Now that we have had a chance to talk about what God has been doing so far here in Wichita I would like to share with you the vision my wife and I have for the Youth & Family Ministry. When talking about vision it's always growing and becoming more clear. So to clarify I would like to share our vision as we see it now. I am sure in a few months and even a few years from now I can look back at this post and realize how near sighted I was. However I do appreciate this as well, God never gives us more than we can handle.
As we have seen parents get behind the idea of youth and family ministry and get more involved it has been exciting to see how their families have changed. However as we spent time at the beginning of the year thinking through the direction we wanted to go it became clear that we were missing something. Jami and I appreciate Brandle and Wendy so much. They have been such great guides and advisors as we have stumbled along. As we were sitting down with them and discussing plans I believe God put it on their hearts to see a greater need, the young teens. When we think about youth and family ministry it is not just a need for the high school aged students. Middle School is one of the most challenging times for many people. It became clear that the families at this stage in life are needing help just as much as the other families. The other thing that we observed is the hard transition from the Young Teen Ministry to the High School Teen Ministry. They all of a sudden had events every week and Heartland events throughout the year that the families are asked to participate in without any real relationships in place. Needless to say we needed to do better in meeting these needs. So we have expanded the Youth and Family Ministry (YFM) to include the Young Teens (YT). We have two big YFM events a month with everyone while the High School Teens (HST) meet every week. This is allowing us to help provide opportunities for relationship building and resources for the YT families to get the support and help they need.
Since the beginning of the year we have seen the ministry getting stronger and families participating more than ever before. Relationships among the two different groups are beginning to form and we are excited to see what God has in store the rest of this year. Of course we aren't able to meet all the needs in this ministry. We have great people around us. We have some parent's that are stepping up and taking on more of a leadership role in the ministry and helping work with the other parent's. We have another couple that is helping us work with the young teens and are embracing their role and the vision of building up these families. The church also hired an intern this year to work in the YFM. Chris Yoder has been a huge asset and is doing a great job. It's inspiring to see how God is using different people to grow and change the family here in Wichita.
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Friday, March 9, 2012
An Introduction
I am excited that I will get to share with you all the things we are learning as well as what God is doing here in Wichita in the Youth and Family Ministry. This first post is to give you a brief history of what we have learned and how we have been transitioning from a more traditional youth ministry to a Youth and Family based ministry. It has definitely been a long and winding road and yet such a fulfilling journey so far.
In 2007 my wife and I were asked if we would like to help another couple in working with the youth in the church. This was exciting for us because we had been praying that God would show us the direction he wanted us to go as we had just moved back to Wichita. We decided we would do this but we only wanted to do it for two years. We had seen other married couples help out in the youth ministry and see their marriages nearly dissolve in their task of helping this ministry. We did not want this and were very clear on making sure we had people in our lives to help us and if we had to we would leave because our own walks with God were more important. Little did we know what God had in store for us!
We are very fortunate that Brandle and Wendy Studevan moved to Wichita around that same time to lead the church here. They had a lot of experience in building a successful youth and family ministry in Minnesota. They have been an invaluable resource! One of the biggest helps is having church leaders supporting this change, but I digress some. I look back and see how God was preparing us and the church for the big changes he had in store.
As we began to talk about what this meant and what youth and family ministry really looked like it was hard to grasp. Looking at the scriptures it was clear that God's design had always been focused on the family. Yet my wife and I had both grown up in traditional youth ministries and saw many of our friends turn away from God. It was hard to understand how to get parent's involved and even wanting to invest in the ministry like God was calling them to. At the same time the state of the church was in a tough spot. Satan had crept in and damaged many relationships and the heart that was once there had been diminished. Yet God had a plan. Working with the other couple in the ministry we started raising the expectations for the teens on what would be expected and set forth expectations of them being involved. We got a lot of advice on how to start getting the parent's to consider changing the way they viewed the youth ministry. We began having parent meetings, discussing what youth and family looked like, what the expectations were and the vision we had even if we didn't fully understand it our self.
The biggest lesson we began to learn was that this was going to take time. We were not going to be able to change the culture of the church right away. It was going to take time and God moving in people's hearts and lives to bring about the change that God wanted for us, the ministry and the church. There have been times of transition in the ministry, some teens graduated, we have had some families move away due to job transitions and life changes. What started out as us choosing to be helpers in the ministry but only for two years as become a five year journey where we find ourselves now leading this ministry along with some amazing parent's who love God and love their kids. We have seen some teens not become Disciples and we have had some still walk away from God. That has been the most challenging part but we take encouragement in knowing that while we plant and water, God will ultimately make things grow in his time. (1 Cor. 3:7)
What has started out as a uncertain direction has become a passion in our lives. When we started we were lucky to have 3 or 4 teens at a devotional. To God's glory and hard work we enjoy devotionals of 20 to 30 people that are teenagers and adults. We have been lucky to witness parent's studying the bible with their kids and baptising them in the Lord. We have seen families becoming more united as the parent's change along with their kids. To God's glory we are seeing true Godly families being built and in turn creating a wonderful family within his church. My wife and I are so grateful to get to be apart of this and excited as we see the greater vision God has for the Youth and Family Ministry.
I will end with a bit of good news,one month ago we got to see one of our families get to baptise their son with the entire church there to celebrate with them.
In 2007 my wife and I were asked if we would like to help another couple in working with the youth in the church. This was exciting for us because we had been praying that God would show us the direction he wanted us to go as we had just moved back to Wichita. We decided we would do this but we only wanted to do it for two years. We had seen other married couples help out in the youth ministry and see their marriages nearly dissolve in their task of helping this ministry. We did not want this and were very clear on making sure we had people in our lives to help us and if we had to we would leave because our own walks with God were more important. Little did we know what God had in store for us!
We are very fortunate that Brandle and Wendy Studevan moved to Wichita around that same time to lead the church here. They had a lot of experience in building a successful youth and family ministry in Minnesota. They have been an invaluable resource! One of the biggest helps is having church leaders supporting this change, but I digress some. I look back and see how God was preparing us and the church for the big changes he had in store.
As we began to talk about what this meant and what youth and family ministry really looked like it was hard to grasp. Looking at the scriptures it was clear that God's design had always been focused on the family. Yet my wife and I had both grown up in traditional youth ministries and saw many of our friends turn away from God. It was hard to understand how to get parent's involved and even wanting to invest in the ministry like God was calling them to. At the same time the state of the church was in a tough spot. Satan had crept in and damaged many relationships and the heart that was once there had been diminished. Yet God had a plan. Working with the other couple in the ministry we started raising the expectations for the teens on what would be expected and set forth expectations of them being involved. We got a lot of advice on how to start getting the parent's to consider changing the way they viewed the youth ministry. We began having parent meetings, discussing what youth and family looked like, what the expectations were and the vision we had even if we didn't fully understand it our self.
The biggest lesson we began to learn was that this was going to take time. We were not going to be able to change the culture of the church right away. It was going to take time and God moving in people's hearts and lives to bring about the change that God wanted for us, the ministry and the church. There have been times of transition in the ministry, some teens graduated, we have had some families move away due to job transitions and life changes. What started out as us choosing to be helpers in the ministry but only for two years as become a five year journey where we find ourselves now leading this ministry along with some amazing parent's who love God and love their kids. We have seen some teens not become Disciples and we have had some still walk away from God. That has been the most challenging part but we take encouragement in knowing that while we plant and water, God will ultimately make things grow in his time. (1 Cor. 3:7)
What has started out as a uncertain direction has become a passion in our lives. When we started we were lucky to have 3 or 4 teens at a devotional. To God's glory and hard work we enjoy devotionals of 20 to 30 people that are teenagers and adults. We have been lucky to witness parent's studying the bible with their kids and baptising them in the Lord. We have seen families becoming more united as the parent's change along with their kids. To God's glory we are seeing true Godly families being built and in turn creating a wonderful family within his church. My wife and I are so grateful to get to be apart of this and excited as we see the greater vision God has for the Youth and Family Ministry.
I will end with a bit of good news,one month ago we got to see one of our families get to baptise their son with the entire church there to celebrate with them.
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