E3 Parents

XP3…ATTACHED

October 6, 2010 at 8:36 am Leave a comment

I’m so excited about XP3! If your teen hasn’t made it yet make sure they are here this Sunday at 5:30 as we will be starting a new series.

WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT:

So what are we talking about at XP3? Here is an overview of the new series as well as summaries of each week’s discussions. Use this information as a cue to prompt discussion with your teen.

Attached:

Series Overview

Every one of us is attached to something—some person, thing or experience. The trouble with our attachments is that sometimes they let us down. For the next three weeks your students will be exploring the attachments that become part of their identity, and uncovering the truth about their identity in Christ.

Session One (October 10)

This session has one primary objective—for students to discover what they are attached to. Every one of us is attached to something—some person, thing or experience that brings us great joy and contentment. On the flip side, it can also leave us feeling discouraged. We don’t expect a student to walk into XP3 and walk out clearly knowing what this “something” is. But we want this session to prompt that search, to help students start looking around their lives and find out where they attach their contentment.

Session One Parent Cue: Students will be challenged to look at their lives and consider the things that require the greatest amount of their time, money and attention. In their small groups, they will take a quiz that will help them begin to identify attachments that may be shaping their identity. It is not a time for critique or judgment, but a time to peel back the curtain and look honestly at places of attachment. This week you may want to ask your student about attachments that they see in their lives—and be willing to confess the attachments you see in your own.

Session Two (October 17)

Attached Session 2 picks up where last week left off—by discovering where we’re attached. This session takes that discovery and builds a sense of wonder as we encourage students to attach themselves to something that doesn’t change—God.

Session Two Parent Cue: Students will be challenged to find their identity not in the things of the world—things that always change and have the potential to let them down and break their heart—but to find their identity in knowing that they are the beloved children of an awesome God. You may want to ask them what they heard the speaker say, and ask them what it means to be attached to a relationship with Jesus Christ. You may also want to take this opportunity to share some of your own attachments to things other than God, and how those things let you down and what you learned from those experiences.

Session Three (October 24)

This session helps students experience both wonder and discovery. Last session we challenged them to attach themselves to Jesus Christ, but this week we’ll talk about the reality of what that looks like. It sounds like a great concept, but for each one of us, to fully lean into Jesus Christ seems risky. We want to rely on ourselves or something else. It’s an illusion, a myth, because leaning into Christ is the safest place we can be. But living in a world that can temporarily meet every need we have, it feels risky to trust in someone you can’t see when you can trust in someone or something you can see.

Session Three Parent Cue: Now students have identified the things they are attached to, and have recognized potential dangers associated with creating an identity based on things that do not last. They have considered the truth that they have already been given an identity as the beloved child of God. Students will now be challenged to lean fully into Christ by fostering a growing relationship with their Creator. That feels risky to a student—and even to an adult. It’s not the reality, because trusting in God is never a real risk, but it sure feels that way sometimes. You may want to talk to your student about ways that you try to lean fully into Christ and things that make it really difficult for you.

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