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I've been thinking a lot lately about Family ministry and how it influences Youth ministry. I've never counted myself one of the 'cool' youth pastor types, and I think partly because youth are part of a family, which is part of the Church. That is what I'm passionate about. We feel strongly that parents carry the primary responsibility for their kids' spiritual, emotional, intellectual, and physical upbringing. So how does that inform our youth ministries? An article from the Fuller Youth Institute I found recently gives me some direction. The author, David Fraze, relays a conversation between him and a youth ministry mentor:
"He continued to explain how the kids he knew that were part of the 50% that “made it” would probably have been okay with or without the youth ministry programming that had been offered them. Sure, the youth ministry had strengthened the faith of those students and provided them with valuable learning opportunities and great relationships. But in his opinion
, the students who developed into and remained committed disciples
ended up that way because they had come from strong, intact and engaged families who were themselves connected to strong, intact and engaged communities of faith. His concern was with the other 50% and the way youth ministry education must change in order to equip future youth workers to reach the students whose faith is not nurtured by strong, intact and engaged adult relationships."
You can read the rest
here.
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This week's Get into the Story is now available.
With all of the family worship resources and helps we've been plugging recently, it's helpful to have this simple reminder:
One of my soapboxes is the importance of teaching our children good theology; and their ability to handle it. Andy and Jennifer Naselli, in 
