What is High School Ministry All About?
High School students are asking questions, lots of questions. Their world view is changing all the time, the pressure to know who they are and what they believe has never been stronger, and they are desperately trying to understand how faith, family and friends fit together.
Our goal is to help every high school student figure that out and graduate with a vibrant faith that seeks to change others’ lives with the gospel wherever they go. Over decades of youth ministry, we have found that students must be actively, consistently involved in three key environments to build a strong foundation for this to happen.
Three Environments
LARGE GROUP:
Jesus University, Sundays, 9:30-10:30 am in the Student Building
This is a place where our High School students gather for a relevant message, worship, and interactive activities. We deliberately keep this time high energy, fun and engaging, so this is a place of encouragement for our current students and a welcoming introduction to Christian life for new students.
Our one twist, being a “University Prep student ministry”, is that our talks are interactive. They have an heavy emphasis on Christian apologetics and involve:
- Back and forth communication with the speaker and student;
- Mini projects that teams work on during the talk;
- Even live opportunities to defend their faith with others.
We believe that wisdom is knowledge applied, not just knowledge acquired. So we want them to use what they learn, so they have confidence in what they learn, before they get to the college campus.
SMALL COMMUNITY:
Wednesday Nights, 7 – 9 pm in homes around Houston
This is where our students take the message they heard on Sunday morning and wrestle with it some more with other like minded students and leaders. These small group communities are deliberately small (10-15 max people total), so that:
- Every student has a voice;
- Students can develop close friendships with others;
- Leaders can speak into the lives of students.
SERVING TEAMS:
Sunday mornings, 10:30 – Noon at Bethel Church
Learning key issues of the faith and wrestling with how to defend it are both critical for students to have a strong foundation for a solid faith. But without serving others regularly, not only do we miss how that knowledge connects with others, but a key piece of our Christian identity is never developed. Jesus, who we serve, said to His disciples that he “came to serve, not be be served”. As Christians, our lives must imitate that attitude.
For our High Schoolers we provide:
- Weekly opportunities to serve on a team in the Church (this is hugely important);
- Regular opportunities to serve in the community;
- Yearly opportunities to serve on a mission trip both stateside and internationally.