Student Ministry

What it looks like to follow Jesus when you don't fit in

Ever feel like you don't quite fit? Like everyone around you is chasing the same stuff, and following Jesus makes you the odd one out? God's people have been there. After ignoring warning after warning from His prophets, Israel got what they kept asking for. God let them be carried off by Assyria and Babylon, two empires built on sin with no brakes. Because God doesn't force us to be faithful. He invites us. 

Over five weeks, we're meeting people who lived in a culture that wanted their minds and hearts, not just their bodies, and they didn't cave. Three teenagers who refused to bow. Daniel, who kept praying when it was illegal. Ezra, who put God's Word first. Nehemiah, who wouldn't come down off the wall. And a prophet whose message was simple: return to Me. Here's the goal: not that you'd admire their courage, but that you'd learn to stay faithful to Jesus right where you are.

As the summer ends and school amps up, so does the pressure. Your feed, your friend group, and your school all have opinions about who you should be and what's worth chasing. Most of that pressure isn't loud. It's slow, and it's everywhere. You live in Babylon too.