Keep on keeping on, bro!

KJ

I love how you turn to the church community to love students who are not loved well by their parents. What’s difficult is when church attending parents don’t love their children. Unfortunately, this seems to be more often than not. Which affirms Jesus statement – the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.

I’m glad that this blog is firing you and others up. I pray it fires parents up too.

What we need in order to minister to youth today isn’t programming, as I believe people are starting to realize. It’s not even the coolest, hippest, best-public-speaker-in-the-world, craziest, most-on-fire-for-God youth pastor. What we need is church of believers who see “youth ministry” as not just a job for the youth pastor and the youth ministry volunteers, but as THEIR job. Just as the old saying “It takes a village to raise a child” says, it’s going to take a community of believers. As Aaron said, people need to minister to children who aren’t “theirs”. I don’t think this applies simply to those who have students of high school age. I think it applies to people of ALL ages. It takes people realizing that when God said “fear not” that it included fears of being unable to relate to teens today- the fears and excuses that keep the body of Christ from adopting youth ministry as their own ministry. Every believer, regardless of age or experience, needs take ownership of the “children of the village” and step in to fill voids in these kids’ lives that need to be filled. Christ can fill voids, but He also allows people to help Him. Christ can’t be the person sitting in the stands at the student’s game, but a church member can! When, in today’s society, parents are taking less and less of a positive role in students’ lives, the church needs to step in to love on these kids. That’s what they desperately want and need. Love. In human form as well as in spiritual form. And it’s EVERY Christ-follower’s job! If students don’t get wholesome, healthy, life-changing love from the church body, they’ll go find it somewhere else.

Wow. I just rambled. But Ron, you know me – I can get fired up pretty easily! Lol. But great ideas! Love it!

Thanks for the great feedback bro. It is good to know that their are other student ministries pastors who share the desire to help parents (and the church) get it. Imagine how different youth ministry would be if parents where to step up to their role of disciple and disciple maker.

Keep pressing in.

Parents must be a HUGE (and if AT ALL POSSIBLE the PRIMARY) source for the spiritual development and training of their children.

Programs won’t get it done. Presentations, challenges, covenants, slamming the Book down their throats, retreats, camps, devotionals, classes, and the list could go on and on are usually (there ARE exceptions thank God) not enough to keep our kids faithful throughout their lifetime.

The possibly more tragic thing to me is that we lose both them and their children!!! What a loss for the Kingdom of God!

May God help us as ministers to find a way to empower and embolden parents to be what God has called them to be. May he also strengthen us in our attempt to share with these kids our love for God.

Thanks for the post! God bless you and your ministry.