Every day I get an email from my son’s kindergarten teacher with 3 questions to ask him about his day at school.  He usually answers  those questions at the dinner table with “I don’t know” or “I don’t remember”, which I’m sure is God’s way of preparing me for his teenage years.  Because of that communication via email, however, I know what is happening at school and I can engage in the learning process at home.  If it is true that parents remain the primary teachers of the faith for our young people, how do we lean in and communicate with them in ways that equip them to teach the faith.

On this blog page are several resources listed under Parent Connect, but let me suggest here 2 simple ideas.

1.  Create a daily or weekly email (or text for those who text) to provide faith moments for the family.  Include a question or a Scripture to encourage conversation.  Keep it simple, and send it to parents and youth.

2.  Provide an update to parents after every youth gathering/education time and every retreat/trip with highlights of what was experienced and/or discussed and questions for follow-up at home.

Our son’s kindergarten teacher probably spends about 5 minutes each day helping us to be better parents and better teachers in our home.  What time are we willing to spend communicating with parents of the youth in our churches to help them?

With thanks to the Cluster for Creative Leadership in Southeast Indiana for a great conversation around youth ministry on Monday, I’ve been thinking about just how we define youth ministry in our churches. For many in our church, I have a hunch youth ministry is defined as what happens when the youth pastor or youth volunteer, or in some cases the pastor, interacts with a student. In this way, our churches appoint or hire someone to “do” youth ministry, with the unspoken assumption that it is something an individual or small team does.

What would happen if we gave a concerted effort to redefining youth ministry for our congregations? What if we said to all who worship with us: “youth ministry is simply this – intentionally sharing the love of God in Jesus Christ with students?”

The definition is simple, but what it means to members of our congregation may be radical. It means that youth ministry is much more than Sunday morning class or worship or some evening’s youth gathering, and responsibility for youth ministry lies well beyond the hired or appointed person or team. It means that every dinner with your family offers an opportunity for youth ministry. It means that a grandmother willing to share her faith with her grandson is practicing youth ministry. It means that an uncle who prays with his niece is ministering to youth. It means that tutoring in a local school, serving as leaders in civic youth organizations like scouts or 4H, or mentoring a young person in your church community can be youth ministry.

So I’m curious, what would happen if we shared this definition with our churches and then asked every member of the congregation to commit to one hour of youth ministry once a week?

Peace and blessings,
Brian

PS   As one who myself easily gets hung up with the words used in definitions, I had to resist the desire to complicate and nuance the definition of youth ministry. I changed it several times and then went back to my original writing. It may be too simple, but somehow simple seems right. For a more in depth read on defining youth ministry today, check out this article by Chap Clark at Youth Specialties.