Lifeway: Youth leaders encouraged to make parents the "heroes"

I know empowering parents is often a stated value of many youth ministries, but few of us actually put that value into practice. It's a road we've been journeying in our children and youth team on our staff, reading Shift: What It Takes To Finally Reach Families Today in our weekly meetings. I'm trying to always keep this value on my mind and heart as I plan, and this article, given to me by one of our parents, is a good reminder:

Bunn pointed to Deuteronomy 6, which calls upon parents to make permanent marks upon the lives of their children. Parents, he said, are an "invaluable" element in students’ development into godly adults. "We are seeing a renaissance of the idea that God says parents should be the primary spiritual developers of their kids."

The first step in reintroducing (or introducing) parents to this idea is getting to know them, Bunn said. "Find out who they are and what they are going through," he insisted. "Relationships with the parents will allow you to be transparent with them so that you can, at some point, share the truth of Deuteronomy 6 with them."

Part of this mindset shift in youth ministry involves more than simply involving parents – it requires youth ministers to think about how their youth groups can be part of the larger church body.

"This is not about adding events to the church calendar," said Sherry Spillman, a student ministry specialist at LifeWay, during a breakout session. "Think outside of the box to create a holistic, unified church."

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