As preteens make the transition from childhood to adolescence, where will your preteens find help to successfully navigate their faith journeys? Collide is a curriculum that meets your early adolescent students where they are emotionally, spiritually, and developmentally.
Life and God is a 12-week study that explores how to love and trust God.
Unit 1: In God We Are... Students will learn to recognize God's love for them through his promises and provision. They will understand that they are valued by God and that God alone strengthens and renews them. Students will discover how deeply they are loved, valued, and forgiven by God.
Unit 2: How Do I Love God? Students will learn that the ability to love God flows out of a heart that is devoted to him. They will discover how loving God with all they have will give them the strength and the courage to do God's will. They will also begin to recognize that they love God when they love others.
Unit 3: How Do I Trust God When...? This unit will help preteens understand Job's story. Students will learn how to deal with doubt, what it means to trust God under any circumstances, and that God is with them even in hard times.
Written by practitioners who work with preteens, Collide uses biblical principles to address areas such as social skills, relationships, spiritual disciplines, emotional health, and biblical knowledge. You can't eliminate the pressures your preteen students will encounter in the process of growing up, but Collide will help them connect the dots between faith and real life.
Elizabeth Bjorling Poest has been a full-time children's and youth pastor for fifteen years. She teaches youth and Christian ministry courses at Trinity International University and is studying to complete her PhD in education at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. She is an ordained elder in the Church of the Nazarene and speaks at camps, revivals, and conferences about getting dusty with Jesus. Elizabeth wrote the Wired preteen curriculum and, in 2016, led a three-week theological camp for urban high schoolers. In her spare time she loves to adventure with her husband, Christopher, laugh until her sides hurt with family and friends over flaming peaches, and enjoy a great cup of coffee while catching up with her many former students and interns who are scattered around the globe.
Andrew Arp has served in full-time youth ministry in the Church of the Nazarene for more than 10 years. He particularly enjoyed serving as a middle school pastor in Flint, Michigan, and still believes middle schoolers are the only people crazy enough to act on what they believe and change the world. He has been a speaker at district camps and various retreats, and he presented a seminar on working with preteens at General Assembly. Andrew currently serves as a senior pastor in Odessa, Texas, but still loves hanging out with teens as much as possible. He resides in Texas with his amazing wife, Crystal, and their son and daughter, Jonas and Ainsley. As a family they love road trips, outdoor festivals and parties, and getting into all sorts of mischief together.