HS YOUTH: Teen Challenge

Adults are always talking about what kids are missing "these days" and I'm one of them. It seems everything moves so fast for them and their lives are so scheduled with activities that they don't really have time to pause, reconnect, and reflect. So I came up with the Teen Challenge which is a list of things to encourage teenagers to take the time to do. At the beginning of the week, give them the list, have them pick one or two for the week and touch base with how they think or feel or what has changed in them at the end of the week.

I'm sure you'll come up with a few of your own but here are a few I suggest. Challenge them to:

• Read a chapter of the Bible every day for a month. 
• Write a letter (not an email and not a text or phone call) to your grandparents. 
• Lay on the ground (on your back) with a few friends for at least 15 minutes and look at the sky and just think and talk; not about people but about life, God, and faith.  If it's too cold outside lay on the floor in the church sanctuary and feel God around you.
• Sit with somebody you don't know during lunch at school.
• Ask a parent or grandparent to tell you a story of when they were a kid.
• Disconnect from technology for an hour every day and use that time to connect with family members.
• Write your prayers down for a week.
• Tell your teachers or other adults in your life that you appreciate them. Watch their eyes light up!
• Notice an older person in your congregation and strike up a conversation with them.
• Choose an old hymn to sing to yourself or listen to every day for a week.
• Choose a Bible verse as your theme verse for a week. Say it out loud every morning.  
• Stop.  Look.  Listen. Notice what other students are saying and doing in one of your classes. Is there somebody to whom you can be a blessing?

Kids these days are over-scheduled. Encourage them to pause, reconnect, and reflect.