Body image struggles are a powerful discipleship opportunity. But it’s hard to connect this struggle with God’s Word. How do we give hope and comfort when we hear teenagers‘ cries of despair, anger, anxiety or self-hatred about their bodies? This workshop will explore how the Bible’s storyline of Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Restoration speaks to body image concerns. We will look at one insight from each area, connecting teenagers to why God made them, what happened to our relationship to our bodies in the Fall, how Christ redeems our thoughts about our bodies, and what restoration looks like. While body image struggles are complicated and painful, their weightiness provides an opportunity to display the power of God’s Word and the beauty of the gospel.

As children’s ministry teachers, we have an incredible responsibility: God has entrusted the next generation into our care. But what will the kids in our classrooms remember after we’ve finished teaching? What characters in the story will they most want to identify with and be like? How will they grow in their understanding of God and the gospel? In this presentation, Jared will walk through some different ways you could teach a Bible story. Understanding these three basic approaches will help us not to miss the main point of a Bible passage. These ways of telling a story will help you encourage the kids in your class to grow in their understanding of the good news. We’ll begin with  a familiar Old Testament story as an example: the story of David and Goliath.