It seems like everyone is talking about family ministry. No really, it’s for real this time. About 6-8 years ago children’s pastors began adding “and family” to their job title, but it’s been more recently than that since there’s been a ton of energy dedicated to this idea of engaging with parents, especially in the world of curriculum. I think that right now, the knowledgeable children’s pastor who’s shopping or curriculum is looking closely at what is being offered to parents as a component of the curriculum.
I really don’t think it’s enough to simply “add on” family stuff as if it were an after thought, but it needs to be highly developed and compelling. It could be the deciding factor for many children’s pastors making their selection. Some publishing companies have started developing some strong content for families, but there’s certainly room for more. Here are a few things to consider.
- Take home materials are dead. Most children’s pastors are trying to find creative ways to get parents to engage with take home papers, but most never make it to the home. If take home papers is a part of your family strategy, I’d seriously consider revising the strategy.
- Synchronize your family content with the kid’s content. I recently came across so family ministry curriculum that I was every excited about. It looked so good, I even considered what it would look like to switch curriculum. Then I realized that the family curriculum didn’t line up with the kids curriculum. No thanks. If I’m going to invest in this, I’m going to hit families with the same message from multiple.
- Make it affordable. I know, I’ll probably take some flack on this one. However, I feel that price is huge. As a church, I’ll supplement some of the cost, but if my parents aren’t leading their kids spiritually, it’s unlikely that they’ll elect to pay $15 a month for a resource to help them do something they weren’t already doing.
Anyone else have any ideas you’d like to see concerning family ministry content?
I’d also love to see some resources that churches can easily re-tweak and have permission to put on the websites, in their blogs, podcasts, etc… for the families to use.
I’d love to be able to put out a video every week or a radio podcast that I could easily tweak that would point my people to my church, not to a curriculum or another website. Something that ties in with exactly what the kids just learned about on Sunday.
Good stuff Dave. That’s my topic for tomorrow believe it or not.
Be sure to check out Cook’s 2 new resources –
rio and tru…both are designed to be better engage the family, and do just what you were asking for. Family piece is designed to set up Sunday morning, not as a follow up.
And, there is not separate activities for the each age group, truly designed to be done as a family.
i believe there will be web-site tie ins for subscribing churches as well…
Kenny, when I was a Children’s Pastor, “family curriculum” was the core of our ministry. Since it was impossible to find, we wrote our own, using our pastor’s outlines as a guide. (Fortunately, he planned way ahead.) Parents loved being on the same page as their kids!
As someone who is in the process of reviewing new curriculums, I can say for sure, if there is not a strong family element, I don’t need it. I already have stuff that speaks to the kids, I want that message to go home to be talked about in the car, at the table, at bedtime.
As for affordability, YES. I understand this stuff isn’t free, but my parents don’t, especially the ones that only go through the motions.
Kenny,
Good stuff here! I feel like the take-home paper is passe too. And we’re grappling with what options are. Love the ideas here.
Not as a shameless plug, but do you know that FaithWeaver’s biggest family ministry distinctive is that all ages study the same Scripture so one conversation is possible? It’s been around for over 10 years and I think that aspect of it continues to be revolutionary. I’m too busy to have to keep up with three different lessons my kids have. I love that it’s one with FaithWeaver. I’d love to hear what everyone thinks of that.
Plug away, that’s good. From people who have used Faith Weaver, I’ve heard good stuff. When I was at a church that had Sunday School, that church was never really interested in an alignment model like Faith Weaver offered… plus a ten year track record is nothing to balk at since the popular trend of aligning curriculum is a fairly recent trend.