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Part 4: FREE Training Video: Partnering with Parents in Youth Ministry – Dealing with Angry Parents

I remember the first time a parent called and yelled at me.  No I mean literally,  came through the phone and almost strangled me.  It threw me off guard and I had no real idea on how to respond.  This video walks us through the process of how to deal well with that angry parent and how to reach out to them with integrity.

Here’s our final video this week. To check out the rest of these videos and more, go to our youtube channel


 

Talking to Angry Parents Discussion Notes

  • What is one thing you can do to diffuse an angry parent?
  • How can your team get involved with talking to parents when they get angry?

Leneita

Part 3: FREE Training Videos: Partnering with Parents in Youth Ministry – Conversations…

Our post today involves two videos.  For some of us having a conversation with parents is easy.  However,  if you have students who come and their parents do not attend your church,  have you thought about how to start a relationship with parents?  Sure “cold” communication is easy.  Send an email, or have a passing conversation asking a parent for something gets us what we need.  However, if we are genuinely having a “partnering” mentality we are opening the conversation to ask the parent what THEY need.  Even if these conversation ideas seem simple to you, take the time to share them with your team.  I have found,  training my team,  is often reminding them of simplicity they already know.

Take the time to wrestle with ideas of how to open dialogue with EVERY parent in your group.  While both videos start the same, they do have a slightly different piece of information. Watch them with your team and use them as a training opportunity. It’s our gift free to you!


 

Here’s the second video: 


First Conversations WIth Parent Discussion Notes (click here)
  • Who is one parent you have never talked with you could reach out to this week?
  • How are some ways your whole team can start talking to parents in your group?
  • How can you have an attitude of partnering with all parents?  How could that happen?

Leneita. 

Finding Support in Youth Ministry: How Much Should I Tell My Spouse?

This week we continue our  series of posts about the importance of finding support in youth ministry. If we want to hang in for the long haul, it’s essential to find the right people and practices to avoid painful pitfalls:

Youth Ministry Spouse

“How Much Should I Tell My Spouse?”

Continue Reading…

Balancing Family and Youth Ministry: Part 3 – Boundaries

Are you close to burn out? Do you know someone who is getting burned out? Is ministry a drain on you these days?

One of the biggest reasons youth workers experience burn out is because they never established boundaries to stay healthy. Given the changeable nature of ministry and unpredictable hours, it’s imperative that we learn to create healthy boundaries which can be communicated graciously to those around us. Here are a few I live by:

Balancing Family Ministry

Continue Reading…

Balancing Family and Youth Ministry Part 2: The Family Calendar

OK, let’s get real.  Balance in the calendar isn’t REALLY what we’re talking about here.  What we’re really talking about is making sure our spouse and kids remember our name and the last thing we were wearing in case we actually don’t come home one night because something sinister has actually happened to us!

Balance Family and Ministry

Balance in the family calendar means balance in family harmony.  And we all want to strive for that. If you aren’t ministering to your own family, you cannot possibly make lasting impact on anyone else’s family.

So try this: Continue Reading…

Balancing Family And Youth Ministry Part 1: Creating Family Traditions

This week we dive into three posts centered around Balancing Family and Ministry:

It was a handful of months into our marriage when John and I got pregnant for our daughter. While we both remained  in ministry,  the Lord gave us a family and their stewardship was vital in every way.  From the start our intentions were always to have family practices that were “ours” but,  it was easy to allow those to be pushed aside when “life” took over.   Instead of  “investing” in  our kids we were dragging them with us.

Family Traditions in MinistryAs a couple we had to sit down and come up with a plan so that our children would always know , no other youth was more important. There are everyday practices and traditions that needed to be put into place (and quickly) for our kids.  What did we do?

Continue Reading…

5 New Year Resolutions For Youth Workers…

New Year Youth Ministry ResolutionsSo, this is the time of year when many are creating resolutions and reassessing what the next year should like. To be honest, I am not a big fan of resolutions since many of them are made quickly and without an action plan. However, if we can be intentional and specific and plan ahead, it is good to create some goals and standards for the coming year.

Here are 5 areas that I have taken and adapted from growingleaders.com by Tim Elmore. I ordered my areas in priority and  have also given some specifics of what I am doing personally.

1. Personal / Spiritual: For me I am planning on getting up 30 minutes earlier to ensure that my devotional time uninterrupted by my early riser 3 year old.

2. Family: We just had our third child and it’s been challenging balancing family time with a newborn in the house. However, we are committed to getting back to a regular date night for myself and my wife, mommy daughter dates, daddy daughter dates, and family nights. We schedule these about once a month. We would like to do them more, (and sometimes we do), but we are in a busy season. I have found that if I do not schedule my family time, it is likely that every last minute ministry ‘emergency’ will take over my schedule. Continue Reading…

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Click on the graphic to get this great deal!

 

Why And How Should ‘Family’ Be A Central Component To Your Youth Ministry

Thanksgiving is just around the corner for those of us over here in the USA. Even though I am British, I still love this holiday since it brings families together and gives us all a chance to breathe before the run up to Christmas. With family in mind, today I would like to challenge you to consider how the idea of family should be threaded through the DNA of your youth ministry. Let me explain what I mean:

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! 1 John 3:1

There is an abundance of scripture that refers to God as our Father, His people as His children, and the many references to family. It is in the very design of every human being to be a part of God’s family and to be in relationship with Him and our family around us. It is foundational design that every church and organization should be fully aware of as they design environments that help people feel a sense of belonging to a family. Doug Fields once said,  “Until a student is environmentally comfortable, he or she will not be theologically aware.” Or another way of putting this: Continue Reading…

Youth Ministry Realities: Now That I’m a Parent…I’m Sorry…

Retrospect sucks.

I am 43 years old.  I have been in youth ministry since I was 19.  I finally have teenagers of my own…sixteen, fourteen, and twelve year old sons.  Looking back at some of the decisions I made as a pre-parent of a teenager, I am horrified!

And I am sorry….

…for the time I said ‘orgasm’ from the pulpit in big church. I apologize.  Even though we were deep in the throes of ‘True Love Waits’, I now realize that maybe that would be a word you would like to introduce to your children.  I’m sorry I probably brought questions to roost before you (or they) were ready for them.  I know I would want to be the person introducing the ‘particulars’ of sex to my own teenagers. Continue Reading…

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