the other night all the middle school small groups from my church met together to launch a new series based on scot mcknight’s book, the jesus creed. actually, it’s an all-church thing (both a 6 week sermon series and an all-church small group focus).
at our middle school kick off, our middle school pastor got us thinking about slogans as a way of moving into the shema and the jesus creed (‘love the lord with all your heart, soul and mind, and your neighbor as yourself’). it was a creative way to make the transition — from product slogans and how they effect us; to creating our own small group slogan and “beliefs” that back it up; to the jewish idea of the shema and its impact on those who recite it first thing every morning and last thing every night; to the ‘love god, love others’ summary jesus offers.
anyhow, my group of five 8th grade guys came up with the following…
we believe:
– every voice matters
– respect is earned
– maturity takes time
– snacks are best left until the end
– it’s best to fart outsideour slogan:
– “honesty, integrity, & crud”
(the “crud” has a double meaning: the face-value meaning of the junk in our lives and our group being a place to be honest about it, and a game our group likes to play from time to time.)
As I read through the list, I thought…”wow these boys are getting deep. Are you sure they’re….ah, there it is!”
Good list!
sounds like a list that should be adopted by the church elders. good stuff.
good stuff man. way to get them involved and take ownership of the group.
don’t forget the other slogan. “sweet, smart, and sassy.”
Hilarious. Thank you, Marko, for giving your life to the work of the Gospel, to empowering youth workers with the tools they need to serve young people, to discipling youth, and to… farting outside.