John 13:34-35, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” In relationships, those who love us do not always love us well. Often, those who love us, also wound us. We teach our young disciples to understand the unique role they play in God’s story, and through faith in Him and the love He has shown, they are able to put their brokenness under the blessing and love others as He commands His disciples. As our young disciples claim their true identity as the beloved sons and daughters of God, past hurts lose their power.
2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” As our young disciples learn more about who Jesus is and who He says they are, they find a new identity in Christ. Often, it is the complete opposite of what they had been led to believe about themselves. They begin to build healthy relationships for the first time, and begin to see themselves and others as God sees them.
Through one-on-one discipleship, our young disciples can address the barriers in their lives that drive a wedge between them and God. They begin to break down walls and see God at work in their lives, in the lives of His children throughout history, and in the lives of the people around them. Through group discipleship, our young disciples glean from each other’s experiences, help and support each other on their journey, and are able to participate in the healing and growth of their fellow disciples.
Through engaging with, supporting, and offering guidance to families, we are able to surround each young disciple with a system of support and encouragement that changes the trajectory of their lives. Through integrating programs such as the Think Orange curriculum, we are able to offer a well rounded, highly informed, and interactive discipleship experience.
For more information, please visit Think Orange .
All youth and families have access to biblically based counseling at no additional cost through Journey True North Ministries. Journey True North Ministries provides Christ-centered, biblically based counseling to the families we serve so they may experience hope and healing in Christ. The Biblical Navigators/Psychotherapists combine biblical truth with psychological principles to help people develop effective tools in handling the challenges of life and relationships. The online option allows for individual sessions during the school day and family sessions in evening times.
For more information please visit Journey True North Ministries.
Within the culture of Elevation Family Ministries, spiritual formation is a lifelong journey of transformation and progressive movement of character development and wholeness found in Christ. Greenman (2010) defined spiritual formation as, “Our continuing response to the reality of God’s grace shaping us into the likeness of Jesus Christ, through the work of the Holy Spirit, in the community of faith, for the sake of the world” Serving broken youth and families through hope and healing in Christ, we approach everything from a Christocentric vision of spiritual formation which requires us to be led by the Holy Spirit and intentionally direct those in our care toward Christlikeness. We believe that spiritual formation in Christ occurs when an individual accepts and receives the love of God, learns he or she is not the center of all things, and practices love for God and others. We emphasize the kingdom value of service to others and what we are called to do as believers. We partner with organizations that allow our young disciples to grow in the understanding that love is an act of the will directed towards others for their highest good.
We believe that being a devoted follower of Jesus requires that we do all things as though we are doing it for God (Colossians 3:23). We encourage our young disciples to exercise and engage their minds. As this habit is formed, their intellect will be increasingly disciplined as they cultivate a Christian worldview. Developing a Christ-centered work ethic toward academic endeavors equips youth to grow in Christlikeness while cultivating a positive outlook for the future.
For more information, please visit A.C.E .