9. New Bible Study courses for Youth
One of the main focuses of Intergenerational Ministry is helping youth to discover authentic faith for themselves and build good spiritual habits to grow in their faith even into their adulthood. In order for that to happen, first of all, youth need to have an adult role model and a small group of community they feel belong. Secondly, youth need “systematic teachings” of wise and timeless principles to make better choices for their lives, to prevent regrets, unneccesary consequences and unfulfilled dreams. That is why we will be offering two separate bible studies for youth, “Turning Point” and “Starting Point”.
We’ve been offering Bible 101 for youth for 3 years but it will change its name to “Turning Point”. The whole curriculumn will be redesigned in order to make it more relevant in youth’s life. Lectures will be shortened and cover only Important topics or issues. This will be for Grade 7-10. Just as before, students will also be reading “the Story” which is summarized version of the bible arranged in chronological order so that they can read the entire story of the Bible once. This will help students tremendously to gain big picture of the Bible and have clarity on God’s plan for their lives.
We are also implementing a new curriculumn called “Starting Point”. From my observation, many students begin to question their faith in last 2-3 years of their high school but many don’t find it safe to share those doubts in church. They also begin to feel that the faith they inherited from their parents is inadequate to answer their new questions of life. So “Starting point” will provide a safe environment for them to freely share their doubts and questions without feeling judged. It will also help high school students to have a new starting point for their faith, which will help them to keep and grow their faith even into their adulthood. It will also help non-Christian students to navigate through the gospel and find some answers about major beliefs of Christianity. Unlike other courses, it is not in lecture format but conversational format so group leader is more of a fascilitator not instructor. For that reason, we will limit the registration to 8 people max so that it will be a small, intimate environment where everyone feels safe to share their doubts, questions and arguments on Christianity. This is for Grade 10-12.
Another big change will be “time”. Bible 101 was offered on Saturday morning but from now we are going to be offering it on Sunday instead (after YHC meeting). Turning point will be offered in January, and starting point will be offered in October every year.
