Parents we desire to partner with you through these difficult teenage years. There is no better influencer in a child’s life than his parents. We want learn from you and with you.
Here is some information we hope will help parents.
Some background: The values in our society have changed dramatically over the last few years. In a survey by Josh McDowell of students who attend church regularly, 43% had intercourse by age 18, 35% of 17-year-olds said they have engaged in sexual intercourse, and 26% of 16-year-olds said they had had intercourse. Your student is bombarded with conflicting messages about sex every single day. They hear different messages from television, radio, school, parents, and church. They have so many questions and so many struggles when it comes to this topic. As a way to counteract these influences be in constant communication with your student about God’s plan for their purity. We encourage you and want to provide ways to talk to your students openly and honestly about this subject throughout their teen years. Communication is the key to having trust and dialogue with your student.
Here are some tips:
Know what your child is learning at school. The majority of health classes teach comprehensive sex-ed curricula. Comprehensive sex-ed programs contain little if any meaningful abstinence message. Out of 942 total pages of curriculum text reviewed (9 different curricula in all), not a single sentence was found urging teens to abstain from sexual activity through high school. Schools in Virginia and Maryland are teaching bisexuality, transgenderism, homosexuality as early as 8th grade.
Know what is on your kids myspace, Facebook, and twitter account.
Know what websites they frequent. Get filtering systems to protect your child from internet pornography. Visit www.FilterReview.com for information on finding a service that is right for you.
Know your student’s culture: Read magazines, listen to their music, watch what they watch. According to a new study on television content, the number of sexual scenes has doubled since 1998. The study (Sex on TV 4) released by the Kaiser Family Foundation shows among the top 20 most watched shows by teens, 70% include sexual content, and nearly half (45%) include sexual behavior. Among the 20 most highly rated shows for teen viewers, ONLY 10% of those with sexual content include a reference to any consequences of sexual activity at some point in the episode.Visit www.cpyu.org for the newest student trends.
Parent Resources:
Books:
Preparing your son for Every Man’s Battle: Stephen Arterburn
Preparing your daughter for Every Woman’s Battle: Shannon Ethridge
Becoming the Parent Your Teenager Needs: Rodney Gage
Teaching True Love to a Sex-at-13 Generation: Eric and Leslie Ludy
Home Invasion: Rebecca Hagelin:
Parenting Teens with Love and Logic: Foster W. Cline, M.D. & Jim Fay
Talking to your kids about Sex: Dr. Mark Laaser
Right from Wrong: Josh McDowell
Parenting Teens with Love and Logic: Foster W. Cline, M.D. & Jim Fay
Sex: More than a Plumbing Lesson: Amy Scheuring
Right from Wrong: Josh McDowell
How and When to tell your Kids about Sex: Stan and Brenna Jones
You’re a Step-Parent, Now What: Joseph Cerquone
30 Days: Turning the hearts of Parents and Teenagers Toward Each Other (30 day devotion): Dr.Richard Ross and Dr Gus Reyes
Parenting Today’s Adolescent: Dennis and Barbara Rainey
For Dads:
Preparing Your Son for Every Man’s Battle: Stephen Arterburn, Fred Stoeker, Mike Yorkey
Daughters and Dads: Chap and Dee Clark
How to be Your Daughter’s Daddy: Dan Bolin
How to be Your Little Man’s Dad: Dan Bolin
Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters: Meg Meeker
For Moms:
My Heart Belongs to Him (interactive study): Nancy Butowski and Leslie J Barner
A Mothers Heart: Jean Fleming
Preparing Your Daughter for Every Woman’s Battle: Shannon Eldridge
Your Girl: Bible Study for Mothers of Teens: Vicki Courtney
Scriptures for sexual purity: (New International Version)
1 Thessalonians 4:3-5: It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in a passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God.
1 Corinthians 6:18-20: Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.
1 Timothy 5:2: Treat older women as mothers and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity.
Colossians 3:5: Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.
2 Corinthians 10:5: We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
Philippians 4:8: Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.
Proverbs 4:23: Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.
Job 31:1a: ”I have made a covenant with my eyes.”
Ephesians 5:2-3: And live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant offering and a sacrifice to God.
But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people.
Isaiah 1:18: “No matter how deep the stain of your sins, [God says] I can remove it. I can make you as clean as freshly fallen snow. Even if you are stained as red as crimson, I can make you as white as wool.”
The Hangar is a community where students CONNECT to Jesus, UNITE to each other, and contribute to CHANGE the world. Authentic community doesn’t just happen; it is built. There are many connection events for students throughout the year.
Our worship services, followed by small groups, are Sunday evenings.
Junior High (grades 7-8) students meet 5-6:30pm
Senior High (grades 9-12) students meet 6:30-8:30pm
When our students of Fairfax Community gather in weekly small groups to break open God’s word and develop community that they may never have experienced before. Our small groups are based on scripture in First Thessalonians which says life as a follower of Christ should be more than just knowing what the Bible says–it should also be about sharing our lives and helping each other apply God’s word to our lives. We believe that the primary way to be connected is through small groups.