Using Youth Ministry to Disciple Parents as They Disciple Their Children

Using Youth Ministry to Disciple Parents as They Disciple Their Children

John E. Guns is the senior pastor of St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Florida, and an advisory board member of The African American Pulpit. 

Churches should be places where persons of all ages converge for the purpose of faith formation and development. A critical area where such work must occur is in the Youth Ministries of churches. Youth Ministries must not be simply about youth trips and singing, but must also encourage parents to nurture faith in youth. Most parents understand at some level that modeling faith or faith development for their children is one of their primary roles. However, the Church must now give parents specifics and make this understanding bear fruit. The greater challenge is to equip their parents to partner with their pre-teens and teenagers, so they can become parents who live as faithful and committed disciples of Jesus Christ, creatively fulfilling the purpose they are designed by God to achieve as parents.

I label those who creatively fulfill the purpose(s) they are designed by God to achieve in any area as being functional Christians. One of the signs of being a functional Christian adult is that one is capable of having healthy and stable relationships while handling the stresses of daily life. The stresses of life are constant; so to equip youth to manage them using their faith in Jesus Christ as the guide is essential. Drs. George and Yvonne Abatos succinctly share the premise, and I concur, that “Children must be taught to seek after God.”1 The quest for truth, the thirst to be united with God and to become an instrument for God’s purposes on this earth should be believed and taught within the nuclear family aided by the Church.

I believe that Jesus Christ came as our Redeemer so we would have the opportunity to know God, and in knowing God exercise the spiritual gifts and abilities delegated to us. Commitment to that which has been delegated to us is expressed through a life of meaningful stewardship. As youth and parents understand the gifts given to them as stewards, they will seek to live devoted lives that attract others to Christ. Active stewardship and discipleship/evangelism should be goals of youth ministry, and parents must be an intricate part of this process.

Parents should be involved by modeling healthy discipleship and stewardship before their children. The quality of the spiritual life of parents directly affects their pre-teen and teenage child(ren). Parents are examples that will be emulated for better or worse. Second, parents should be able to articulately communicate to their pre-teen and teenage children through a Christ-centered relationship what it means to be a disciple and a steward. This means that the parents must possess the ability to listen and to clearly communicate standards and values that are consistent with both Scripture and the disciplines or practices of the Christian faith including prayer, study of Scripture, and moral uprightness. The values communicated are the result of the parent’s personal faith, which is nurtured through the local church and modeled in the home. Because of the healthy model provided them in the home, children grow to understand the lived-out nature of authentic discipleship and stewardship. Home, school, and the world are the places where the results of youth ministry are ultimately seen.

This process of parents modeling and youth emulating is difficult, so parents and children must be guided through it. The local church can fill this need through structured classes and Spirit-led events for parents and their pre-teen and teenage children. This will create wholesome interaction within the church community, and this interaction will strengthen relationships in homes and the behavior of children in all environments. All of this should happen through Youth Ministry.

Youth Ministry is the place where parents should be taught or reminded that parents and children are capable of healthy, honest conversations about life and love grounded in and guided by their faith in Jesus Christ. When conflicts arise they can address them so that a breach in their relationship is not experienced or at least does not endure. Parents will grow to appreciate their pre-teen and teenage child(ren), and children in turn grow to value and respect their parents.

So how can a church make sure that it has as part of it Youth Ministry classes and events that bring together parents and children with the goals of faith development of children and training of parents to be their guides? The Pastor must simply make a decision to do so and then work to make sure that implementation occurs. When Pastors understand that a healthy church is intricately linked to healthy families, they will begin doing holistic Youth Ministry. The Pastor working with Youth Ministry leaders is to navigate the congregation through a process of equipping parents to model faith that eventually becomes the passion of their child(ren). This process should include intensive sessions that focus on discipleship, parenting theories particularly from an American African perspective, sound biblical teaching on the role of parents, and, when needed, Christian counselors who specialize in family therapy. I believe that this process will have an amazing impact on parents and their children. What is more important than a healthy family in a healthy church living out a healthy faith! Resources abound to this work. Seize the moment!

Note

1. Abatso, George and Yvonne Abatso, How to Equip the African American Family (Chicago, IL: Urban Ministries Press, 1991), p. 96.