Social Experience
Last week I had the opportunity to help with an event at the school my kids go to. It was an activity where they practiced social skills and were learning how to be confident, well spoken, thoughtful, kind, courteous, and you know…be good functioning people in society…it turns out that is necessary in life.
It was amazing. These middle schoolers were unbelievably articulate, well thought out, and courteous.
I loved being there and helping out
Before the day we were told to grade these kids hard but fair. Don’t just give them a free pass. Help them learn what they need to work on. Very quickly I learned, golly these kids are good. I guess I need to adjust the curve and grade even harder than I thought so I don’t just give everyone nearly perfect scores.
So I did…because you know…I’m a rule follower.
At the end of the day I asked my boys if they had fun and they said,
“yeah, but everyone talked about how your station was hard and you were really hard on everyone. Why did you give everyone such low scores?”
In which I assumed Sarah and I were on the same page so in a desperate attempt to not feel like a bully I asked,
“what did everyone think about your mom’s station? Was she as hard as I was?”
“No, everyone loved mom’s station. It was their favorite.”
Not the answer I was hoping for. I literally am in a business of communicating well with people and caring deeply for people and I wouldn’t be surprised if next year they ask me to stay home.
Sorry pastor…it turns out you’re just too mean and judgmental…
I kept asking my kids about it and they said,
“drop it dad. We’ve all moved on.”
Despite me making a middle school social skills activity about me, I think there is something about this that is really important.
Sometimes caring about middle schoolers and their experience is something we don’t care about, we drop it and move on. I believe we have a responsibility to care deeply for our middle schoolers here at The Chapel. We need to love them and lead them well. We need to guide them and guard them so that as they grow in their faith, as they follow after Jesus, as they abide in him, are changed by him, and embody his ways, it won’t be some sort of performative faith, but it will be for the glory of God and the good of others.
We see in the scriptures that often people want to pull little ones away from Jesus…and Jesus reminds them that they all need to be more like the children.
We also often miss this, but Mary and Joseph, and many of the disciples that Jesus called, were likely teenagers or young adults. Despite the classic paintings that make them unbelievably ripped 60 year olds, they were more like their grandkids.
So if Jesus valued young people, it seems like we should too.
As you likely know, we started a Kids Church about 3 years ago for 5 year olds through 5th graders.
Last year we hired a team member, Michael Pratt to lead our next generation ministry.
Over the past 3 years, those kids have grown…and more keep showing up.
So, we are excited to expand our Next Gen ministry to middle school.
We’re thrilled to announce a new opportunity for our 5th to 8th graders to grow in faith and intentionally form community!
At The Chapel, we are launching a MIDDLE SCHOOL MEETUP every Sunday at 9:15 – 9:45AM.
It isn’t a long time, but we think God can do something incredible in this time. Building a strong community is essential for spiritual growth and we hope to create a welcoming space where students can explore their faith, enjoy exciting activities, build encouraging friendships, and share their thoughts.
The first Middle School Meetup will be this Sunday, January 19th!
They’ll meet behind The Chapel, where the picnic tables are to the north east of the Garden. If it is raining, they’ll meet under the awning by The Grove.
Immediately following the meetup, middle school students will attend worship together instead of Kids Church.
Now, we fully understand, some kids in 5th grade are still in elementary school and some are in middle school. Some 5th graders will still want to go to Kids Church. That is not a problem. Just talk with Michael so he knows in advance.
Our whole team is excited for this opportunity to help lead the next generation of middle schoolers be formed in the ways of Jesus.
If you have any questions, would like to support, or be a part of this ministry, please contact Michael Pratt at [email protected].
As we’ve shared before we are still working on the west side of The Chapel to be a space for toddlers and young families on Sunday, to gather and play outside during worship on Sunday mornings. We still are waiting on permits to move forward with this, but know, it is in the queue.
As we jump into this year, we know there are lots of things competing for your attention. Our hope is that we’ll go back to foundational truths, things that unite all of us as followers of Jesus, and that we will help the next generation(s) know those as well.
If you haven’t been with us over the past two weeks, we are doing just that. We are going through some foundational ideas. You can listen to past sermons in podcast wherever you stream.
I hope you will join us this week as we continue to abide in Jesus, be changed by him, and embody his ways for the glory of God and good of others.
And if you hear middle schoolers bad talking the local pastor…put in a good word for me…thanks.
Lots of great things coming up.
We are continuing with our daily Noon Prayer Hour with 21 Days of Prayer. The 21 Days of Prayer will include gatherings at The Chapel Monday-Friday at noon for 1 hour of prayer as well as some prompts and suggested resources. We will not gather on Saturdays or Sundays at noon (besides our normal worship at 10am on Sundays). On Tuesday, it will include live worship led by Nate Kelly.
When we finish our 21 Days of Prayer we will kick off our weekly Bible Studies.
Bible Studies will kick off the last week of January.
Men’s Bible Study in Exodus will start at 8am on Wednesday, January 29th.
Women’s Bible Study in Exodus will start at 9:30am on Wednesday, January 29th.
Young Adult (20’s and 30’s) Bible Study in Exodus will start at 8am on Thursday, January 30th.
All three groups will be synced up in content, so our Bible Study Podcast, Chapel Study Notes will work with all three groups.
We will also begin a Fasting Experiment in February. Similar to our Sabbath and Prayer, we will do some teachings on Sunday, video curriculum through the week, podcasts, recommended books, and other resources. More details to come!
For the new year we are planning a night of worship, a hymn sing, a beach bonfire, and some other social events in addition to all the great Bible Studies, Prayer Hours, Sunday morning worship, Chapel Community Groups, and more. We hope you will get involved and get connected with what we believe God is doing in and through The Chapel.
I hope to see you this week for prayer or on Sunday for worship or another time throughout the month.
Like always, if you are out of town, under the weather, or just need to worship from home, you can watch all of our worship services on our live-stream on our website, thechapelatseaside.com,
on our Facebook page, Facebook.com/TheChapelAtSeaside
and our Vimeo page, Vimeo.com/thechapelatseaside.
Let us know if you have any questions or need anything!
Blessings,
Andrew