Parent Ministry
Friday, September 04, 2009 by Mike Lovato
I'm teaching a breakout in a little over a week at Lifeway's National Youth Worker Conference. The breakout is called "Working with Parents as a Younger Minister." I asked for some feedback via Twitter/Facebook and was asked if I could share people's responses. The question I threw out there was "what's your one piece of advice to a youth pastor in their 20's when it comes to working with parents?" Here you go!
Twitter:
joshtreece@mikelovato There is no such thing as OVERcommunicating! There is more parent ministry in youth ministry than you think! Talk to them!
mikekell@mikelovato Keep bringing it back to Biblical Truth. Stand on that authority.
samgamgee@mikelovato build strategic relationships...they can be your best of allies
kenleslie@mikelovato Advice: They must acknowledge they DO NOT know how to RAISE a teenager, but they can help parents UNDERSTAND their culture
thespiderman@mikelovato remember that they are probably pretty set in their ways and change comes hard when they've been parenting as long as they have
stephenperryParent ministry can't be viewed as a program but a mindset.
also-constantly challenge your thinking and process to figure out ways/outlets for dialogue to happen at home based on what you teach...
Facebook:
- when talking about their children, use lots of profanity... just to catch them off guard.
- Get them on your leadership team so that you learn from them, develop rapport with them, and get their support for the ministry.
- Realize that your "20s" are quickly becoming a thing of the past! They don't see you as a kid anymore, so don't see yourself that way.
- don't think you know it all...don't be arrogant...cause you will learn in time young jedi
- Let them know you found out they were right. Whatever the question was...just let them know that you now know they were right. It is amazing but they will then admit when they were wrong. It works.
- Ask them to be involved in their kids lives. Ask them where they would like to help, food, sponsors, leadership. Tell them your goals and plans and ask them to get involved.
- Constantly communicate that you are their ally; that you don't have any desire to take their place but only to supplement their best efforts to disciple their children. Also, that you are a constant student of students and want to be a resource of information & support for them as they negotiate the challenging (& terrifying to some) task of leading their children through the maze of adolescence and into responsible adulthood.
Twitter:
joshtreece@mikelovato There is no such thing as OVERcommunicating! There is more parent ministry in youth ministry than you think! Talk to them!
mikekell@mikelovato Keep bringing it back to Biblical Truth. Stand on that authority.
samgamgee@mikelovato build strategic relationships...they can be your best of allies
kenleslie@mikelovato Advice: They must acknowledge they DO NOT know how to RAISE a teenager, but they can help parents UNDERSTAND their culture
thespiderman@mikelovato remember that they are probably pretty set in their ways and change comes hard when they've been parenting as long as they have
stephenperryParent ministry can't be viewed as a program but a mindset.
also-constantly challenge your thinking and process to figure out ways/outlets for dialogue to happen at home based on what you teach...
Facebook:
- when talking about their children, use lots of profanity... just to catch them off guard.
- Get them on your leadership team so that you learn from them, develop rapport with them, and get their support for the ministry.
- Realize that your "20s" are quickly becoming a thing of the past! They don't see you as a kid anymore, so don't see yourself that way.
- don't think you know it all...don't be arrogant...cause you will learn in time young jedi
- Let them know you found out they were right. Whatever the question was...just let them know that you now know they were right. It is amazing but they will then admit when they were wrong. It works.
- Ask them to be involved in their kids lives. Ask them where they would like to help, food, sponsors, leadership. Tell them your goals and plans and ask them to get involved.
- Constantly communicate that you are their ally; that you don't have any desire to take their place but only to supplement their best efforts to disciple their children. Also, that you are a constant student of students and want to be a resource of information & support for them as they negotiate the challenging (& terrifying to some) task of leading their children through the maze of adolescence and into responsible adulthood.
Labels: parents, youth ministry
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