Youth Ministry
Tonight, we'll be taking a break from our current "Doctrine" series to talk about.........well, more doctrine - ha! But more specifically, with Reformation Day this weekend, and since we just started a sermon series this past Sunday on the 5 Solas of the Reformation, tonight, the plan is to do a message I'm calling, "You Will Never Be Good Enough" - which is about the doctrine of justification by faith alone, against works based religion/righteousness.
If you wonder why we make it a point to talk about these things every year around this time, first, I'd make the case that we talk about them all them time (since they're Gospel issues), but it's also because I agree with this quote from Phil Johnson:
"If the church needed a reformation in Luther's time, we need one more desperately now."
There will be the need for the church in every generation to ground everything we know and do in what God has done in Christ to save people, and in all the ways the Bible shows us that's been accomplished. Please continue to pray for our students and for our time tonight as we talk about these ever-important truths!
"Justification by faith alone, is the hinge upon which the whole of Christianity turns." - Charles Simeon
"Justified by faith is he who, excluded from the righteousness of works, grasps the righteousness of Christ through faith, and clothed in it, appears in God's sight not as a sinner but as a righteous man." - John Calvin
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.