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.
