About Our Youth

Have you heard of the phrase Revertigo?  Its a thing - Google says so.  Its the tendency of a person to revert back to an older version of themselves when around people from their past.  It explains why when we travel back to our hometown for a weekend visit, our maturity declines a couple decades hanging out with old childhood friends.  Or why siblings can laugh until their sides hurt over inside jokes as if they just happened.  And yet, we are in fact grown adults with real responsibilities.  

Sometimes the phenomenon also happens during Lent - we hit the time of year as if it is just a "default" season and revert to whatever we think we ought to be doing or reading or eating (or not eating).  Lent is supposed to be a forward journey, and it is supposed to be new every year.  Christ has something new to teach us every year.  In writing our Lent series, "Follow Me" I was astonished at the artificial roadblocks we put up ourselves to stand in the way of our journey in following Christ - our fears, our pressures, our identity, logic... and yes, our revertigo.  This Lent, let's not be like the Nazarenes who rejected Jesus in His own town, failing to see the Divinity through the Humanity and instead embrace the invitation to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Him. 

As much as we love our Sunday School units, some conversations require a bit more attention - a bit more depth.  Learn more about our Difficult Conversations Retreat packages as we periodically add more on.  We have retreat packages diving into crucial, but deep topics such as dating, purity, spiritual warfare, identity, and more!

No one can deny the amazing conveniences, advantages, and benefits the internet, our phones, and social media provided. At the same time, there's a dilemma... isn't there? A problem worth discussing?

These devices can easily turn into the yoke of bondage St. Paul warned us about in Galatians. Our social media accounts can easily become a cesspool of jealousy, envy, and depression. Hiding behind an internet screen, our words often lose integrity- building more barriers than bridges.

Our curriculum provides, on purpose, more content than you could ever squeeze into a lesson. The key is to pick and choose the elements that will work best for your class age and demographics. In other words, curriculum is not a replacement for preparation.  Check out some tips to make the curriculum work for you.

This past Sunday I was teaching the lesson and all of a sudden one of my teen students blurted out, "wait a minute - this lesson... it sorta ties in to the game we were playing in the beginning of class - did you do that on purpose?!"  Yep!  BtO does not insert games for the sake of games... they all tie in to the message of the day.  Thanks for noticing haha. 

But that really does tie in to an important point worth highlighting - you have a finite time with your students, so make your curriculum work and whatever you do - do it on purpose.

My younger son often asks me why Jesus couldn’t be more direct with His words: Why did He speak in riddles?”

It is a great question to think about especially this time of year as we re-live Christ’s days on Earth. Why did Jesus teach in Parables? Wouldn’t it have been more effective, more practical, to just give textbook teachings and sermons?

Through the imaginative allegories that came through in His parables, Christ described the indescribable in a way we could understand and in a way we would never forget. There was wisdom and prophecy behind the stories. There was accountability in His words. There was love for humankind resonating in each allegory.  This Lent season, I encourage you to embrace the message and beauty found in Christ's Parables.