Sex and teenagers

For some thought-provoking commentary on the sexual behavior of Christian vs. non-Christian teens click here. I'd be interested in your observations.

Including whole families in your VBS

Many churches conduct an annual vacation bible school (VBS) for children.  A VBS is a wonderful tool for reaching out to both churched and unchurched kids, and their families.

In order to reach families, some churches are successfully turning VBS into a whole-family experience.  Two general methods are being used:

1. A parallel track where parents attend a class while their children are in VBS.  Often a meal is provided for the whole family. One church used for parents small group discussions from Chip Ingram's book, Effective Parenting in a Defective World. Another used CCBT's, Parenting with Purpose.

2. Integrating parents into the VBS with their children. One church used Group Publishing's 2008 VBS, "Jerusalem Marketplace" (you may be able to find a used one from a large church in your area). This year, Group's VBS curriculum titled "Rome" lends itself to full family participation.

Black History Month

With the inauguration of Barak Obama, our nation has its first African-American president. This milestone adds additional focus and joy to our February celebrations of Black History Month.

To help your congregation celebrate, we've devoted the February GC2 equipper to Black History Month (click here to download in PDF).  We hope you find this material helpful. And be sure to include the kids in your celebrations!

-Ted Johnston

Cross-Generational Ministry

In Generations Ministries we emphasize the importance of sharing in the life and love of the Father, Son and Spirit through cross-generational ministry. Why? Because it is expressive of God's triune nature, and the extension of that nature in God's design for the human family at large, and for the church family in particular.

Fuller Youth Institute (FYI) has done significant research concerning the importance of cross-generational ministry. Their website includes several helpful articles on the topic (click here for a list). I recommend these articles to all who wish to structure ministries in the flow of God's cross-generational life and love. See, in particular, the article, Something is Not Right: Revisiting our Definition of Family.