Welcome to the Great Lakes Students parent page!

The Big Questions is a four-week series designed to help your middle schooler find answers to their big questions about faith, identity, belonging, and purpose in Jesus. While your kid may not be outwardly asking questions about who they are, where they fit in, or what they’re made for in this world, they’re most definitely considering these things internally in this phase. This series will give them the foundation to build their sense of identity, purpose, and belonging as they grow and mature in faith.

We all ask questions. And not just about what’s for dinner, what to wear or who serves the better chicken sandwich: Popeye’s or Chick- fil-a. At some point, we ask the bigger questions of life. Things like, who am I? Where do I fit? And do I matter? Following Jesus helps us address these questions in a meaningful way, which is exactly what we’ll do in this series for High Schoolers, The Big Questions.

Grasping the concept of “living with purpose” may be a big concept for a kid to grasp. But accept the challenge to engage in the conversation, acknowledge their strengths, affirm who they are and how important they are, and lead by example. Your little one is watching every step you take. May you model what it looks like to live a life of happiness and purpose.

Young people struggle to find satisfying and life-giving answers to these questions on their own. They need caring adults willing to lean in with empathy, practice listening, and gently point them in the direction of better answers: that they are enough because of Jesus, they belong with God’s people, and they are invited into God’s greater story.

We may not always get it right, but we can try. When we affirm our kids’ character instead of their performance, we are communicating that who they are intrinsically matters way more than anything they could ever do. And when we constantly reinforce to them that their abilities or gifts can be used to not only help themselves, but others, too, we can refocus their attention on the act of serving others.