How to Partner with Parents in Student Ministry?

Biblical Foundations of Discipleship

Deuteronomy 6:7 “You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.”

Proverbs 1:8 “Hear, my son, your father’s instruction, and forsake not your mother’s teaching,”

Psalm 78:1-8 “Give ear, O my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to the words of my mouth! I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings from of old, things that we have heard and known, that our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might, and the wonders that he has done. He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children, that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children, so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments; and that they should not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God.”

Ephesians 6:4 “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.”

1 Timothy 1:

In Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers, Christian Smith concludes:

The single most important social influence on the religious and spiritual lives of adolescents is their parents. . . . The best social predictor, although not a guarantee, of what the religious and spiritual lives of youth will look like is what the religious and spiritual lives of their parents do look like. Parents . . . most likely “will get what they are.” (261)

2 timothy 1:3-6 “I thank God whom I serve, as did my ancestors, with a clear conscience, as I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day. As I remember your tears, I long to see you, that I may be filled with joy. I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well. For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands,”

Often we can strategize coming up with the next best thing in partnering with parents, however, Do you think based upon the scripture that was given earlier that the discipleship comes primary from the church concerning students?

Parents are the main disciplers of their own children. So what do we do about this? how can we partner?

Everyone is being discipled by something or someone, whether it is a Christian influence of discipleship, or a secular influence of discipleship.

We disciple the Parents.

So the question for us isnt how can we partner but how can we disciple parents to disciple children.

This is a harder question because there are different levels of parental involvement. (

In Ministry you will deal with the Absent Parent. They are not in the spiritual lives of their student. They drop off their kid and dont really enter the church.

You will deal with parents that are there and they know what is going on in the ministry but that is about it.

You will have many parents involved in the day to day operations in ministry. These will be your helpers and they will know what is going on.

Then there will be those who have been equipped to disciple their own children.

The spiritual life of the parent effects on how partnership will and can work

What we are trying to do is equip the parents for the work of discipling their student.

Ephesians 4:11-12 “And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,”

This is the ministry of the church. How do we equip, we disciple, we form the parents as we form the student.

Here is a couple of ways to do this:

hospitible

communicate

pray together

have events that involves the whole family

Preach about it

Model Family Discipleship

Spend time together

(TGC Article) If you’re in youth ministry, ask yourself these questions:

Do I view myself as a support to parents as they disciple their teenager?

Is my youth ministry doing what parents should be doing, or am I empowering parents to reclaim that responsibility?

Do I affirm parental authority by encouraging students to be more receptive to learning from their parents, or do I default to siding with students and arming them with arguments to disagree with their parents?

Am I ministering to the parents of unchurched kids in my youth ministry as well, or am I only interested in their teenagers?