Parents aren’t the enemy of youth ministry that we sometimes make them out to be. In fact, parents can actually be your best allies if you start leveraging their influence and gaining their trust.
Jason Matthews recently led us in a great webinar on “Parents as Allies in Youth Ministry: 3 Things You Can Do to Work With Parents.” To add to the conversation, he brought in Benjamin deWaard, Brian Stuart, and Will Hicks to share their thoughts and perspectives as well, and it turned into a really solid exchange of ideas. Check out the full recap video below:
If you don’t have time to watch the full webinar, here are 3 main ideas that Jason shared in the conversation:
Communicate clearly and regularly.
If we’re going to partner with parents, we have to begin with communication. Clear and consistent communication will help remind parents of the opportunities they have to be involved in the ministry, while also making sure they never get caught off guard with youth ministry programs or activities.
Be intentional and available.
In order to build a relationship with a parent, you have to create times when you intentionally pursue them and make yourself available to them. That can happen on your church campus with you hanging out where kids get dropped off to make sure you interact with them. Or it could be intentional one-on-one conversations that you have with them over the phone or a cup of coffee. Regardless of how you do it, that combination of intentionality and availability will go a long way to building the trust you need to partner with parents.
Create ways to include them.
There are some things that you could easily delegate to a parent instead of doing it yourself. Ask parents to host small groups at their home, to drive the church bus on a trip, or to provide snacks for a Wednesday night event. Take any opportunity you can to create easy ways for parents to be involved while also being respectful of both the parent’s time and their kid’s space to explore relationships beyond their parents.
JACOB ECKEBERGER is the Content Manager at Youth Specialties, an itinerant worship leader, the spouse of a church planter, and a long time volunteer youth worker. You can find him blogging about social media and digital strategy ideas at JACOBECKEBERGER.COM.
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