I think that is a great program. I’d like to do something like that in the future.

Youth welcome and thank you.

I think that is the big problem. Tel a teen “sex is bad” and then they start fooling around and it doesn’t “feel bad” and they get really confused.

I think that is so important. I know a young man that got married on the DL right out of HS. I’m pretty certain that is a product of “save it for marriage” with no other counsel.

I think we got even less on the subject than that. It really bothers me how little the church talks about something so important.

– the first week was always the whole group together – we’d talk about those myths you brought up, an what God’s perspective on sex is (and it AIN’T “sex is bad”).
– the second week, i’d bring a panel of folks in (married couples & singles) and we’d do a frank discussion about sex and an open Q&A of the panelists (always a varied group – some had had sex before marriage, others didn’t, singles who had already had or hadn’t had sex, and one year we had a 55 year old dude who was still a virgin) or a stack of magazines (cosmo, etc.) and music and address the sex / image issue from that perspective.
– the final week was splitting up guys and girls and having what could have been wildly uncomfortable (but never was) open Q&A about anything and everything sex / bodies / sexuality. i’d give out 3×5 cards and pens and they could ask ANYTHING. i obviously reserved the right to not answer questions i thought were asked just for the shock value, but we didn’t get many of those.

we were blessed with a large youth group of astoundingly varied backgrounds and experiences. the yearly sex series was always a success, with many students becoming comfortable enough to actually talk about what has frequently been a taboo topic in the church.

glad to hear you’re addressing this head-on.

nicodemusatnite.blogspot.com

I’m pretty thankful that my job with youth doesn’t include having to have The Talk. I do the administration end of the job most of the time and occasionally get to do altar counseling. If it was my job, I don’t know what I’d do, but it seems to me like you’ve got a pretty good handle on it. You’re starting with the right motives and that’s really taking a big step in the right direction.