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Encouraging Responses to our Graduates |
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LIFE GROUP DISCUSSION GUIDE
Wednesday Night, May 2, 2007
“Encouraging Responses to our Graduating Seniors”
5 Minutes - Welcome / Prayer
5 Minutes - OPEN
What would you list as some of the major milestones you have experienced in your life?
Why is high school graduation such a significant milestone and rite of passage into adulthood?
Based on your life experiences, if you had one thing you would want to share with our graduates, what would it be? What do you wish someone would have told you upon your graduation from high school?
15 Minutes - DIG
Not only is graduation a statement of achievement, it also points toward a “new beginning.” Why is this an important time of life for each graduate as they explore the depths of finding God’s purpose for their life?
One of the most tragic character studies of the Old Testament is the life of Samson. What great potential he had as a judge over Israel, however his selfishness became his pillars of destruction. Please connect that story with some of the most profound and challenging words Jesus ever uttered, “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Mt. 10:39).
In our youth, we are idealist . . . dreamers . . . ambitious. It is true that the gospel message is “revolutionary,” so what can we do or say to encourage this group of graduates to march forward in faith believing they can change the world for Christ?
What responsibility do we as a church have to our young people? When Michael Sitler spoke last night expressing his appreciation to specific individuals and to the church collectively for our influence in his life, what was the significance of those words?
15 Minutes - REFLECT
Seeing our seniors stand before our church this past Sunday Night evidenced that many of our children have grown up in non-traditional families. How can we as a church better minister to these children, teens, single parents, and blended families?
What do you suspect will be some of the greater challenges for these graduating seniors as they become young adults?
In talking with some of the educators who have worked with these graduates, one of the things so many of them need is affirmation and encouragement to boost their self-esteem. Why do so many teenagers suffer from low self-esteem?
Identify some of the major obstacles and challenges these graduates will have to overcome in their adult lives?
Covenant as a group and individually to respond this week in some encouraging way to our seniors.
5 Minutes - CLOSING PRAYER
Before you close in prayer, spend some time as a group discussing what recommendations you would have for our church as we prepare for future senior recognition events? Please have someone take notes and submit those notes to our youth ministers.
Spend time in prayer in your group tonight and mention our seniors by name in your prayer and ask God to bless, protect, and watch over them.
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