About the time your face clears up your mind gets fuzzy.
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We have two very important events coming up over the next couple of weeks. Sunday, April 11th is Holocaust Remembrance Day and Friday April 16 is the Day of Silence. Use your upcoming meetings to discuss these two important days and use the information below to aid in your talks.
1. Holocaust Remembrance Day - While your teens have all heard about the holocaust, their knowledge may be limited and most will be unaware of the day of remembrance. I suggest discussing the holocaust the Wednesday before and dedicate your sunday school meeting to honoring and remembering those who were lost during this horrific event. If your sunday schools classes are divided, bring them together for this. Here are some tips to get you going:
a. Put together a slide show of images and facts from the holocaust, then use it in one of your meetings
b. Invite a survivor or liberator to share their story with the group
c. Have a moment of silence and then prayer
d. Show the film Defiance (*note-you will need to get parents permission before this, as it has some poor language) a story of survival and new beginnings
2. Day of Silence - This is an event tat has some churches in an uproar and others actively participating. This event is a stand against the bullying and teasing of gay,lesbian,transgender kids. I believe that we, as Christians, should support such an event because God is Love and this is an opportunity to reach out to the gay community and plant seeds. At the official website, www.dayofsilence.com, you can print out speaking cards (which you can customize) for your teens to hand out, sticker templates, and much more. The best way to explain Christians participating in this event is as follows: As Christians we believe that homosexuality is a sin, we believe in standing up for what is right, and we know we can use this experience to plant seeds. It is that simple
You must get your teens to realize that living a homosexual lifestyle is a sin just as gossiping and lying are sins. This is definitely a topic to have a discussion on and get rid of some of the common misconceptions about homosexuality. If one of your teens is guilty of bullying or teasing, Discuss the different methods of bullying, such as posting things on a social networking site, texting gossip, and even actually filming bullying Or maybe they are guilty of not standing up for someone who was being verbally beat down and instead of saying something and walking away they kept quite. When we fail to do nothing, we are failing to do the right thing.
Even comments such as "That's so gay.", is hurtful and drives homosexuals to shame. This is no different than using the n-word. It is uncalled for and definitely not Christ-like. Don't allow this type of idle chatter in your youth group as it will have a negative affect on anyone who is dealing with same sex attraction.
"What are you going to do to end the silence?"
Stat-O-The-Week:
According to the Mental Health Association of Westchester's website-
78% of teens report that youth who are gay or thought to be gay are teased or bullied in their schools and communities.
93% of the teens hear youth use words like "fag," "homo," "dyke," "queer," or "gay" at least once in a while, while 51% of them hear it every day.
Free Resources:
a. www.iamnotashamed.org - A great opportunity for your youth group to be a part of the worlds first online video bible. Sign up at the website, record your group quoting a scripture or two, and upload it to the site. It's a fun way for your teens to proclaim that they are not ashamed to be a Christian.
b. www.commonsensemedia.org - This is the site for great reviews on the latest and hippest films, t.v., websites, books, and more. There is also a section designated for parents and they also have resources for teachers.
c. Pow Wows - This is a great ice breaker. Take 5-10 minutes at the beginning of class to have a pow wow. Divide your teens into groups of 5-10 and give each group a large marker and a dry erase board. Divide the paper into 2 columns, one pow and the other wow. The teens are to list what negative things have happened in their lives over the past week under pow and the positive things that have happened under wow. Have a member of each group read thru their list for the class and talk briefly about it. This is also a great way to get an inside view of whats going on in your kids lives!
Encouragement For The Road:
"Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him."
Romans 4:8
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