Friend Groups

Friend groups provide security for kids, but friend groups also greatly influence kids’ behavior. Choosing a healthy friend group is very important in the lives of your kids. Help kids develop friends in the safe space of your church. Facilitate opportunities to connect with other church families to help kids get to know each other better and build connections. Coach kids when they exhibit unfriendly behavior and when they have conflicts with other kids. Kids learned in their Brite lesson about Jesus’ disciples—the friend group He picked to do ministry alongside. Help kids discover the greatest friend groups are those focused on Jesus!

Here’s how we discussed this topic and how you can discuss it at home: 

Discuss: Do you have a friend group that you spend time with?

Discuss: What can be good about friend groups? What can be bad?

Discuss: What do you think God has to say about that?

Say: Friends are a great blessing from God! He created us to know and be close to other people. As we follow Jesus, it is important to choose friends who help us grow closer to Him. The wrong friends can take us down bad paths very quickly! The Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 15:33: Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.” We can choose friends who are fun, share the same interests, show kindness and help us live like God wants us to live. That is the best kind of friend group!