Parents of Teens,

We are dead-smack in the middle of our Spring 2020 Sunday Student Class. We had planned to use our weekly one-hour with your students to study through the book of Genesis.

While the cancelation of school might limit our group classroom-style learning, we think that this might be a VERY special discipleship opportunity granted to parents of teens. When else are your teens going to have such a wide stretch of time off not yet filled with prior plans?

We think this could be a fruitful opportunity for you to get to engage your teens with some foundational truths of God. We have compiled a list of some of these truths that we have and will be teaching in The Well’s Sunday Student Class.

So feel free to use one or more of the following practices during this surprise time-off for your teens and other children.

Reading Through Genesis

If you and your teen aren’t used to spending time studying God’s Word together, this might feel a little awkward at first. However, the best way to bypass some of the awkwardness is to just sit down and get started.

And the best part is, you don’t have to be a professional Bible teacher or have prior knowledge on Genesis or hermeneutics to do this. You get to start studying at whatever level of learning you’re at, because this is exactly what your student needs to be modeled for them- how to be a humble learner of the text.

You can check out some of Jen’s Wilkin’s tips for how to get started studying Scripture with your teen here!

Also, feel free to pick a pace that is most natural for you and your teen. Here is a suggested break-down of the text that follows our original curriculum plan, but feel free to customize your own pace.

Re-engage Foundational Truths

This previous fall, we were honored to introduce some of the teens at The Well to one of our favorite methods for teaching foundational beliefs of the Christian Faith- Catechism.

Catechism is a method of taking these beliefs and putting them into a concise question and answer format for easier memorization. And thanks to New City Catechism, we had a list of 20 question and answers that taught us all about God, Creation & the Fall.

New City Catechism has lots of fun resources to help you and any of your children memorize these Truths, including their mobile app.

Engage New Truths

While we learned about many of the foundational beliefs and doctrines from the Old Testament last Fall, this Spring we are focusing more on the narrative of the Old Testament.

As you would with most stories, we are especially paying attention to how the Holy Spirit chose to describe the main character of the whole Bible- God. Therefore, instead of catechisms, we will be memorizing verses that highlight some of the attributes of God. You can begin talking about these attributes with your teens.

Engage in Prayer

What do you find yourself praying for in light of this Pandemic? What do you find yourself wanting to pray for more in this season?

Just as with reading through Scripture, praying with your teens does not have to follow a specific agenda. One of the most simple yet profound ways to teach your children about prayer is to simply invite them into your own prayer life.

If you find that you yourself would be encouraged by some direction in prayer, you can join our church leadership in walking through the Your Kingdom Come Prayer Guide.

OR you might try finding a centralized place in your home to keep a running list of what things come to your family’s mind to pray for. This will not only help you come back to pray over these things again but it will help you be able to take notice of God answering these prayers and respond in more praise!

Share Your Tips and Tricks

While these are just ideas, we want to know, has anything worked for you and your teen in the past? Let us know by commenting below.

And we pray that the Truths of God that you get to teach, model, and learn alongside your teens will bear much fruit now and later!