CBC YOUTH MINISTRY

Dear Parents,

As I write this, we are approaching the end of the second week of this global pandemic and i'm sure it's been crazy to say the least. With cities on lockdown, we're approaching new territories of parenting, education, socialization, and spirituality. I hope that you have been involved in the lives of your students all the more so during this time.

Our family has tried to make extra space to spend together since we're all at home and I think we're just making it up as we go along. I think at this point, without knowing anything for certain, our goal is just to make the most of every opportunity and see what kind of silver lining this situation presents. The most obvious one, I think, is that this give families a much needed opportunity to just be near one another - to make conversation, to eat together, to play and laugh together...even to worship and pray together.

So I hope that your student (as well as yourself) have enough resources available to where you're able to maintain a steady spiritual growth. What we have provided for you as a youth group is to provide the same coverage of the core values during the week - devotionals on Monday to chew on throughout the week; every other Wednesday is a "message" from the youth leadership (mainly to shepherd and to cast vision); and every Friday will be some sort of classroom education (i.e. ACCESS). Aside from these things, we're still expecting your students to meet with their DG and their discipleship pair.

Please don't hesitate to be in touch with questions or concerns,

Justin Wong, on behalf of the CBC Youth Ministry

Mondays // 3pm - Devotional by youth (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCotEc4jcV-xLJFcQwWWUePQ)

Every other Wednesdays // 8pm - Live Zoom Youth Meeting (Lesson). Instructions for meeting will be sent out via email and on GroupMe

Every Friday // 8pm - Live Bible Study Zoom & YouTube. Same instructions as above.

Pray together as a family ONE time a day. What we do in our family is that we choose one person we want to pray for that week and we just go in a circle and pray out loud for that person. We typically do this before we go to bed but that's just works for us. Do what works for you.

Monthly gift. As a family, decide on another family to show love to this month. Maybe ask your youth if they have a friend or if they know someone in need and as a family think of creative ways to love on them this month.

Examples could include: sending them food (via food delivery service); hand writing them letters, bringing over some gifts, sending them a gift card, etc.

The point of this is to build a rhythm of hospitality with your youth but also as something your family does together. This continues to allow your student to think of others more and more but what is cool about this challenge is that parents, you get to be involved in loving who your students love. Get creative.

As we have titled this newsletter "Spring Checkup" we wanted to have a hard conversation with you parents. Our hope and goal for CBC YOUTH is always always always that your student truly loves the Lord with all their heart, mind, and soul...and love others as they love themselves. Our mandate is to equip your students to fulfill these two mandates as best as we can and with all the resources that we possess (financially yes, but leadership, education, experience, etc.). Again, our role as a youth ministry to your youth (who is a member) is simply to hold them accountable for what they have confessed to (e.g. that Jesus is their Lord and Savior) and our role is to step in and provide them resources to do so.

However parents, and this is where it may get difficult, it is impossible as you well know to change them or get them to want to change. All we can do is to do our part and provide the best possible resources we have on our end but it is truly up to the youth in order to get there. We understand of course that maturation takes time. We get that youth have tons of things to do. But under our mandate is that also that we watch out for the spiritual temperature of your youth and when we notice issues and we foresee problems, we want to be as honest with you as possible.

Why?

Because we do not believe that our youth group is the end all be all. We know they will graduate out one day if they don't drop out themselves or transfer away. So during this Spring season we will engage you parents on how your students are doing. And our leaders will give you the best and fair evaluation they possibly can. And the reason we do this is because just like school (or anything else they're involved with) we want to let you know how your student is doing and in our case how they are doing spiritually. We are doing this not because we're trying to pass unrighteous judgment on your students but because we love your students as much as a youth ministry can. We pray for them, we sacrifice for them, and often we hurt for them.

So parents, you will be receiving emails soon (or calls if you would like) on your students by the end of the semester. And here are a few things we're asking:

• Where is the student overall spiritually?
• Is their life consistent at church, school, and on social media?
• Where are they at in terms of spiritual knowledge?
• Are they in an "appropriate" spiritual trajectory for where they are supposed to be?
• How active have they been in the youth program and its mission?
• Are there any warning signs we should be aware of?

This isn't supposed to be all doom and gloom and have you parents worried. This is to provide you with confidence in continuing to shepherd your students well and where you can help your students grow even more. This is also to help you parents and see where to step in and find resources for your students. Lastly, this is a chance for us to partner again on the discipleship of your student.

Sometimes screen time is a necessity if we have children at home and work we need to do. Here are some sites that make screen time a learning time:

1. FREE Courses on Systematic Theology, Church History, Pastoral Theology and More. https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/courses/

2. FREE Courses from Harvard, MIT, Stanford, UC Berkeley, etc. Great opportunity to add some certificates to your resume. https://www.edx.org/

3. Worthwhile Podcast: The Briefing by Albert Mohler, Doctrine & Devotion, Culture Matters, 5 Minutes in Church History, Ask Pastor John, Breakaway.