MIM EZINE, MAY 15, 2005

CONTENTS

– Login Leadership - Life Cycles, Part I

– Transforming YOuth - Parental Guidance Suggested?: The Role of Parents in Youth Ministry 

– Book Review –  Bored with God

– Classified Ads

To read this ezine in its entirety click here

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Ministry & Spiritual Maturity Resources

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Transforming Youth - Parental Guidance Suggested?: The Role of Parents in Youth Ministry

By Shane W. Parker

DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince got it right—parents just don’t understand.  Parents don’t understand why their church’s youth ministries—the primary ministries overseeing their childrens’ spiritual growth—assume the role as the sole teaching and discipling authority for their children. 

Parents don’t comprehend why many youth ministries discourage them from being involved in the planning and execution of some of the most memorable events in their children’s lives.  Nor do they grasp why the biblical role of a parent, to be the chief discipler of their children, has been lost in the rushing current of much of the contemporary youth ministry philosophy.  In fact, parents don’t understand youth ministries because many youth ministries don’t understand parents. 

Too many times we fail to understand that the primary context for the discipleship of students is in their homes, not their “church homes.” 

             Deuteronomy 6:4-9 states:  Hear, O Israel: The lord our God, the Lord is one!  You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.  And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart.  You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.  You bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.  You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

The teaching of God’s truth to young people is to encompass all of life, and to be handled, primarily, by believing parents.  If the students’ parents are not Christians, then the youth ministry must take a more central and active role in evangelism and discipleship. However, for students who live in a Christian home, the family should be the center for spiritual growth. 

If this is the case, then what does that mean for your youth ministry strategy and programming?  The least that it means is that youth ministry professionals must assist parents in their role, not encourage them to abdicate it.  One way to begin this change is to schedule regular parent and youth events, as well as “parent-only” prayer and training sessions or one day conferences.   Warning: these events will not be the talk of the students for months to come, but they will be the talk of the parents for decades to come, because you valued their families.  

An example of a “parent-only” meeting may involve a time of small group prayer and a teaching session.  Teaching the parents how to make the Deuteronomy 6 lifestyle come to life, for example, could comprise one teaching and prayer session.  Professor, author and youth speaker Alvin Reid offers several concrete principles from which the parents of your students may benefit:  

1. If you don’t control your time someone else will.
2. Make time to do what is important.
3. Men, give your wife and kids the very best of your discretionary time.
4. Everyday, do something in your children’s world.
5. Discover what your kids love to do, and regularly do it with them. 

As parents of your students begin to pray and study principles like these together, they will also become more active supporters of each other and you.  As you examine your own approach to student ministry, start assessing how you might assist parents and students in understanding that when it comes to the growth of young people, parental guidance is required, not suggested.

Shane Parker has been involved in multiple areas of student ministry for close to a decade. He has served as a Student Minister in North and South Carolina, and as a student event and conference speaker in the Carolinas, Tennessee, Virginia, Florida, Pennsylvania, Washington, Utah, Wyoming, and Southeast Asia. He is a graduate of Columbia International University (B.A.); Columbia Seminary (M.A.); and Southeastern Seminary (M.Div.). Shane and his wife, Lydia, reside in Louisville, Kentucky, where he is the Student Minister at Gardenside Baptist Church in Lexington. He has a central passion to equip students, and student pastors, for the uncompromising glorification of God in intensive study and ministry. If you would like to schedule Shane for an event, or just talk about life and ministry, you may reach him by e-mail: swp76@msn.com. 

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Login Leadership:  Life Cycles, Part I

By Tom Hanover  

Just a few weeks ago our “baby” moved out of the house into his own apartment.  It saved two hours a day of commuting time.  Cathy and I are “empty-nesters” once again.  (And we love it!)

All of our children have moved out and “boomeranged” back for brief periods of time.  Since they now live in three different states, we miss them deeply; but we also cherish the moments we can now focus on each other.

It is a stage we are going through.  It is part of the life cycle.  Once our children were young.  Now they are adults.  Someday we’ll get old (although Cathy denies that will ever happen to her).  It is a normal part of life.  

Organizations have life cycles, too.  And many of the characteristics of an organization like a church resemble the various life cycles of the human life span.

Building on the work of developmental psychology and organizational development, Martin Saarinen published an article with Alban Institute in 1986 entitled, “The Life Cycle of a Congregation.”  Life cycles of a congregation have little to do with the chronological age of the church.  Furthermore, the stages in which a congregation finds itself are the result of decisions the congregations make about their mission and ministry.  To put it another way, a church can choose in which stage they want to live. 

Saarinen named four basic factors involved at every stage of congregational development.  How these four factors interact determined the life stage of the church.  Understanding these factors can help a leader then direct the congregation towards renewal and health.

The most predominant factor in the early stages of a congregation is the “E” factor.  “E” stands for energy, enthusiasm, excitement, vision, hope, potential, and possibilities.  According to Saarinen, this is the most critical element of a church’s life cycle.

The “P” factor represents the programs, services, and ministries that the congregation undertakes to respond to the needs of its membership or its community.  This would include functions such as worship, learning, education, outreach ministries, building a new addition, etc. 

The “A” factor symbolizes the administrative function of the organization.  It includes managing budgets, goals, objectives, staffing, etc.  It is concerned about efficiently and effectively distributing both human and material resources.

The “I” factor signifies the inclusion factor of the congregation.  How are people outside the congregation drawn in and assimilated into membership?  This also indicates how people’s gifts are utilized, how conflict is managed, and what the attitude is towards the larger church.

The interaction of these four factors then characterizes the various stages of a congregation’s life cycle.  Saarinen even calls them genes.  These four genes create the DNA of a church and interact distinctly differently in eight identifiable stages of a church’s life cycle. 

Please recognize that any description of a living organism, whether it is an individual or an organization, oversimplifies reality for the purpose of understanding the basic premise.  In reality life is messy.  It is not neat and compartmentalized. 

Saarinen notes that in reality there are multiple cycles within each of the eight stages.  Furthermore, in any church there may be multiple cycles developing.  The Sunday School program may be on the decline, but the new contemporary worship service is growing rapidly.  Consequently, ministry leaders may find themselves managing different groups at different stages with different needs.  That is why we need the Holy Spirit.  Only God can make a church healthy and grow.  But an attentive leader gives the Holy Spirit more tools to work with in leading the church to effective and fruitful ministry.

Picture an arc like a line drawing of a rounded mountaintop.  There are four stages on the left half of the arc, the incline portion.  There are four stages on the right half of the arc, the decline portion.  The left half (incline) Saarinen labels the growth phases.  The right half (decline) he names the declining phases.  The growth phases are birth, infancy, adolescence, and prime.  The declining phases are maturity, aristocracy, bureaucracy, and death.  Some of these labels parallel human growth and development, don’t they?

Saarinen notes the genetic codes of each phase or stage this way.  The capital letter indicates that gene is dominant.  Lower case letters indicate that the function is present, but is dominated by another factor.

Birth                Epai

Infancy            EpaI

Adolescence    Epai

Prime              EPAI

Maturity           ePAI

Aristocracy      epAI

Bureaucracy    epAi

Death              a

Note the dominant gene for the growth phases? It is the “E” factor: energy, excitement, vision, and hope. Can you see the dominant gene for the decline phases? It is the “A” factor: administration and organization. (Ouch! One of my spiritual gifts is administration.)

This concludes Part One of the Cycles article. Next month, in Part Two of Cycles, we’ll look more in-depth at each of these stages.  In addition, we’ll review Saarinen’s prescription for leaders who want to abort the decline stages and start a new growth stage.

Tom Hanover has served in a variety of pastoral leadership roles for over 30 years, the last four as a District Superintendent supervising the ministries of more than 100 pastors and churches in southwest Ohio. He has a BA (cum laude) from Taylor University, the MDiv and DMin degrees from United Theological Seminary in Dayton. Contact Tom at thanover@pastors-study.com

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Book Review – Bored with God: How Parents, Youth Leaders, and Teachers Can Overcome Student Apathy

By Sean Dunn, InterVarsity, 2004, 0830832068, 105 pages

Reviewed by Shane Parker

Sean Dunn is founder and president of Champion Ministries, and author of Velocity: Moving to a Solid Faith.  Dunn has partnered in ministry with over forty denominations, and 200,000 students and ministry professionals. 

In Bored with God, Dunn offers a guide for those interested in “overcoming apathy” in student ministry.  Dunn argues that students either “hunger” for God, or they are “apathetic” (10).  There is no grey area.  The text is proposed as a series of “tools,” which may be employed to the end that students would be “drawn” into greater intimacy with God (17).  The text is organized into fourteen chapters, each section outlines a corrective and a subsequent solution. 

The chapter headings include, but are not limited to: (1) “They Know It All, But . . .”; (2) “From Self-Righteousness to Humility”; and (5) “Cleaning Out Their Media Filters.”  Each segment of the work includes a brief assessment of the “problem,” followed by a scriptural diagnosis and solution.  The author pleads for a fresh assessment of the causal factors that are “derailing” students’ passion for God, and the accompanying remedies that must be applied to counteract this trend (11).

In the present North American youth ministry context, student “boredom” can be a formidable foe.  Rather than offer “cool” events, activities, or methods to generate immediate excitement, the author addresses some of the root causes for this indifference.  Because of this thoughtful progression through the issues confronting the student ministers and parents of the current youth culture, Dunn’s work is informative, as a commentary on youth trends. In addition, the text also fulfills its role as a handbook for use in combating the present climate of student lethargy.  Bored with God should be in the library, and on the mind, of every youth ministry professional, volunteer, and parent.

Order Bored with God