High School / Calvary Church

This week in our Wise Choices series, we are looking at 1 Corinthians 6:9-20, where Paul addresses the issue of sexual immorality. Paul tells us that that our bodies are members of Christ and a temple for the Holy Spirit, so what we do with them is important! We know though that sexual immorality is more than just physical, it can be what we watch, read, listen to and think about and Paul tells us we need to flee from it. Sexual sin can cause great brokenness in our lives and to those around us and our prayer is that students choose purity in a culture that celebrates pleasure.

In life, we are all the product of the choices we make everyday. Who we are is determined by the choices we make. This is so important for High School students as in the next few years they will be expected to make some of the biggest decisions of their lives. This week we will focus on 1 Corinthians 2 and talk about the source of our wisdom. We want to have spiritual wisdom, from God, to make wise choices. Paul says that we can either follow the wisdom of this world, or the wisdom that comes from God through the Holy Spirit. Our hope is that students grow in spiritual maturity by learning to make wise choices.

They belong here: Do you care about the lost?

We belong here: We are called to love one another.

You belong here: With God and eternity our lives have meaning, value and purpose

This week is a passion Sunday, a chance for us to hear from a speaker about a topic that they are passionate about. Maybe you have heard people say that Christians can be “So heavenly minded that they’re no earthly good”. This week we will be hearing from Shannon Diller, who will be sharing about the reality of what heaven will be like and that eternal life starts now, right here on earth. How do we as Christians live in the present world while still looking forward to the world to come?

In the final week of our Community series, we are focusing on accountability and confession. Ryan Farnham will be sharing what biblical accountability means and how he has seen that change his life.

As we dig into our Community series, we want to talk about practical ways that we can grow as a community. One of those ways is through prayer, for each other and with each other. Prayer is essential to the Christian life because it is our dialog with God. There is no one uniform way to pray and all throughout history, in different cultures, we have spoken to God in different ways. In Luke 1:1-13, Jesus teaches his disciples how to pray and tells them a parable to illustrate how God calls us to pray.

Love is the foundation for any relationship, but it is often misunderstood in our culture. When we talk about biblical community, we want students to understand what it means to truly love each other. What does it mean to really love the other people in our student group, school, family or world?

You are made in God’s image and made for relationship.

In week three of our Trinity Series we will be learning about the final person of the trinity, the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is God alongside us and wants to point us to Jesus, give us power to live like him and take life to dead dark places.

The doctrine of the Trinity is often confusing and we usually don’t have an accurate picture of who God is and how He functions. How can God be one and three? As we start our series on the Trinity, we will start by defining what the Trinity is and by looking at God the Father.

This week will be discussing our Vision and Values, as we desire to see every student Pursuing Life in Christ! Students will be challenged to take the next step in that never ending pursuit, as we want them to engage with our 5 Values here at Calvary Church.

This summer we took over 100 students and leaders on three main trips, serving in Philadelphia, Washington DC and Sunderland, UK. We also had some students serve with 2 Seconds or Less in Zimbabwe and many more who were involved in camp and church ministry. This Sunday we want to celebrate our Summer Trips, hearing from students about their experiences and how God worked in and through them. Students will be challenged, whatever they did this summer, to carry on serving God and others as they enter the school year.

When it comes to all of the commands in scripture, one we often forget about is baptism. Jesus modeled it for us and commanded us to do it, but there seems to be a lot of confusion about what it is all about. What is this this tradition of dunking christians into water all about? Why is it important? Who should be baptized? When do I know if I’m ready? How should it be done? We will explore these questions and hear from students who have recently been baptized, to hear their stories and why it was so important for them!

Throughout this summer we have seen how even though Israel is delivered for a short time yet still need a deliverer who can bring final justice and mercy. We will see in Romans 3, that through Jesus, God is both “just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (Romans 3:26).

While the story of Samson seems to be void of hope we see Gods spirit empower Samson to bring deliverance to God’s people. This empowering does not endorse Samson’s sin but serves as a reminder that God words despite our sin. God used Samson’s sin to bring freedom to His people.

Gordon Gregory will be sharing with us the strange story of Jephthah. Jephthah rose from humble beginning to be the Judge who led Israel in battle against Ammon. Instead of trusting God for the victory he swears an oath to sacrifice the next person that walks through his door. This bizarre oath quickly turns to tragedy when his daughter walks through the door. We need to learn from Jephthah that God is in control and we can trust him instead of trying to get what we want.

God called Gideon in Judges 6 to lead the people of Israel against Midian. Gideon did not think he was the right man for the job and questioned God. In spite of Gideon’s doubt God used him to destroy the alters of false Gods.

Graduation Sunday is a chance to honor our graduates, hear from them about their time in CSM and challenge them to continue to pursue life in Christ as they transition to what’s next. It is always a bitter sweet time, but we are excited to see what God has next for our seniors and challenge all our students to make their faith their own now, before they graduate.