Six New Things – Week of August 21, 2023
Belonging and purpose are powerful antidotes to loneliness and despair. Here are tools to encourage all people – all ages, all identities – to build relationships, discover their passion, and live into their divine calling.
ONE
If you’ve got young people, they’ve got ideas. Let ’em loose! The Kid with Big, Big Ideas (Beaming), ‘boldly suggests that not only should kids have a voice, but that their ideas just might be the ticket to making progress’.
See our Prayer Partners Great Idea for other ways to encourage intergenerational relationships, belonging, and leadership!
TWO
Be sure to affirm tweens and teens in their divine callings, ‘cuz Youth Are Either Leading or Leaving (Book Baby). This ‘do-book’ wonders ‘What if youth are needed for practical, doable, meaning-filled, purpose-filled, active ministry throughout every corner of our churches, and our communities?’ Adults: start making connections!
Find more affirmation for Young Leaders in our lib guide.
THREE
Connect post-secondary-bound young leaders with ZOE – Progressive Christian Life on Campus – ‘students and campus ministry leaders, asking the messy questions of faith, finding grace and humility in the search for understanding, [and] believing there is more value in curious questioning than static absolutes’.
Discover more send-them-off-right resources in our Graduation and Post-High School lib guide.
FOUR
You might include Hold On, Let Go: How to Find Your Life (Wild Goose) in a care package. These ‘inspiring and often humorous reflections on how to live a good life’ assert that, ‘It’s about keeping your feet on this sacred earth. And taking wing. At the same time.’
Our Discernment/Vocation lib guide has other ideas for supporting youth stepping into their future.
FIVE
You’ll find On Purpose: Finding God’s Voice in Your Passion (Abingdon) there – and other resources that encourage us to open up and ‘take the first or next step to follow God’s call’. Turn this into a young adult or intergenerational discussion: ‘Reading this book and exploring life choices alongside others, readers learn how to channel their passions, hear God’s voice, and live the life they were meant to live.’
Encourage each other to start with one step: see our Do One Good Thing Great Idea for inspiration!
SIX
In case anyone needs further leadership and belonging inspiration, check out… Jesus – in The Gospel of Mark: A Beginner’s Guide to the GOOD NEWS (Abingdon). Amy-Jill Levine lets readers ‘see Jesus as divine and human, powerful and weak, approachable yet mysterious’ through in-depth study of select passages and illumination of the Gospel in its historical context and as a source for the other gospels. Includes book, leader guide, and DVD.
Find additional Bible Study ideas in our lib guide.
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Bring them in! Build them up! Let them lead!!
