Youth Group Movies: 10 PG-Rated Films To Watch With Kids

Arts & Culture, Film & TV

Youth group movies always come in handy. Whether it’s a youth meeting or a churchwide event, movies attract people. Plus, they can spark great discussions.These 10 youth group movies are appropriate for most ages. Best of all, they have inspirational themes, strong characters, and excellent messages.
Most of these films are not explicitly Christian. However, young people need to explore connections between culture and faith. As leaders, we can help kids make such connections. And these movies for youth groups are great for that.
Note: Click on the movie title link to see the IMDB summary. Also click the Parents Guide Content Advisory link for details about any questionable content.
Remember to honor copyrights for showing movies in public settings. And churches do count as public settings. Read more here: Movies at Church: Do I Need a License?
10 Youth Group Movies for Churches
1. Secondhand Lions (2003)
Young Walter (Haley Joel Osment) is left with his grumpy, eccentric great-uncles for the summer. Various people, including Walter’s mother, try to take advantage of the rumored hidden millions on the farm. At times, this movie is hysterically funny, adventurous, and a little sad. More than a teen coming-of-age story, it also addresses who makes a family and how to grow old with grace. Parents Guide Content Advisory
2. Remember the Titans (2000)
In 1971, the city of Alexandria, Virginia, desegregated its high schools. As a result, football programs from black and white schools were combined. After hiring Black coach Herman Boone (Denzel Washington), the team pursues a winning season. Players must overcome racial tensions as they learn to be true teammates. Framed by the current-day funeral of one player, the movie echoes the larger American struggle for racial reconciliation. Parents Guide Content Advisory
3. Evan Almighty (2007)
With a new seat in Congress, newscaster Evan Baxter (Steve Carell) moves to suburban Washington, D.C. Suddenly, Baxter starts talking to God (Morgan Freeman). God is keen for Baxter, and all Americans, to be environmental stewards. As churchgoers, we love the inside jokes about the Flood and the ark’s biblical measurements. Bible facts come alive! Parents Guide Content Advisory
4. Akeelah and the Bee (2006)
A young girl from South L.A. tries to make it to the National Spelling Bee. An English professor mentors and challenges Akeelah. The main character becomes convinced of her talents and worth, while accepting help and support. Akeelah also proves that being smart can be a rock-star decision. Parents Guide Content Advisory
5. Soul Surfer (2011)
After losing her arm in a shark attack, teen surfer Bethany Hamilton overcomes the odds and her fears. This movie does have an explicitly Christian message. Bethany leans on her faith in God to overcome her injury and return to surfing. We love this fun, determined, and faithful teenager. Parents Guide Content Advisory

RBI Lifts Ban On IIFL Finance’s Gold Loan Business

Business News

IIFL Finance To raise ₹1,272 Crore Via Rights Issue | Image: IIFL Finance (Representative)

IIFL Finance Limited on Thursday (September 19) through an exchange filing announced that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has lifted the restrictions imposed on the company’s gold loan business, As per the regulatory filing, the company added that these restrictions, which had been in place since March 4, 2024, prevented the company from sanctioning, disbursing, or assigning/securitising its gold loans. With the RBI’s new communication dated September 19, 2024, IIFL Finance can now fully resume its gold loan operations.”The RBI’s decision is effective immediately and allows the Company to resume the sanctioning, disbursal, assignment, securitization, and sale of gold loans in compliance with all relevant laws and regulations,” added the company in the regulatory filing. In response to the RBI’s decision, IIFL Finance has assured that all their future gold loan operations will comply with regulatory standards.

“The Company is committed to upholding the highest standards of compliance and will continue to ensure that the remedial actions taken are sustained,” added the company in the BSE exchange filing.
Share performanceThe shares of the company ended the day on a red note today.
IIFL share performance | IIFL Finance Ltd shares opened at Rs 531.00 today, reaching a high of Rs 533.90 and touching a low of Rs 482.00 during trading hours.The company’s current market capitalisation stands at Rs 21,080 crore, with a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 12.36. Investors can expect a dividend yield of 0.78 per cent. Over the past year, the stock has seen a 52-week high of Rs 683.19 and a 52-week low of Rs 304.25, markinhg a significant price fluctuations in the market.

‘Over-the-top’ science fair art to transform Point Pelee National Park

Science and Health

Article contentVisitors to the Canadian mainland’s southernmost point will be in for a whimsical treat this October, as Windsor artists turn the park into a carnival-like fair — blending art with interactive science exhibits. “People will be having a day at the park with their families and then this really absurdist artwork is going to interrupt it,” said Jennifer Willet, one of hundreds of artists participating in the provincewide Ontario Culture Days from September 20 to October 13.Article contentWillet is a Canadian artist, researcher, and curator. She is a professor in the School of Creative Arts and a Canada Research Chair in Art, Science and Ecology at the University of Windsor.Her work, Baroque Biology, will be presented — through experimentation, storytelling, sculpture, parades and performance — during an outdoor art and science fair at Point Pelee National Park on Sunday, October 6, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. “The main goal of my art is making art,” Willet said. “I’m really interested in whimsical, creative engagement with science and technology in the living world.“My work is very beautiful. It’s very over-the-top.” Domenica Mediati, left, lab coordinator and Jennifer Willet, director, of the Incubator Art Lab in downtown Windsor are shown Sept. 4, 2024 with a piece that will be featured in the upcoming Ontario Culture Days event. Photo by Dan Janisse /Windsor StarThe Ontario Culture Days festival is an annual celebration of arts, culture and heritage across Ontario.Organizers work with artists of all disciplines to produce installations, performances and community-based activities for the free provincewide festival.“The goal is to really engage the general public in the art world and the art and culture scene,” Willet told the Star. “It’s also promotes what we do on a larger scale — outside of museums, galleries and those types of things.”Article contentWillet works in a field called BioArt, which is art and biotechnology. Her work is centred around scientific processes, procedures, and living organisms. Jennifer Willet, director of the Incubator Art Lab in downtown Windsor, is shown on Sept. 4, 2024, with a piece that will be featured in the Ontario Culture Days festival. Photo by Dan Janisse /Windsor Star“I’ve lived now in Windsor for 16 years,” Willet said. “I worked hard to educate myself on the Great Lakes Basin and our local ecology. This work really delves into that.“For example, one of the pieces is called the Great Lakes Algae Organ. It’s a large bicycle-pulled street organ. It looks like a Dutch street organ, like something from a fair, and it plays music, but it also is an algae farm, and I use it as a way to talk to audiences about algae in the Great Lakes region.“If I create some sort of, like, really elaborate, wonderful, immersive art experience, the next thing you know, people are talking about algae and they’re learning about algae science on a weekend with their families.”Recommended from Editorial UWindsor professor selected for Ontario creative arts festival Windsor’s Carrousel of Nations retains crown as Ontario’s best festival The Arts Council Windsor & Region will provide a free round trip bus excursion to Point Pelee National Park on Sunday, October 6. The bus trip begins at 11 a.m. from ArtSpeak Gallery in Walkerville. For more information about Ontario Culture Days or to register for the bus trip, visit the online website [email protected] this article in your social network

Warwickshire homebuilder highlights mental health awareness with book donation to local school

Arts & Culture, Books

Watch more of our videos on ShotsTV.com and on Freeview 262 or Freely 565Visit Shots! nowLuxury homebuilder Mulberry Homes has donated mental health books to a primary school in Houlton, Rugby, to highlight Youth Mental Health Day on 19th September.Houlton St Gabriel’s CofE Academy, which is just one and a half miles away from the homebuilder’s Mulberry Homes at Houlton development, received a bundle of books which tackle sensitive subjects including emotions and grief. A spokesperson at Houlton St Gabriel’s CofE, said: “We are very grateful to Mulberry Homes for this donation. Children’s mental health is massively important, and these books are a great entry point for our children to speak about their feelings.” Youth Mental Health Day is aimed to encourage an open dialogue between young people about their mental health and any struggles they may be facing. The awareness day aims to break down the stigma surrounding mental health. Use the ‘Submit a Story’ link to tell us your news.Kerry Jones, Sales and Marketing Director at Mulberry Homes, said: “We are delighted to have supported Houlton St Gabriel’s CofE this Youth Mental Health Day. With our donation, we hope to encourage an open discussion about how children feel and their mental health.” Established in 2011 and based in Warwickshire, Mulberry Homes is a medium housebuilder that provides quality properties across the wider midlands and southern counties. It specialises in individual and exclusive developments with their own looks and personalities and builds traditional homes with modern layouts. Continue Reading

Europe is bidding a steady farewell to passport-free travel

Travel

Staring out over France and Germany from the vine-covered hills of Schengen, a village at the southern tip of Luxembourg, it is hard to tell where one country ends and the other begins. That is in no small part thanks to a deal signed there in 1985, which committed the Benelux countries, France and Germany to abolish the frontiers separating them. The Schengen passport-free travel area has since grown to include most of the 450m citizens of the European Union’s 27 countries, and some neighbours too. Keen to capture the mysterious essence of Euro-federalism, a trickle of tourists still flock to the village where it all started, as Charlemagne did this week. Alas, visitors face three kinds of disappointment. First, a museum celebrating the agreement is currently under renovation. Second, the village has turned into a Saudi prince’s fantasy: with just a few hundred inhabitants, it has eight sprawling petrol stations in its vicinity, serving motorists keen to fill their tanks before leaving low-tax Luxembourg. Finally, and most distressingly, the freedom of travel that put the place on the map is steadily being chipped away. A symbol of the EU’s success at bringing countries together risks succumbing to reinvigorated nationalism across the bloc.