I was listening this morning to a lecture by Reggie Joiner at the NYWC where he talked about “leaning into parents”.  I really like the term “leaning in”.  As Fall starts and lots of us are kicking off our school year ministry offerings for youth, “leaning in” may be a great place to start as we think about our ministries with families.  Notice it isn’t pressing or pushing, for while we’d like parents to be more involved in the faith life of their teens, pressing or pushing for it to happen often isn’t fruitful.  And it isn’t standing back and waiting for parents to get involved or ignoring the influence they have and doing our ministry without them.

So I’ve been thinking all morning, how does one “lean in”?  It boils down to 3 principles:  communication, intentionality, and support.   I’ll explore these in more detail in my next 3 posts, but in the meantime, how do you experience “leaning-in” to parents and families in your ministry?