At Relevant we are working hard to connect and partner with parents of teens. The teenage years are difficult for teens and parents and it is our hope to come along side and be a consistent presence for the family. I used to think that parents needed to hear from me...the youth pastor. I have found they need to hear from people directly mentoring their child more. Sure students hear me speak each week but they live life and process and connect through the week with another person, the small group leader. The connection to bridge the gap between parents and youth ministry once again leads to our incredible small group leaders. Each week our small group leaders are sending an email to parents after our gathering at REMIX to give them an update. Our first parent email went out from small group leaders and we got this feedback from one of our small group leaders...
"I emailed my teens parents this week. I got so many encouraging emails back from moms and dads on how they are praying for me daily, how I am such a huge part of their teenagers life, an answer to prayer, etc.
One mom emailed me back and said that it was such a God thing because she was about to look me up on the school system website in order to contact me because she wanted to talk to me about her son - the mom and dad are going through a hard time and she is worried about him, etc and she wanted to meet with me and talk..."
This kind of interaction can only come if we engage parents and partner with them. This level of support can only come through effective small group ministry. Do we have this partnership things nailed down???? NO! We just want to keep working on it. We think partnering with families can lead to next level spiritual formation in the lives of teens.
If you want to connect more about partnering with families I would love to talk, email me at michael@gcomchurch.com
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