Character Qualities
Soma Waxahachie is passionate about discipling our youth, so we have created a biblically sound list of character qualities in which we would like to see our youth receive specific focus to prepare them for a lifelong obedient pursuit of Jesus. This list includes 24 character qualities placed into three categories which are our identities as the Church: Family, Missionary, Servant.
These three identities can be defined as follows:
Family: Because God is Father, we are FAMILY
Missionary: Because the Spirit is sent, we live as sent people, MISSIONARIES
Servant: Because Jesus came not to be served but to serve, we are SERVANTS
By emphasizing one character quality per month, we are giving our church a road map to help our youth become more like Christ. The teaching of these important characteristics will be done in a number of ways including:
Monthly Events: Each month we will do a special event in order to emphasize a character quality. This may include an outing together such as a challenge course, or recreation event. This could also include an evening of worship together and a more traditional teaching time. We will look at the most effective ways to teach each characteristic.
Parents: We believe parents are the primary disciplers of their children. Because of this, we will provide resources to give you opportunity to reinforce these characteristics at home. The youth ministry may have the opportunity to minister to our students a few hours a week, but parents have everyday. Because of this, we want to equip parents to make the most of their time as they disciple their children.
The Holy Spirit: The Spirit guides us and teaches us all things relating to our faith. We are not simply teaching behavior change, we are teaching a life surrendered to Jesus Christ, and submission to the Spirit. When we teach these characteristics they will never be separated from the gospel of Jesus Christ, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.
By the time students graduate from high school they will have received focused teaching on each of these character qualities 3 times (7th-12th grade). By being intentional in this type of discipleship we believe we can build strong leaders and disciples of Christ far beyond the time they spend at Soma Waxahachie. God has not called us to simply provide programs for youth, but to produce young people who are equipped to live as missionaries in whatever context God calls them.