Hey parents! Your kids continue to ask good and challenging questions in Sunday School. It has been a joy to see them ponder and grow through conversation.

In 5th/6th grade the group was discussing Prophets and that prophets are truth tellers. How they too are called to be truth tellers, to share the good news of Jesus Christ with others. They will continue to wrestle with what is truth and what a life following Christ looks like so I encourage you to keep having conversations about truth, about why it is hard to always tell the truth, why it is hard to be a Christian and how to respond when they feel God is calling them out of their comfort zone. 

7th and 8th graders also talked about truth but more specifically if the Bible is true. Kids wrestled with the difference between truth and fact. Matt used the example of siblings having an argument/fight and how when it comes time to explain to mom and dad what happened, they both have different stories. They experienced the same thing but they have different perspectives. This led to conversations about stories in the Bible where some of the details can't be proven as truth but that we see enough "evidence" from the Bible overall that we can know in our hearts as a fact that Jesus is the son of God. That he came to earth to live, die and rise again to conquer satan, sin and death and give us new life. Praise the Lord! Continue to ask your kids what it means to have faith, to believe the truth of the gospel even though we don't always feel we have concrete proof.

Bill led students in a team activity where students had to make a copy of a structure that they were only allowed to look at one at a time and only for 10 seconds at a time. There was also an advocate who helped teams, gave hints and extra time to look at the structure and a critic who discouraged teams and led them astray from the task. The passage used was Luke 5: 18-25 where 4 friends bring a a paralyzed man on a mat to see Jesus and the faith of the friends prompted Jesus to heal the man. We then discussed in small groups whether students themselves are advocates or critics, why that is, and how to "train" to be an advocate instead of a critic. I encourage you to ask your student if they see themselves as an advocate or a critic of themselves and of other people and why that might be. Challenge them this week to take an advocate mindset and check in with them to see how they are doing.

5th and 6th grade students talked about faithfulness. They discussed why God has called us to be faithful and to share His love and grace with others. There were some great questions and great conversation. Kids were wondering why people follow other religions and what happens to people if they don't believe in God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. I would encourage you to continue this conversation with your students to help them understand the importance of not only our faith but sharing it with others.

7th and 8th graders dove into the lesson, "Who wrote the Bible, God or humans?". They focused on 2 Timothy 3:16 which says, "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness," and asked questions like, "Do you think the people who wrote the books in the Bible knew their writings would become holy?" and, "Did they know their work was inspired?". See what your students think about these questions!

Last night we headed down the street to rake leaves for some neighbors. The students got right to work and had a lot of fun along the way.

Dynelle shared the word of the Lord with us last night and helped students develop a sentence to describe the bible in order to easily share it with others. We talked in small groups about what holds kids back from sharing their faith with others in their daily lives. Kids said fear of being judged, embarrassed, or rejected were big reasons they hold back from sharing the Gospel. Ask your student who they have shared the Gospel with and a time they were too afraid as well. Discuss ways to be more bold in faith to have those conversations. Your kids are ready and willing to have these convos!