When I first started in youth ministry I struggled to serve parents. Part of that struggle was the fact that I was intimidated by them. The other part was that I had no plan to involve them in my ministry.
Working with parents in your youth ministry is challenging, but necessary. Without parents you’ll struggle to have an impact on the next generation. That’s why I’m excited to introduce to you the new book Team Up! The Family Ministry Playbook for Partnering With Parents by my good friend Phil Bell.
Phil is the Family Life Pastor at Hope Community Church in Raleigh, North Carolina. I’ve known him for about 4 years and what I admire the most about Phil is his passion for serving families. In his book Team Up! Phil addresses important issues such as:
Sometimes our biggest obstacle is the attitude we have towards parents. Instead of showing them grace and mercy we hold them to a standard that might be false.
Serving families is more than just creating programs. You need to give them a vision that shows them what will happen when they fully invest themselves in their child’s faith journey.
You cannot be reactive when it comes to partnering with parents. You need to have a strategy that helps you communicate and connect with parents.
To help parents with their teens we need to be able to provide tools and resources that empower, encourage and challenge them.
Families need community. To raise up the next generation families need to have other people to connect with and help them grow.
What I love about this book is how Phil not only shares strategy but his own personal story. Reading it I felt like I wasn’t alone when it comes to serving families. Whether you are new or a seasoned veteran I strongly recommend this book (To purchase a copy click HERE).
And because I love this book so much I want to give away some free copies. In order to win a copy of Team Up! you need to SUBSCRIBE to this site and answer the question, “Why is family ministry so important?” on the Marathon Youth Ministry Facebook Page (Click HERE). The winners will be chosen at random and announced next week via Periscope (follow me @chrisrwesley).
Youth ministry is incomplete if you don’t serve the family. Team up with parents by helping them invest in their own teens. The work might be hard but the reward is worth it.
[reminder] Why is family ministry so important? [/reminder]