MIDDLE SCHOOL

Goals for faith formation at home

• Foster parent/teen relationships through intentional engagement
• Provoke thoughtful conversation and develop a language and vocabulary for self-reflection
• Increase our awareness of God’s presence and intervention in our daily lives through daily prayer (loving conversation with God)

What to expect from SJN this faith formation year

Starting September 13th

• This month is all about you: rooting your relationship with the Lord and with fellow parents in the trenches
• Your Life Group leader will contact you(and each member of your small group of parents) about your weekly availability throughout the month of September
• Your Life Group leader will schedule a time that works best for you and your small group to meet digitally in a given week
• Your Life Group will meet digitally and converse over the week’s topic facilitated by a pre-recorded talk that you will watch together
•        The video will offer some insight and allow time for group discussion

Starting in October

• Remember, you are walking with your teen in their walk with Christ. He is the Teacher. We cooperate as companions on the journey.
• You will receive the week’s content on Friday, outlining the conversation topic for you and your teen/family that includes resources for your personal education and reflection. Be sure to review these resources so you feel more comfortable with the content details (head-knowledge), as well as more personally comfortable through individual application and reflection(heart-knowledge)

According to your schedule, take time during the week to talk to your teen/family about the topic. It is up to your discretion of whether this occurs in one weekly formal sitting or segmented casual discussions throughout the week (recommended)

• The outline suggests activities and questions to approach the topic using different learning methods (ex. Games, activities,, personal reflection, discussion, videos)
• The closing prayer exercise is the most important part of your discussion.
• We can talk all we want about Jesus. However, until we equip our teens with the tools and practice to develop a personal relationship with God, He will continue to be a mere historical figure, rather than the merciful Savior of the universe
• Consider re/using different prayer exercises each day to build the habit of prayer and conversation with God. If we want to spend eternity with Him in heaven, let’s avoid any awkward conversation and start that relationship now.
• After your discussion, complete and submit the reflection form linked in the weekly email before moving to the next topic the following Sunday. These reflections address the quality and content of conversation rather than an academic assessment. Your feedback crafts future content to better meet your family’s needs.
• For example, you will receive the October 4th outline on Friday, October 2nd. This week’s content includes the Mass reading for October 4th. The reflection is due the following Sunday, October 11th.