Think of the friends in your lives. Some are really good at the skill of friendship, and others could use some help, right? While this applies to people of all ages, it is particularly true for teens who are meeting new people and fostering relationships with those around them. To help support this group of high school teens, LHM has developed a new course, Spiritual Conversations: How to Talk to Your Friends About Life, Faith, and Jesus.
One of the things that makes a great friend that we want to help students develop in this course is the skill and discipline of listening well so that they can really hear their friends. By really hearing, we recognize where our friends are on their spiritual journeys, and then we can learn to respond wisely and graciously in a way that helps them respond to the Gospel.
"Above everything else, this course is about learning the skills to listen (to God and to our friends) and respond with wisdom and grace so that we can meet our friends where they are and help them along their journeys of faith," says Chris Macky, instructional designer at LHM.
It turns out that there are Christians who regularly, naturally, and effectively have spiritual conversations with non-Christians in ways that are gracious and effective. Students will learn that any kind of person can do this. Our curriculum shows this by introducing some data supported by research into the kinds of people who do this well. Students will interact with the Bible together in small groups, watch other high schoolers interacting with these ideas, and maybe do some role-playing as well.
This seven-lesson curriculum for high schoolers to learn to share their faith with their friends and family is available now at lhm.org/schs.