No matter how long you’ve been in youth ministry, now is a great time to recommit to partnering with parents. Parents are the key to a great youth ministry. Enjoying good relationships with parents will make your ministry more effective and a lot more fun. This summer think about ways you can partner with parents to help them in their development of their students.
Here is a great idea I got from my high school youth pastor. Before a parent meeting, he would place signs around the room with subjects that he knew were important to parents. After all the usual stuff like calendars and upcoming events, he would ask parents to think about their greatest need in terms of parenting their students. Then the parents moved to the sign that best fit the problem they identified. A facilitator at each sign led discussion about the subject. Parents were asked to share stories of problems or solutions. The camaraderie built between parents was priceless. They went from people concerned with van arrival times to real people sharing problems and real world solutions. Parent meetings became the network place for parents and their struggles.
There are so many great ideas for making your youth ministry a great place for parents. I hope that you won’t let these summer months go by without spending time to make yourself and your ministry great.
