Hey Youth Leaders and Teachers,

This month we are partnering together with bigger Beulah in this series called Starting Over, a book written by Dave and Jon Ferguson that gives this idea of how we can live life beyond our regrets. On weekends, a number of our teaching staff are giving messages on the topics we are covering. Big Beulah started this series October 19/20 on the weekends. We start Wednesday October 31st and will continue till November 20. The devotional and small group sections in this document are a reshaping of the material to fit our youth context.

A few resources you should be aware of as we go through this material.

1. The Starting Over book, although not required, you are welcome to purchase the book with a little bit of a discount. They are available at reception from the campuses.
2. The Starting Over Participant’s Guide,  not required but also available for purchase from reception
3. Video content for adult small groups found at https://beulah.ca/startingover. These videos are what the adult groups are using to spring board into discussion with. We are using these only as a resource for our teachers to look at to help form their devotionals. In these videos there are stories which are fantastic, but are not people we know or have relationship with, so we are creating our own video stories to be paired with the teaching at our locations
4. Youversion Bible App 5 day devotional. You can find this by opening the Bible App on your phone and under devotionals searching for “Starting Over.” If you are a keener, you will notice that the each day of the devotional is almost word for word what Dave and Jon say in the video content mentioned above.
5. Our own regret story videos. These videos are to be used at our locations to pair with the devotionals that will be taught. These are given from our very own youth leaders/pastors. Each one will be available at https://beulahyouth.ca/startingover as both a downloadable file and as a youtube link.
6. The Landing. As we go through this series, the stories especially may bring up some deep pain and identification with hurts, habits an hangups in our youth. If that is the case, a great resource/program we now have running is CR for youth, the Landing. If any of our youth want to find healing, encourage them to connect in with the Landing by contacting youth@beulah.ca.

If you have any questions about youth or the curriculum provided here, please contact me, Joel joel@beulah.ca.

Thanks again for teaching and leading.

- Joel Brigham - Youth Pastor - Beulah Alliance Church

Hey Youth Leaders and Teachers,

I am super excited to start off this new youth ministry season with all of you. Starting with this season we have started a new series. Called “Wakeup and Retrain My Heart."

Some people think that we are led by our conscious thoughts. René Descartes says “Je pense donc je suis.” or in English “I think, therefore I am.” This idea that I make conscious choices all throughout my day to lead me life the way that I intend to lead it.

I would suggest, that’s not how you lead, and that’s not how you live your life. Sometimes that’s the case, but that’s not most of our day. Most of how we live our life and even how we lead is second nature or almost subconscious. We’ve done the same things over and over again and we are in particular rhythms of how we live our life.

This isn’t my own idea, a book I’ve recently read called “You Are What You Love” by James K.A. Smith talks about this idea that we actually live out of what we have practiced and we’ve trained our hearts to love.

Colossians 3:1-3 says: If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

The moment we chose Jesus, or maybe better put, he found us, we were to live our life differently than the rest of the world. The problem is we might not even know what rival rhythms we are following and have tuned our hearts to. We’ll be tackling these rival rhythms over the next number of weeks head on and I hope we will all develop some new rhythms to retrain our hearts.

If you have any questions about youth or the curriculum provided here, please contact me, Joel joel@beulah.ca.

All of our past curriculum can be found at beulahyouth.ca/wc and is absolutely free to use by whoever would like it.

Thanks again for teaching and leading.

Hey Youth Leaders and Teachers,

We are back from Spring Break and we are again encountering real life stories of people in Scripture. This series is about healing. It is not just about the miracles that Jesus performed 2000 years ago, but more practically, it is about us, the Church, being involved in what Jesus is already doing today in healing.

This particular topic may be sensitive for a number of youth in our ministry. Some may have had personal experiences where God did heal and it blew them away. On the flip side they may have had other experiences where God didn’t heal and it may have even been damaging to their view of God. Recognizing that our youth and families come from all sorts of perspectives and often with all sorts of emotions on this topic, we will attempt to cover it in a clear, Biblical way, alongside a very practical experience on the last day in the houses (April 20, 2019).

If you are planning to teach the April 20th, 2019 night, please contact us soon as we have something a little different in the way of practical training planned for that.

Would you join us in praying with excitement for this series and for all of those who will be teaching it and leading small groups? We believe that Jesus wants youth to encounter Him and have their lives are radically changed forever. Thanks for being part of the team.

If you have any questions about youth or the curriculum provided here, please contact me, Joel joel@beulah.ca, or Chris chris@beulah.ca as Chris has had a bigger influence in writing this series. We would be glad to answer your questions.

All of our past curriculum can be found at beulahyouth.ca/wc and is absolutely free to use by whoever would like it. 

Thanks again for teaching and leading.

Hey Youth Leaders and Teachers,

We are so excited to be diving into the Bible again and encountering real life stories of people. This series is not about the heroes of the Bible, in fact it is quite the opposite. This series is about a bunch of people that “got it totally wrong” actually, dead wrong.

The hope of “I Got it Totally Wrong” series is to avoid the beliefs and thoughts that the people had. These wrong views of Jesus which the people hold are pretty easy to see and they are clearly highlighted by the results of their incorrect thinking. Often we read these stories and in our minds call these people “idiots,” as it is very simple to point out their flaws. If we stop at just acknowledging that they messed up and we don’t look at how we can potentially do the same, we miss the point, and possibly miss Jesus.

So what are we trying to accomplish in this series? We are attempting to correct incorrect thinking and inspire youth to pursue Jesus with everything they have. In this next month we will cover what it is to follow  Jesus and not just add Jesus to our lives as we look at the misguided Rich Young Ruler. We will talk about pointing our lives toward Jesus and not at ourselves from the jealous and angry Pharisees. We will take a week examining the story of a married couple who valued sacrifice, or the appearance of sacrifice over integrity. And finally, on the last week, we will come to the foot of the cross with the Soldiers and Centurions and experience Jesus, God, the One who changed everything.

Would you join us in praying with excitement for this series and for all of those who will be teaching it and leading small groups? When youth uncover the truth of who Jesus is, and encounter Him, their lives are radically changed forever. Thanks for being part of the team.

If you have any questions about youth or the curriculum provided here, please contact me, Joel joel@beulah.ca, and I would be glad to answer your questions.

All of our past curriculum can be found at beulahyouth.ca/wc and is absolutely free to use by whoever would like it.

Thanks again for teaching and leading.

TO LIVE IS JESUS

[ I KNOW YOU | COME KNOW ME | LET’S DO THIS ]

Hey Leaders, This next month we get to talk about Jesus. We want students to experience Jesus and have a very real encounter with Him.

In John 1:14 it says:

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Jesus embodied Grace and Truth to their fullness. Often we know people who might lean more to one or the other, but Jesus is amazing in that He exemplified the fullness of both. This is who we want youth to encounter this month.

We are starting with the first week, talking about how Jesus sees youth when they feel disconnected and says, “I know you” and wants to reconnect them. The following week there will be an invitation for youth, from Jesus, to “come know me.” Jesus came down to their level to invite them up to his. We finish off the series encouraging students with the phrase “Let’s do this!” This is Jesus’ encouragement for us to engage in the mission and plan for our lives to impact others with an eternal perspective.

FOCUS
4 Gifts to Enhance my Spiritual Life

[ SABBATH | BIBLE READING | FASTING | PRAYER ]

Hey… Most teenagers, and if we’re honest, most adults live busy and distracted lives. Lives are filled with hobbies, Netflix, social media, gaming, relationships, and all sorts of things that are great, but often distract us or knock out of focus our primary relationship, the one we could have with God.

Looking at the topics of this series, you can see it’s a classic series on spiritual disciplines. I’ve left out the phrase “spiritual disciplines” from the title, not because I think it’s old and irrelevant, but because it often communicates to people really hard work, or something they have to work for, or even as punishments for being bad people.

Although these topics may be disciplines, in that they are rhythms or practices we put in our lives, I really see them as gifts. These are gifts, given to us by God. When we open and regularly use them to connect with Jesus, we find a greater focus on God and life itself comes into focus.

As you are sharing and teaching on these 4 gifts please, please, communicate that they are gifts, not shackles. Some people talk about spiritual disciplines as laws we need to live by not gifts that enhance our spiritual life with Jesus. You can absolutely share your struggles with practicing these things, but don’t forget to tell how you have experienced joy in Christ as you have practiced them (i.e. What you have learned, freedom you’ve found, times when you sensed God has really spoken to you, etc.)

As it says in Psalm 37:4

Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

I really believe that people who delight themselves in God by these gifts (spiritual disciplines) will experience the desire of their heart which is ultimately a closer relationship with Jesus.

I hope and pray that you have fun preparing and teaching these topics and that you will be able to share the good news, seeing youth come to deeper and deeper levels of freedom in Christ and connection to Him.

If you have any questions about this material or about the Beulah Youth Ministry, please contact me, Joel, at joel@beulah.ca. Thanks,

- Joel Brigham - Youth Pastor - Beulah Alliance Church

Hey Leaders, This next month we are going to talk about The Church and how it is a big deal. We’re not saying Beulah Alliance is a big deal, and we are. We are saying both. We are saying the big “C” Church that Beulah is apart of is a big deal, and that the big “C” Church (all Christian churches of all time) expresses itself in local churches, like Beulah. If we call ourselves Christians we are called to this Church as it says in

Ephesians 4:4-5:

There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

Jesus loves the Church but so often we don’t. We see hypocrisy in the church or we see behaviours in others or even ourselves that can make us question church all together. As we teach about this Church, we are calling youth up to what it should be. Yes, we may see all sorts of dysfunction and discord, but that’s not Jesus’ intention for His Church. We are encouraging our youth to be the generation that best resembles the Church, the Bride of Christ, while taking honest stock of where it currently is.

We need to remind ourselves and our youth that the Church is a Big Deal. Jesus uses the local church to deliver his powerful life transforming Gospel message and that is His plan A. He has no plan B.

Hey Leaders, This next month we get to talk about Jesus. We want students to experience Jesus and have a very real encounter with Him.

In John 1:14 it says:

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Jesus embodied Grace and Truth to their fullness. Often we know people who might lean more to one or the other, but Jesus is amazing in that He exemplified the fullness of both. This is who we want youth to encounter this month.
We are starting with the first week, talking about the feeling of being unknown and unseen and how Jesus speaks to that and says “I see you and know you.” Then the following week is an invitation for students to Come and Know Jesus as their best friend and leader of their life. We finish off the series encouraging students with the phrase “Let’s do this!” This is Jesus’ encouragement for us to engage in the mission and plan for our lives to impact others.

Hey Leaders, We have moved into April, which is our 2nd last month of this youth ministry season. It saddens me to see how fast the time is passing, but it encourages me to look back at the journey we have taken this last little while. I want you all to know that I appreciate each one of you. Thank you for the time you have invested in the lives of youth and each other. Thank you for pursuing Jesus and being an example to those a little (or for some, ‘a lot’) younger than you. I believe that we will continue to see return on that investment.

This next series is called “now what?”. We are covering a few topics that students have or will experience to prepare them for life. The first 3 weeks will be in the houses and then Chris will teach the last message as we gather together on April 25th at Beulah West Campus.

I’d like to try something a little different this time around. If you have texting or social media connection to your students, each of these weeks I have some suggested texts you can send to your students before they come to youth. This may work better for senior high as more have cell phones, but as a junior high leader, if you have those connections, could you send of a text or message to your junior highs too? Feel free to reword the messages I send you as you know your students and how they might receive those messages.

Again, as I’ve written and said before, it’s my hope and prayer that God will use us and his Scripture to see lives change for His purposes and to see more and more youth come to know Jesus. May God use you as you teach, lead small groups and as you connect with students. I’m so glad you are part of the team. Thanks for being you!

You can find this curriculum on a weekly basis using the leadsmall app with our channel code of: VGB8JQ. I will also be attaching it to the weekly emails that go out and you can find the whole copy of the curriculum on our website: beulahyouth.ca under the leaders section

Hey Leaders, This next month we get to talk about one of my favourite topics. We get to talk about the Church. I’m (Joel) going to kick it off with a message on the Identity of the Church. I will be sharing how the book of Timothy highlights some of the masks the church can wear and shouldn’t.

Following tonight we are in the houses and at Junior high for two weeks. Then we all return to West Caompus on March 21st to celebrate just before Easter. It is important to note that there is no youth on March 28th as it is spring break and we are breaking.

This series is a little different from the norm as we are walking through a book of the Bible; 1 Timothy. I would recommend to all leaders, especially those who are teaching, to pre-read, even a few times, the Scriptures that are going to be covered on a given week.

It’s my hope and prayer that God will use us and his Scripture to see lives change for His purposes and to see more and more youth come to know Jesus. May God use you as you teach, as you lead small groups and as you connect personally with individual students. I’m so glad you are part of the team. Thanks for being you!

You can find this curriculum on a weekly basis using the leadsmall app with our channel code of: VGB8JQ. I will also be attaching it to the weekly emails that go out and you can find it on our new beulahyouth.ca website .

In the month of February we will basically be telling students how to live their lives in our series Life Management 1.0. (I know that sounds funny) Chris will lead us off as we are together, talking about FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) and the Holy Spirit.

The other two talks in the series through February will take place in the homes and at Junior High and will be led by a number of you, the leaders. Take the Scriptures given in the curriculum and put flesh on them as you share your own stories.

Also this month, on February 7, we will be having a launch party for Youth Alpha. That week there is only the first youth alpha video, and no curriculum, other than the questions which happen during the video. Encourage your students to invite friends to this launch so we can really pump youth alpha!

It’s my prayer that God will use the foolishness of our preaching to transform lives for His purposes and to see more and more youth come to know Jesus. May God use you as you teach, as you lead small groups and as you connect personally with individual students. I’m so glad you are part of the team.