How do I join the student ministries at Bear Valley?
Well – you are already “in the group” at Bear Valley Church the first time you show up! Make yourself at home. There are no “guests” at Bear Valley – only new friends.
How do I find out what is going on in the student ministries?
This is a great question.
There are a few ways you can find out what is going on. You need to let us know that you are interested in participating in the students ministries and we will make sure you are connected. You can email Josh at jhause@bvchurch.org .
Also, there are always fliers, registration forms, and calendars that we have in hard copy in the youth room or linked in on this website. You can add you name to our E-news (weekly email updates) or receive a calendar (monthly by mail).
There are many ways for you to keep track of us electronically. Check our website regularly or add it to your RSS. Follow us on twitter here to get live updates or join our group on Facebook.
How do I become a Christian?
Great question! Here is a real simple answer…in the Bible it tells us “for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)
That means that all of us who mess up (sin) have earned the paycheck of a spiritual death apart from God. BUT – God has offered all of us a ffree gift through Jesus. That free gift is eternal life – By believing that Jesus came to die for our sins (he paid our debt) and asking him to forgive us we can spend eternity with God
Pretty simple huh?
You can pray this if you want to receive this free gift:
“Dear Jesus, I have messed up a lot and I give those to you. Thank you for dying for my mistakes so that I might know God. I give my life to you and want to know more about you. Thanks for forgiving and giving the chance to live with God forever.”
If you prayed that prayer please let us know. We want to help you better understand God and what He wants you to know about Him. Contact Josh at jhause@bvchurch.org
How do I know what God’s will is for my life?
God has told us a lot about how he wants us to live our lives in the Bible. There are many things that we pray about and want God’s answer to that he has already answered in the Bible. An example would be, “God is it okay if I have sex before marriage?” Well, God clearly tells us that is not the best for us and that he does not want us to. So, the answer is “no”.
Now some questions are harder. Another example is, “God, what am I supposed to be when I grow up?” Hmmm…the Bible is not a crystal ball (unfortunately sometimes) where the answers will appear for a question like that. So, what do we do? We would suggest thinking about what it is that you are passionate about in life. Like taking pictures, drawing, acting, singing, or playing an instrument, or maybe organizing furniture. Then research ways that you can use those passions to serve God. Why? Because ultimately the question of “What is God’s will for my life?” is really – “God, how can I best serve you?”
If God wants us to know who he is, why is the Bible so hard to understand?
We agree! There are parts of the Bible that can be confusing.
We believe the Bible is hard to understand for several reasons: One, it is written by God through human authors. God is a little smarten than we are. Two, the people who did write the Bible lived in a different culture than you and us. They spoke a different language, had different customs. They just lived in a totally different world!
While it is hard sometimes to figure out what God is saying to us, we believe that if we ask the right questions that many of the difficult parts will give us answers. Plus, there are some really smart guys who have written books that can help us better understand the writers and their world.
The great theologian Mark Twain once said, “It is not the parts of the Bible I don’t understand that bother me, it’s the parts I do.”
How does prayer work? It doesn’t seem to work for me.
Prayer is a difficult thing to do and understand. In some ways it does not make much sense – We mean, how does talking to yourself with your eyes closed make God listen?
Well, we do not understand all that there is to know about prayer, but we do know that God listens to prayer and responds to our prayers. He did so time after time in the Bible when someone prayed – God would answer and do some great things. But, also in our lives and in others that we know – God has answered prayer.
Has he always answered like we thought he should? No. But then again, He is God and we are not. We have to trust that He knows what is best for us. It is hard – we know. We don’t believe that our parents (who we can see) know the best for us – so how can God (who we cannot see) knows better?
Well, prayer is tough to figure out – just keep praying and God will show you what He wants to tell you!
