleasure, and fulfillment will never work - you'll never find them only here, under the sun. My hope is that Ecclesiastes has been a red flag, a sounding alarm in the ears and hearts of our youth so that they see that nothing this world will ever offer will ever give us what our hearts truly need and long for. Solomon is the premier example of that, and Ecclesiastes has been giving the youth a front row seat to his folly. Hope you'll continue to be sure to get them here!
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.