This week in High School Ministry:

Club
Sunday night is the final message in our series called "Get Real" on Biblical community. We are going to talk about how true, Biblical community is humble. Has someone ever sat you down to say, "Hey, I'm concerned about this in your life." It is not an easy thing to hear - even if you know it's true. Our natural response to that is defensiveness. We start justifying why we are living a certain way, why we made a certain mistake, or why we handled something the way we did. We are self-protective people and it is not natural for us to receive accountability openly. Why? Because we are broken. That means our hearts don't work the way they're supposed to. So, what happens? We try to find fulfillment, worth, and value in the things of this world - relationships, jobs, school, sports, and friends. When we put so much weight into those things, we inevitably start treating them as a means to an end, which makes it impossible to navigate life healthily. This is where accountability from community becomes so important! When we know and understand the depth of brokenness in our hearts, we are then able to choose and trust the importance of accountability in our lives because we can't trust our hearts to choose what is good and true. All that said, the only way we can live in healthy, honest, and accountable community is by choosing humility. Only when we are able to humbly look at our hearts and say, "Because of my brokenness, I don't always know what is best or true," are we able to truly receive accountability from community that points us towards Truth in Christ; Truth that says relationships, jobs, school, sports, and friends were never meant to be the thing to give you fulfillment, value, or worth. What I've done for you does that! The way I love you does that! And suddenly, we're able to navigate relationships, jobs, school, sports, and friends in a healthier manner and love people well. And why/how can we choose humility? Because when we rightly see ourselves before God, we realize there is nothing we can do to get rid of our sin - but rather, it has been done for us. That should bring us to our knees every time we consider it - no matter how long we've known Christ.

Questions post-Club:
1. What did you learn tonight that you haven't thought about before?
2. Why do you think it's so hard to be humble?
3. Share: Share with your child the last time it was hard for you to be humble and why. Maybe think of a time when they were involved. It's important for students to see their parents choose humility and repentance!
4. It's so hard to choose to be humble. How can we do that?

Small Group
This coming Wednesday, we will look at how we reflect God through our relationships. God intended for humanity to be a growing, multiplying community of people who brings glory to Him. As people made in His image, we were made to relate to God, to one another, and to the world around us. Because of sin, we fail to relate rightly to God, to each other, and to the world. But through the work of Jesus Christ, the restoration of our relationships is accomplished.

Questions post-small group:
1. When's the last time you had a problem in a relationship (friend, family member, etc.)
2. What did you learn about what God wants for relationships? What did he create them to look like?

Thanks for reading and for your partnership in the gospel as parents of students in our church. Please, never hesitate to contact us with questions or to share about what God is doing in your child's heart.

In Christ,
The OHC Student Ministry Team