Understanding TruIdentity

God’s intent for the family is for each generation to pass on faith to the next. Dr. Michelle Anthony

General Lesson Flow | The Basics To start, leaders are given a list of resources along with encouraging articles to help prepare their hearts to present the lesson. When students arrive, they dive into a fun activity and answer a conversation starter designed to immediately connect them with leaders and one another. Then students learn more about God and experience Him through reading His Word, prayer, teaching, and discussion. The next part of the lesson invites students to reflect on what the Holy Spirit is teaching them by responding to God through worship. Before they leave, students receive a blessing from their leaders—and sometimes one another.

Developmentally Speaking TruIdentity is for middle school students in sixth through eighth grades. Lessons are provided as series, or modules, in 8- or 5-week sets. Schedule what appeals to your students’ needs, when it fits your schedule. Empowers middle schoolers to own their faith, but on a deeper level than they’ve previously known. As they grow and want more independence, they’re invited to ask questions as they seek after and respond to God, all with the goal of finding their identity in Him. The purpose of TruIdentity is to introduce students to the Word of God for the sake of worship in response to God’s character and movement in their lives. TruIdentity removes the emphasis on morals and values, which often fall short of spiritually forming students, and keeps their attention on God as the main character throughout Scripture. With God-centered statements as the focus, students learn what is true about Him as they seek to be formed into the likeness of Christ.

Distinctives of TruIdentity lessons: God Statements: Each lesson contains a truth about God’s character revealed through exploring His Word. Resources: Projectable images to introduce games and activities; easily customized for ministry announcements; for students: HomePage and series bookmarks Videos: Each lesson contains an engaging video to introduce the day’s content Customizable lessons: Flexibility to customize the Word documents for what works for your church’s needs, as well as options provided throughout each lesson Open-ended questions / Conversations starters: Highly relational to get students talking Church Tested: Suggestions and feedback throughout

The Vision for Leader Prep

Each week leaders are given a list of resources along with encouraging articles that will help prepare their hearts to present the lesson. In Tru this is called: Inspire: personal stories from fellow ministry leaders about how God has worked in their lives Equip: perspective and context to the lesson's Bible passage Support: reflection and assessment through encouragement, prayer, and time in God's Word

The Vision for CONNECT

As the students arrive, space is created for them to begin connecting with God, their peers, and their leaders as they engage in a fun activity. Resources: Projectable images are easily customized to share church-wide announcements and generate excitement for games and activities Conversation starters: Wrap up the fun and transition into the teaching time concepts with an open-ended question Worship and Prayer

The Vision for ENCOUNTER

Students learn more about God’s character and work from His Word and God-centered teaching, in addition to sharing personal experiences. Features include: God Statement: What does this part of God’s grand redemptive narrative tell us about God? Reading Scripture: Students share in reading during the God’s Word section. Lesson Commentary: Equips pastors with background information for preparing their message Lesson Outline: Provides a framework (including Scripture references) for ministry leaders to prepare their own message, including suggested discussion questions, personal sharing, and illustrations Videos and resources: Videos are provided for every TruIdentity lesson. Decide how and where you want to use them in your teaching.

The Vision for RESPOND

Next, as a large group, students are invited to meet with the living God and engage in a variety of reflective worship responses. In order to facilitate interactions, Worship As Response features may include: Prayer, Prayer Wall, group worship, music, dancing, silence, art, journaling, encouragement cards, etc. To accommodate different learning styles, this time can either be structured or unstructured. Simplified options are sometimes offered with no setup, and may consist of the leader reading questions to invite student reflection. Then within small groups, intentional conversation is encouraged between students and leaders as they talk through discussion questions related to the God statement.

The Vision for BLESS

Before they leave, students receive a blessing from their leaders and sometimes one another. A blessing may be a portion of Scripture, or words to encourage and guide. Students leave from the strength of being encouraged and built up with Godly words of life and truth spoken over them, so they can in turn bless others. HomeFront Weekly: This is a preteaching resource for parents to use with their families during the week. They’ll find out what their child learned this week and be equipped to introduce the next week’s God Statement.

To equip the church with Christ-centered resources for making and teaching disciples who obediently transform today’s generations