We are here to recap the 1st and 2nd weeks of Visionary, our Youth Group series we explore some tough questions related to our Vision Statement (Worship God / Follow Christ / Do Good).

Week 1 – “Everyone’s Gotta Worship Something”

Scripture “Train yourself for a holy life! While physical training has some value, training in holy living is useful for everything. It has promise for this life now and the life to come.” (1 Timothy 4:7-10, NLT)

Bottom Line Train Sunday for who you want to be on Monday.

Tension Worship is boring. We do the same thing week after week and we’ve been doing it basically the same way for the last 2,000 years. But the fact that worship is so permanent tells us something about how essential it is.

Truth The things that we do week after week have the ability to shape us, to help us become someone. That’s exactly what the boring-ness of worship does: worship is for God but it forms us. Worship forms us to be hufofoligepom: humble, forgiven, forgiving, listening, and generous people on a mission.

Application If we want to experience worship, we have to show up. That means making worship a weekly priority so we are in a position to be shaped by it. And once we’ve done that, we can worship daily by engaging with spiritual practices like reading scripture and prayer.

Landing We all want to know hufofoligepom people. We want the world to be full of hufofoligepom people and God wants that too. The best way we can partner with God on that is to worship and bring someone else in to worship with us who could use some hufofoligepom as well.

Week 2 – “Everyone’s Gotta Follow Someone”

Scripture “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” (Matthew 11:28-30, The Message)

Bottom Line Most leaders want the best from us. Jesus wants the best for us.

Tension There are two assumptions hidden in “Follow Christ”: that Jesus is a leader and a leader worth following. Following Jesus might mean we can’t do some things and we’re supposed to do other things. Does the list of do’s and don’ts make Jesus not worth following?

Truth Scripture reminds us that, unlike our earthly leaders, Jesus is the ultimate servant leader because he doesn’t need anything from us at all. That frees Jesus to be someone who is totally for us and wants to give us the best. That best is a relationship with God. So the do’s and don’ts are there for our benefit, and so is Jesus.

Application If habits form us, we need to make following Christ a habit and the best way we can do that is to follow someone who is following Christ. And that’s what Small Groups are all about! It gives us a team with whom we can follow Jesus. And once we make following Christ in community a weekly priority, we can individually dive into the Gospels and see how Jesus did it, his words and actions and vision, and can work to align our lives with his.

Landing The world is a scary place sometimes, but following Christ gives us a leader who has been through the scariest thing ever (death) and came back to life. Following Christ in a community puts us in community with others who can be there for us and lift us up when we fall. And when we have that security, we are able to reach out to others and invite them to follow Christ with us.

Visionary wraps up on October 8th with “Everyone’s Gotta Serve Someone.”