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Here is what we're teaching throughout the year 2024!
January - Identity
Who do you think you are? You might define your identity around your skills, abilities, and giftings. Those are great ways to start our journey, but they don’t quite reach the center. In the same way, an oceanographer heads into the depths to reveal the ocean's mysteries, we’ll need to prepare to dive deep to discover who we are and who we are becoming. As we venture beneath the surface, we'll look at the formative years of Jesus’ life to see how he began to discover his identity and purpose. Through stories of his personal experiences, habits, and relationships, we’ll find how God helps us understand our identities. We’ll see how God helps us discover who we’re becoming and how God’s words help us discover who we are. We’ll also learn how the right relationships help us discover how to grow and how Jesus helps us discover purpose.
February - Spiritual Growth
For a lot of us, music is a central part of our lives. In the car, at school, or even just walking through a store, music plays in the background. Music can be more than fun and entertainment for us, though. While the best rhythms and beats can make us want to dance or help us focus to handle our work, they also help us understand how we can develop healthy habits for our spiritual lives. With the right habits, we can set ourselves up to grow closer to God than we could ever imagine. In this four-week series, we'll take some time to explore how we can build rhythms that help us connect with God in new ways. We'll discover how to build a strong rhythm that can sustain us through whatever life brings our way. We'll look at how to create rhythms that help us spend time with God, use our gifts, share our stories, and spend time with others
March - Anger
Anger is such a big, powerful emotion. When we're angry about things that matter, our anger can lead us toward action. Anger can even inspire us to make the world a better place! But other times, our anger can lead us to make choices that are harmful to ourselves or others. There's no escaping situations or people who make us angry, but how we respond when we're angry is up to us. So if we can’t completely avoid getting angry, what can we do? In this four-week series, we’ll explore four passages of Scripture from both the Old and New Testaments that might challenge our view on anger. We’ll learn practical skills like when we feel angry, pause to ask God why. We’ll see how, when we’re angry, Jesus shows us how to respond. And in our anger, we'll be challenged to show grace and not get hurtful.
March/April - Easter
Easter Sunday is supposed to be a time of joy and celebration (cue the candy, pastel eggs, and sunshine). But before Easter Sunday could happen, Good Friday had to happen first. Before the joy, hope, and light of Jesus' resurrection could be experienced, Jesus and his followers first had to experience some deeply frightening, painful, hopeless, and dark moments. Maybe you've had moments like that before too. This Easter, whether you feel like you're living in the darkness of Good Friday or the light of Easter Sunday, there's something new Jesus wants to help you discover about his death and resurrection. In this two-week series from the Gospels, we’ll discover Easter isn't just something that happened 2,000 years ago — it's something that's still happening today. We’ll discover Jesus is with us in the darkness ,and Jesus is the light in the darkness.
April - Family
Our relationships with our families can sometimes feel a little bit like a way-too-competitive game night. With our families, sometimes it's fun . . . but other times, we might fight for first place, gang up on each other, betray each other, and walk away with frustration and hurt feelings. Families can be sources of joy and laughter but also stress and tension. But what if our families could be places where we could all help each other win? In this four-week series from the New Testament, we’ll look at how the earliest followers of Jesus created a new kind of community as God's family. Through their example, we’ll learn that there is enough when we share what we have— and if there isn’t enough, God provides. We'll also learn that our actions can speak when words aren’t enough and that God’s love is always enough.
May - Jesus
The best way to know about someone is to let them tell you who they are. We may think we know who Jesus is, but have we let him tell us in his own words? What might happen if we made space for Jesus to speak for himself? There are seven times when Jesus directly told his disciples who he was. In these “I am” statements, he shared with them what it meant to follow him, his heart for others, and how his followers can strengthen their relationships with him and with God. In this four-week series, we’ll dive into Jesus’ words about himself to learn how his words can reshape our lives today. Through what Jesus says, we’ll learn that Jesus is love, is truth, is always with us, and is our savior.
June - Evangelism
There are some things we just have to share. A funny video, some encouraging words, or a profound moment of kindness are all things we’ve probably shared this week. When we share, we just want the people we care about most to experience what we have. We’re quick to send videos to each other, but how easy is it for us to share our faith? Maybe it’s not that we don’t want to share, but we might have a hard time overcoming some of our obstacles or insecurities. During this four-week series, we’ll take a look at the story of Samuel and the ways that God called him to share his faith through words and action. Together, we’ll explore how God invites us to share the good news, why sharing the good news should start with prayer, what to do when sharing the good news requires risk, and how sharing the good news can happen every day.
July - Stress & Anxiety
Take a deep breath. Count to ten. Unclench your jaw. Close your eyes. (Or don't, since you're trying to read). You'veprobably learned a trick or two like this to help you feel with feelings of stress, worry, or overwhelm. Unfortunately, thereare a lot of reasons to feel stressed on most days. So between school, family, relationships, and questions about our future, what can we do about everything that's causing us stress? During Jesus’ ministry, he spent a lot of time with people during some really stressful moments. In this four-week series from the Gospels, we'll see how, when we’re not okay, Jesus offers hope. We’ll discover that when people reject us, Jesus never will. We’ll see that when it’s not easy to do what’s right, it’s still worth it. And we’ll be reminded that when you feel worried, Jesus can be trusted.
August - Friendship
Our friends are some of the most important people in our lives. Our friends know us best. They’re the people we’ve spent countless hours with telling stories, laughing, and creating memories together. We all know having great friendships means a lot more than just having people to hang out with, but how do you find friends like that? How do you build the kinds of friendships that last? And what do you do if you feel like your friendships aren't everything you'd want them to be? In this four-week series from the Gospels, we’ll take a look at how Jesus treated the people he cared about in order to learn how we can better treat our friends. Through Jesus' example, we’ll discover that friends don’t miss a chance to care for each other, aren’t afraid to challenge each other, don’t let differences divide them, and aren’t afraid to talk about what they believe
September - Doubts & Questions
The Bible is full of things that seem almost "beyond belief." Sometimes that's because the stories we read on its pages are miraculous — especially the story of Exodus. Like, did God really split a whole sea in half, speak to Moses from a burning bush, or rescue all those people from enslavement? Other times, the Bible says things that sound a little too good to be true — like, is God really as loving, kind, patient, or powerful as Scripture says? And can God really use each of us to do big things in the world? In this four-week series from the book of Exodus, we’ll explore what the story of Moses and the Israelites can help us discover about doubt and belief. We'll talk about how, when you doubt yourself, God can still use you. And we'll see how, when you doubt God, it's okay to ask questions because God still offers guidance and always takes care of you.
October - Stress & Anxiety
When you hear the word "leader," you might think about an influential artist or celebrity, or a famous politician, or a coach on a soccer field, or that kid who just got elected class president. And, sure, those people are definitely leaders! But these aren’t the only ways to lead. Great leaders don't have to have official positions, titles, or people who report to them. With God, being a great leader is something anyone can achieve because leadership is simply about becoming the kind of person who's worth following. But how? In this four-week series, we'll look at the example of Jesus, plus ordinary people like Moses, Solomon, and the apostle Paul, who were all given opportunities to lead and make a difference in others' lives. Through their examples (both good and bad), we'll see how great leaders are the people most likely to follow through, choose to love, choose integrity, and follow God's lead.
November - Generosity
Have you ever seen one of those random acts of kindness that tend to trend online? Maybe someone gives a stranger an envelope full of cash or the keys to a free car. Maybe they pay off all their bills or cover their college tuition. While these moments of "over the top" generosity can be inspiring, they're not things most of us will ever be in a position to give away. But if we can't give away any brand new cars, what can we give that would make a difference in the world? In this four-week series, we'll see what the book of 1 Thessalonians shows us about loving others through what we can give. We'll discover how to make a big difference by being generous with our time, being generous by sharing the good news, being generous by caring for each other, and being generous with our encouragement.
September - Doubts & Questions
Our favorite Christmas memories might involve snowball fights, presents, or time with people we love. The end of the year is a great chance for us to reflect on everything that’s happened and everyone around us. When we really think about it, there’s so much we can be thankful for each and every year — even if things didn’t work exactly how we planned. God has given us so much, and the birth of Jesus is a great way to focus on all of the gifts we’ve received this year. Retelling these classic Christmas stories will teach us about gratitude and thankfulness during this four-week series. As students hear about the prophecies and stories of Jesus’ birth, they’ll be reminded to be thankful foreach other, what God has done, and God’s promises, and to be thankful even when it’s not easy.