Summer Student Spirituality
Being a student in a church looks different in the summer than it does the rest of the year. September through May we meet in small groups every week to build relationships with peers and adults to aid in our spiritual growth, to read the Bible, to discuss our lives, to pray with and for one another, and to have fun. We gather about once a month for a larger event--a bonfire, a shaving cream war, a game night. We gather once a year or so for a WAY larger event like a lock-in with 200+ of our closest friends.
But in the summer we don't do any of that. We put our attention, energy, money, and prayer into a summer mission trip. This weekend about 90 of us from PCC's Powhatan and Westchester campuses will leave for Cherokee, NC. We will spend a week building relationships to aid our spiritual growth, serving God by meeting his people's practical needs, worshiping in song and sweat, and making lifelong memories.
It will be awesome.
Then it will be over.
Eight days does not constitute a summer's worth of spirituality.
So what do we do?
I encourage you to step up your personal spiritual life in the summer. You don't have much required school reading, certainly not everyday. (Let's be honest; most of you will wait til mid-August to look at the assignment for summer reading.) Your sports schedules aren't as crazy, and you even have a tiny break from band. So, there's time to read your Bible. There's time to pray without falling asleep. There's time to meet with a friend to discuss how you're each doing in your relationships with God. There's time to read a book about being a teenage Christ follower.
Here are some suggestions:
The tagline is "do more than survive your faith." Thrive! There are short chapters and questions for you to do this study alone or with some friends.
You may remember PCC's doing a series on The Circle Maker. Now there's a version of the book for students.
Another book on prayer for students. This one has very short prayer exercises for you to do for 30 days.
This has very short daily readings with a coordinating Bible verse.
I'll be reading the following book with a few students from my rising-sophomore small group. (If you want to join us, then let me know--even if you're not a sophomore.)
Students, junior high through college, what do you do to grow spiritually over the summer?
But in the summer we don't do any of that. We put our attention, energy, money, and prayer into a summer mission trip. This weekend about 90 of us from PCC's Powhatan and Westchester campuses will leave for Cherokee, NC. We will spend a week building relationships to aid our spiritual growth, serving God by meeting his people's practical needs, worshiping in song and sweat, and making lifelong memories.
It will be awesome.
Then it will be over.
Eight days does not constitute a summer's worth of spirituality.
So what do we do?
I encourage you to step up your personal spiritual life in the summer. You don't have much required school reading, certainly not everyday. (Let's be honest; most of you will wait til mid-August to look at the assignment for summer reading.) Your sports schedules aren't as crazy, and you even have a tiny break from band. So, there's time to read your Bible. There's time to pray without falling asleep. There's time to meet with a friend to discuss how you're each doing in your relationships with God. There's time to read a book about being a teenage Christ follower.
Here are some suggestions:
The tagline is "do more than survive your faith." Thrive! There are short chapters and questions for you to do this study alone or with some friends.
You may remember PCC's doing a series on The Circle Maker. Now there's a version of the book for students.
Another book on prayer for students. This one has very short prayer exercises for you to do for 30 days.
This has very short daily readings with a coordinating Bible verse.
I'll be reading the following book with a few students from my rising-sophomore small group. (If you want to join us, then let me know--even if you're not a sophomore.)
Students, junior high through college, what do you do to grow spiritually over the summer?
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