
Student Ministries
What is Re(new)?
What do we do?
What do we mean by “disciples of Jesus Christ” and “Gospel of God”?
These are deep terms that hold many implications within them. Put most simply, we would define a disciple of Jesus as Christ himself does in Matthew 28:19-20, as one who is baptized and obeys all the things the Lord has taught. Another way to say this is that a disciple of Jesus loves God with all his heart, mind, body, and strength, and loves all people more than he loves himself (Deut. 6:6; Matt. 22:37; Rom. 13:8-14). All of this, however, is impossible without the Gospel.
The gospel begins with the lost nature of man. From our very birth (Psalm 51:5) we are sinners, and so separated from God. As Romans 3:10-11 says, “None is righteous, no not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God” and later says “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (3:23). Because of our sin, humanity has fallen from perfection to a world full of evil, sorrow, and death.
Yet, in our lost state, God did not abandon us, but in His love and mercy, humbled himself and came as a man, Jesus Christ (John 1:1-5 and 14; Phil. 2:5-11). Jesus lived a perfect life, perfectly obeying all things God commands, but still was despised by man and was killed by being nailed to a cross, being buried in a tomb after He had breathed his last (Luke 23:26-56; John 1:9-11). But that is not the end of the story. Three days later, Christ rose again, showing his victory over sin, sorrow, evil, and death (Luke 24:1-12; 1 Cor. 15)!
Now, by faith in Jesus Christ, we gain benefits from both his life and death. In his death on the cross, Jesus took upon himself all of our sins; past, present, and future (Isa. 53: 2-11; Romans 3:21-26; 2 Cor. 5:21), and so we are now blameless before God. Even more, again through faith, we are credited with all the obedience of Christ during his life (Rom. 5:12-21; Phil. 3.9). And so, through this union with Jesus Christ in both his life and death, we are now called sons of God (1 John 3:1), and will reign forever with Jesus in a new heaven and new earth, where there will be no more sin, sorrow, or death (Rev. 21:1-22).
How do we achieve our purpose?
What do we emphasize in our teaching?
- The Centrality of Jesus Christ. In all that we do, say, and teach, we seek to make much of Jesus Christ. It is through him that we know God (John 1:14, 14:9-11) and that we achieve salvation, not by anything we do. He is the root of all our blessings (Eph. 1:1-11) and we hope that those who participate in our youth group come out the other side with an understanding that Jesus Christ is the most important thing in both life and death.
- The Inspiration of the Bible. We hold the 66 books of the Bible to be the very words of God (2 Tim. 3:16), as the Holy Spirit inspired men to write them (2 Peter 1:21). Thus, they are completely sufficient and true. It is through them we know the will of God, and so we hope that those who participate in our youth group would seek to read, memorize, and know this book the rest of their lives.
- The Importance of the Church. Our youth group is not a church, and cannot replace a Church. All those who participate are expected to be a part of Valley Bible Church, through service, fellowship, and attendance to church functions. We hope to teach that being involved in the Church is an essential part of the life of a Christian.
- The Power of Prayer. The Bible urges us to be “constant in prayer” (Rom. 12:12), and we seek to model that. As a youth group, we believe in the power of prayer, that God actually hears our prayers, and these prayers change things in the real world. With this belief, we pray constantly and for all things, knowing that not all our prayers are answered, for above all we pray that God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven; not our own.