CBC YOUTH MINISTRY: TABLE OF CONTENTS

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2 CBC YOUTH MINISTRY: TABLE OF CONTENTS WHO ARE WE PROGRAMS LEADERSHIP STRUCTURE MONTHLY CALENDAR YEARLY CALENDAR COMMUNITY GROUPS COMMUNICATIONS: WEBSITE COMMUNICATIONS: CORE VALUES: GROWTH PATHS: THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT TEENAGERS:

3 CBC YOUTH MINISTRY is the youth ministry department of Chinese Baptist Church of Houston. We exist glorify God by worship of all people through the transforming power of Jesus Christ. We specifically focus on the youth of Houston, Texas. Our youth group ministers to students 6-12th grade and their parents. At the core of who we are, we believe the Gospel is the only real changing factor in the lives of students, their peers, and their parents. So while we put in place programs, activities, studies, and counseling, we do so only to position them under the cross of Christ and we pray that Jesus changes their heart. OUR PROGRAMS: We offer several simple programs in order to equip and engage your student for the Gospel. Our most basic and welcoming program is ACCESS which is opened to all students and their friends. The next step is our COMMUNITY GROUPS which meets primarily on Sundays but interact throughout the week. CG s are open to all youth but our members take more of an active role in guiding and leading the groups. We offer a weekly theology course on Fridays called CONCLAVE, which is open to all who thirsts for doctrinal training. Lastly, for those who are committed Christians and are members of our Church, our most intense form of discipleship comes within our structure of MEMBERSHIP. Our members are held to a much higher accountability of growth and discipleship. OUR LEADERSHIP STRUCTURE: Our leader and authority is none other than God and we ultimately follow Him. Our youth PASTOR is Justin Wong whose role is to cast vision, teach, and equip the youth, youth leaders, and parents. Partnering with Justin is the ADMIN team whose role is to assist in logistics and planning. Next we have ADULT LEADERS who play the role of discipler and youth mentor (ACCESS and CG). We also have college sponsors who are college students who are away but have a passion for serving the youth ministry at this church. Their role is to provide support and community while away. 2

4 MONTHLY CALENDAR First Sunday: Youth Praise (11:15-12:20 Chapel) All youth come together to play, worship, and sit under teaching. Parents encouraged to come and worship with your students. Parents Meeting (1:15-2:30 Room 134) We gather to discuss youth culture, calendar, youth development, and we want to provide a space for parents to meet with and gather with other parents. Second-Fourth Sunday: Community Groups (11:15-12:20 Chapel) More details within the packet. Last Sunday: Membership Meetings (1:30-3:30 Children s Center) Required for all youth and adult leaders who are Christian and members of CBC. We gather once a month to play, pray, and set vision for the month. This meeting is crucial for the growth and health of the member in order to learn theology, counseling, and leadership. YEARLY CALENDAR ACCESS & CONCLAVE Kickoff (9/2) 6th Grade Welcome Party (9/11) Winter Retreat (12/28-31) Costa Rica Mission Trip (3/13-17) Spaghetti Luncheon (4/2) Senior Banquet (5/28) World Changers (6/26-7/1) Camp (7/23-30) Java Jam XI (8/11) 3

5 Community Groups Group Leader Cindy Lew Candy Chin MyLien Jessica leung Catherine Yen Stevo Wong Terry Lee College Sponsors Michael Ng Alex Chan Philip Chen Joshua Lee Jordan Moy Anna Lee Adam Lee Kylen CT Jeffrey Chin Liz Yee Richard Lin Kristen Lee Matthan Moy Andrew Yeang Timmy Lee Isabelle Buie Christian Lee Robert Liu Zeke Chan Brian Yeang Jeffrey Joe Anna Wu Lee Joanne Lee Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Group 4 Group 5 Group 6 Group 7 Class of 2017 Jessica Eng Matthew Wong Lucille Chan Megan Sham Rachel Shen Shayli CT Julia Eng Bently Chung 2018 Aaron Chan Alexis Chan Michael Chan Jonathan Lim Justin Lee Connor Yeang Christopher Lim 2019 Edwin Choi Caroline Liu Jasmine Edwards Jeremy Hoang Kenneth Tat Allison Lee Justin Hoang Mary woo Nathan wong Jerry yuen 2020 Ethan Go Jonathan Gaw Philip Blest Kirsten Y. Leo Tiani CT 2021 Benjamin Chan Charlize Cheung Nicole Lisa Choi Adeline Lee Samuel Lee Jason Andrew Lim Samantha Ng Kitty Tat Max Chung Brandon Tiet 2022 Rebecca Gaw Hayley Joe Allison Lew Daniel Kim Jonathan Huang Jamie Eng Brent Leo Wesley Yuen Dylan Yeang Andrew Lim Caroline Wei Jerry Zhao 2023 Maggie Clayton Katy Chiv Sean Fan Rachel Lee Ella Lee Nathan Lee Natalie Gee Alyssa Lew Edward Lo Jacob Moy 4

6 WEBSITE: On this page you'll find out about who we are, what we have to offer, how you can plug in, and what we do. Keep up to date with our Google Calendar, stay relevant with our Twitter feed, and gather resources from our...uh, resource page. Our goal is to keep an open communication with all students, parents, and our community. Please feel free to send us your comments, questions, thoughts, and suggestions. We will try to get back to you as soon as we can. 5

7 Depth Our ultimate core value is that you run to Jesus for all of life. We know that there's a difference between merely attending church and truly following Jesus. And at the end of the day, we would rather have a few who are willing to dive deep in their faith rather than thousands who remain shallow. We know that following religion is easy, but the cost of following Jesus and taking Him seriously is more difficult. To this end, we run away from anything that draws us away from Jesus and we run towards those things that pull us towards Him. We want to constantly be unsatisfied with where we are spiritually and always yearning for more of Jesus. Community We believe that the Gospel of Jesus Christ brings together a bunch of messed up people and makes them a new people. We're not all best friends and we don't always get along, but we believe that because of Jesus, we are actually one family. And then it creates this type of family love that we protect and watch over our own people but also invite others in and love on everyone. Because of Jesus we partner with other Gospel-centered youth groups and churches. We believe this is what Church should be. Discipleship We believe that Jesus offered anyone who would be willing to come and follow after him and be his disciple. And then he commanded those disciples to make other disciples. We understand disciple as those who are learners and followers of Jesus. And so as we learn about and follow after Jesus, we bring along others for the journey. 6

8 Missions We believe that some are on missions overseas...yes, but we understand missions as where God has placed you according to Acts 17. God has determined the times and places which he has placed you and the youth. This means there are no accidents and that God has placed you here for a specific purpose. Wherever you are, wherever you go...that is your missions field. Service We believe that God has given you your gifts, time, talents, and abilities for His kingdom and to push back the darkness. Those things that God has given to you are not meant to stop with you but given to you to push back on others. We believe that God has gifted each person differently and with different set of skills, abilities, talents, and spiritual gifts. Therefore, you do not have to be like the next person...but you can use your uniqueness to further the kingdom. Truth We acknowledge and trust that God has spoken to the world and to his people through His Word - the Bible. We believe that it is completely and fully God's Word and it is perfect in what it says, how it says it, and how we should live. We believe that God's Word is all about Jesus. Therefore we humbly learn from it and hear from it. We know that there are hard things in the Bible and yet we unapologetically preach and teach from it. We do not shy away from difficult text and we teach the full counsel of scripture to our youth. Prayer This is something we're trying to stress more with our youth group. We say that we can plan an awesome youth program and work our guts out... but unless God shows up and changes lives, then it's all worthless. We're so dependent on Him that we need to constantly beg for Him to move not just in our activities and programs, but more importantly our lives. We believe prayer is not just saying a few words before a meal but it is an act of worship that is done with all of our lives. Prayer is performed by: speaking, sabbath, tithing, confession, fasting, meditation and thanksgiving. 7

9 GROWTH PATHS Option 1: The Apostles' Creed (Video Sermon Series from TVC): Description: The Apostles' Creed finds its genesis in the apostles' teachings and contains essential Christian doctrines and beliefs that summarize the gospel and make up the foundation of our faith. The scriptural truths contained in the creed help us to operate out of good theology, not bad theology, with the knowledge that our faith is rooted in truth and a rich history that spans past and present. The lines of the creed aren't mere words. They are the essence of what we confess and believe. Link: Option 2: Single, Dating, Engaged, Married (Video Sermon Series from Breakaway) Description: Ben Stuart from Breakaway Ministries at the Texas A&M provides a series on singleness, dating, engaged and marriage. It is one of the most practical and useful sermon series over this topic to date. Not only will youth gain a wealth of knowledge from this but adults and parents as well. Link: breakawayministries.org Option 3: The Songs of Jesus by Timothy Keller (Book) Description: The Book of Psalms is known as the Bible's songbook - Jesus knew all 150 psalms intimately and relied on them to face every situation, including his death. If you have no devotional life yet, this book is a wonderful way to start. If you already spend time in study and prayer, understanding every verse of the psalms will bring you a new level of intimacy with God, unlocking your purpose within God's kingdom. Purchase at amazon.com 8

10 10 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT TEENAGERS 1. Your teenager is changing! Of course! But the biggest change in your teenager is their...brain. For example, teenage brains are still significantly underdeveloped in a couple of critical areas, which adds great challenges to a teenager s ability to exercise wisdom, make reasoned choices, control impulses, and interpret emotions. (Mark Oestreicher, 43) 2. The term adolescence hasn t always existed. In fact the term came into being at the start of the 20th century. It means the whole concept of teenager and adolescence is a fairly new phenomena which only current generations are learning how to understand and deal with this demographic (Mark Senter, 29) 3. Today s teenagers are part of the Millennial generation (those born between 1980 and 2000). They are the largest generation in the history of America, surpassing the Boomer generation. Interestingly, the typical Millennial is NOT religious. In fact, according to research they are the least religious of any generation in modern American history. (Thom Rainer, 15) 4. Teenagers today are not only sexually confused, but sexually intrigued. Among U.S. high school students surveyed in 2015, 41% had ever had sexual intercourse. 30% had had sexual intercourse during the previous 3 months. (CDC, 2016). Previously, Facebook had 71 gender options but has now changed it to a custom field for individuals to determine. Research shows that the number reason for this confusion is rooted in a deep longing to be loved. (Mueller, 297) The de facto dominant religion among contemporary U.S. teenagers is what they call Moralistic Therapeutic Deism 5. The de facto dominant religion among contemporary U.S. teenagers is what they call Moralistic Therapeutic Deism : A God exists who created and orders the world and watches over human life on earth; God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each 9

11 other, as taught in the Bible and by most world religions; the central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself; God does not need to be particularly involved in one s life except when God is needed to resolve a problem; and good people go to heaven when they die. (Christian Smith) 6. Parents are the most crucial and powerful socializers in the lives of their adolescents. The adolescent years are not the time to disengage as a parent. Growing adolescent independence often necessitates negotiation. If adolescents experience parents who are religiously withdrawn and functionally absent, then the faith of an emerging adult likely will also be vacuous, directionless, and empty. The more adults involved in the lives of adolescents, the better off they will be (Christian Smith) 7. LifeWay Research data shows that about 70% of young adults who indicated they attended church regularly for at least one year in high school do, in fact, drop out but don't miss the details. Of those who left, almost two-thirds return and currently attend church (Ed Stetzer, CT) Scripture calls the PARENTS to be the primary discipler 8. Scripture calls the PARENTS to be the primary discipler in the life of their teen, not the pastor, church, or culture. It is the parent s responsibility and privilege to train up a child in the ways of the Lord (Deut 6) 9. Studies indicate that 20% of kids have some sort of mental, behavioral, or emotional problem, and that one in 10 may have a serious emotional problem. Among adolescents, one in eight mya suffer from depression. (About-teen-depression, 2004) 10. Jesus loves your teenager more than you ever will. He knows them intimately, their tendencies, their hearts and souls, and their strengths and hopes. He is the only one who can fully satisfy all their identity issues, emotional longings, and is the only one who will give them fullness of life. He proved his love by going to the cross willingly to take your teenager s sin upon himself and give to them his perfect righteousness. Trusting Jesus with your teenagers life, soul, career, emotions is the best and safest bet. 10