High School

   
Philosophy of Ministry
These are the best days of your life! Well they're supposed to be at least. High school teens have deep friendships, are enjoying new freedoms with growing up, and thinking about what their future holds. Unfortunately high school can also be a time of deep anxiety over self-esteem, preparation for college or other paths of growth and self discovery. 
 

 

 

Just for High School
Jeff Shankel   Message from Jeff.....

 


Have 4 Minutes to Read? – My Journey Update

Over on the WPC Tiburon podcast you can now hear myself and one of our youth reminisce about some old times, talk about what they’ve been doing over the past year, and examine their spiritual journeys in more depth.  As I was re-listening and posting them yesterday it struck me just how awesome these recordings are.  What a gift they are to all of us but especially a teenager who doesn’t always feel comfortable talking about their faith life in a place like Marin.

About a month or so ago I was catching up with George and Markus, two of our high schoolers who are currently serving as Ruling Elders for the church, and we got to dreaming about days when we can gather again.  Many of our youth are very much looking forward to being with one another again.  We also recognized how much everyone will have changed in just a year.

In the life of an adolescent a year feels like a very long time.  And to them, it is!  How much taller are your children now?  How much more muscle do they have?  Can they beat you up now?  Some them even sound different?  What about all the things they’ve done over the past year?

Under normal circumstances all these changes, new ideas, and insights would be discussed during various youth ministry gatherings.  We thought it would be helpful for our youth to reconnect and catch up with each other.  So the idea came to host a podcast conversation between myself and a single youth.  We hope your high schooler (and you!) enjoy them as much as we do.

 


Have 8 Minutes to Read?  -  Wheel Chair  Ramps in Marin City

For several years now we’ve been praying for better relationships between our youth group and places like Marin City.  Needless to say, the past year has shown us why those relationships are so important.  We finally feel like God is starting to open some doors so we can be blessed by the kinds of friendships we’ve been hoping for.

Recently, some of bag lunch crew was delivering to Marin City when for some crazy reason they asked if we could help them build a wheel chair ramp before April.  Well, little did they know that your youth director (me) actually spent an entire summer of missions doing nothing but building wheel chair ramps in Mobile, AL with youth groups form around the country!  Crazy right?  Granted, that was about 20 years ago now but we’re excited about this opportunity.

It’s taken awhile to get everything together on such a short schedule but our new friends in Marin City and I are so grateful.  Just this past week an architectural firm just offered to do all the design work for free!  That’s way nicer service than I ever got all those years ago. 

We would love for your high schooler and their friends to join us.  We’ll be outside, masked, plenty of space to spread out and plenty of jobs to do even outside of just building a ramp.  If you’d like to join as well please, by all means!  Everyone can do something on a project like this.

Lastly, you do not have to sign up for the all the hours both days.  Come and work for as much as you can.

 

Jeff Shankle
Westminster Presbyterian Church
240 Tiburon Blvd
Tiburon, CA  94920
office (415) 383-5272 x218

cell (415) 744-4683

www.WPCTiburon.org

 Opportunity to Serve Others Now (Tuesday Bag Lunch - details)

This is what we need:

  • 1.  Brown Bag Lunch (in your bag please include)
    • Peanut Butter and Jelly

    • Thinly sliced deli meats and cheese

    • Bananas, Oranges, Cuties

    • Yogurts

    • Hummus, Guacamole, etc

    • Soft foods such as:

    • Juice or Water

    • Chips/Crackers are okay and appreciated

    • Soft Cookies or other soft treats

Parent's Corner - High School

 

 Have 7 Minutes to Read? – Teaching Grace in the Home

One of the central tenets of our faith that may differ from others is the idea that we don't really do anything to reach God. Rather, God comes to us. regardless of how "religious" we are or how much we know about the Bible. Despite the mess we make of our own lives and others, despite how often we disappoint ourselves or others, we are always loved. Through the Holy Spirit, God's presence is with us always. Even more, God wants to be there with us especially in the messiness.

We call this grace.

You and I might be able to appreciate the grace God gives us. That we are loved by something so holy regardless of what we do or don't do, but it may be hard to instill this sort of thing in the heart (not just the mind) of a young person. We all know that our faith can't solely be taught. It has to be experienced.

So how do we experience it in the home?

Just say, "I'm sorry" to your teenager more. That's a great starting place.
     "I'm sorry for the tone of voice I used when I asked you about your homework."
    "I'm sorry that I misunderstood the conflict you were having with your brother and jumped to an unfair conclusion."
    "I'm sorry that I wasn't sensitive enough to how tired you were from soccer."

In today's world our youth feel extraordinary pressures from all kinds of angles. We want them to know that their family is a safe place. And we hope that they are an example of grace to others.

If you want to make your home a hub of grace, try the following:

1. Keep your personal antennae up for times when your own fatigue causes you to speak unkindly to your kids.
2. When you feel like you've wronged your kids, tell them that you're sorry and ask for their forgiveness. Say, "Is that okay?" or "Does that make sense?"
3. Make sure you are quick to extend forgiveness to your kids when they need to do the same.