We believe to have a lasting impact and reach this next generation is to see the light of the church be combined with the heart of the family. We desire to continually grow as a ministry in our partnership with parents. There is great power in a parent who raises up a child spiritually, and we want you to know you don’t have to do it alone. The Parent Cue is one way to come alongside your teen in what they are learning.

Monday, April 21, 2014

Series: CHANGE (April 23rd - May 7th)


We’re Teaching This:
Do you every wonder if your life would be better with just a little more money? Of course you have! Maybe you want to buy more clothes, more music, or maybe you want to go to a concert with your friends.  Wanting money is a no-brainer. But is that all there is to it? Is our only role with money to spend what we have and want more when it’s gone? As students, it’s easy to feel powerless when it comes to cash. Someone else pays the bills. Someone else makes the decisions. But what if I told you that you have more power than you realize? You have the power to help your family, change your habits, and even impact others in a big way. The truth is, money matters. Right here. Right now. And when you choose to change the way you think about it, God can do some big things in you and even bigger things through you.

Session 1 Summary: Think About It (4/23)
How much money is in your pocket right now? Is it enough for a Frappuccino? A movie ticket? A gumball? No matter how much money you have, you probably feel like it’s not much. Sure, you get a little for lunch or gas, but it’s not like you’re paying the mortgage. All of the important stuff is taken care of by someone else. You probably don’t worry about how the bills get paid or how much you pay for insurance. It’s easy to feel like money doesn’t really affect us. Maybe it causes tension in our house, and we probably wish we had more. But what can we really do? Should money even matter when you’re a teenager? According to King Solomon, the way we think about money, our attitude toward it and those who control it can make a huge impact on our lives and our relationships—even when we’re young. And because of that, money matters right now.

Session 2 Summary: Fight for your Right (4/30)
There’s just a great feeling that comes with buying something new. And that’s convenient because there is always something new to buy. New game system. New sneakers. New phone. No matter how awesome our stuff is, there’s always a newer slightly-more-awesome version coming out soon. And it’s completely normal to want it. The danger is when confuse what we want with what we deserve. That’s called entitlement—and it’s a trap that can hold us back from really enjoying our lives. But it doesn’t have to be that way. The writer of Hebrews tells us that there’s an alternative to entitlement, and when we choose it, we can enjoy something that no new gadget could ever give us. We can be free.

Session 3 Summary: Breaking Bread (5/7)
Any time there’s a disaster, earthquake, or tornado, what’s the first thing that comes to mind when you want to help out? Money, right? Because we’ve all seen how money used the right way can help people. And most of us would agree that it’s great thing to do. Maybe you even plan to participate…one day. Eventually. When you have more than just a few bucks for lunch. See, even if we’re in favor of being generous, most of us feel a little hesitant to give. We think that our tiny bit of cash isn’t enough to make any real impact anyone’s life. But what if we’re wrong? What if we have more and can offer more than we ever realized? Through the story of a young boy on a fishing trip, we see that, when we are generous, God can use even a small amount to make a big impact.

Think About This:
Remember when you couldn’t wait a certain TV show came on? Or you couldn’t wait to get the new album by your favorite artist? Or you couldn’t wait for someone to get off the phone so you could talk to your friends? These days, it seems like waiting and anticipation are long gone. Movies and tv are on-demand. Downloads are instant. Friends are just a click away.

While these conveniences aren’t bad, the get-it-now mentality can easily drift into other areas of our life. We want a new phone before the contract is up. We want a new iPad, even when the old one works fine. The faster we get something new, the faster we expect to receive other things. And, especially for students, it becomes easy to mistake, “I want it now” for “I deserve it now”.   

In his blog post, Pace Yourself, Pace Your Kids, author Tim Elmore says, We must figure out how to pace our students, exposing them to measured amounts of possessions and appropriate experiences as they mature. In other words, if we give our students everything they want now, there will be nothing to look forward to later.  He goes on to offer some advice to parents, struggling to help their student master the art of anticipation:

1.      Pace the sequence of possessions and experiences, allowing for a bigger and better one, as they mature. For instance, you might plan…a trip across the U.S. when they're in middle school and a trip overseas when they're in high school.

2.     Don't fall into the trap of comparisons. Other parents may win brownie points with their kids because they give them too much, too soon. Those kids are "wowed" in the moment, … may have difficulty managing expectations as young adults

Pacing what we give our students, allowing anticipation to build, is certainly not easy. But it does help them learn to be content with what they have, right here and right now.

From http://growingleaders.com/blog/pace-pace-kids-2/

Try This
Nothing can help a student be content with what they have more than noticing what they have. Often, students have no idea how much money goes into everything that is provided for them. Things like electricity, water, clothing, and transportation. Consider inviting your student to join you as you work on the family budget. He or she can…
  1. Ask for his or her help with the math.
  2. Ask for input on where the family could save money.
  3. Ask students to help you find a way to be more generous.

Not only will it help students to see where money goes on their behalf, but seeing a real budget, in a real house, can help them make wise choices with their own money as they enter adulthood.

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