We love parents. We could go on and on about how awesome you are, how important you are to your kids, and to the Kingdom…but you already know that, don’t you? So how about we just equip you with some stuff.
Tips for Getting Your Teen Connected:
- Make the church a priority in your family schedule. (If your teen doesn’t see YOU making church a priority they are less likely to make it a priority of their own.)
- Make attendance a habit for your teen. (Bringing them consistently will help them develop a good habit of being involved AND it will soon grow to be “just what they do”. There will be no question about whether or not they are going.)
- Serve as a volunteer (not necessarily in Student Ministry, BUT showing them YOUR willing to not just show up and leave gives them more desire to want to not just go to Church but to participate in community.
- Commit to attend Sunday service (Students love to anticipate, so if you tell them “this is the service our family will go to each week” they will anticipate going each week.)
- Take advantage of special events throughout the year. (The reason we have events in the first place is for CONNECTION! Secondary reasons are to provide opportunities for students to have some ‘good, clean, fun’. The more events your teen goes to, the more likely they are to connect with someone they can relate to, which provides them a friend to DO LIFE with!
- Monitor the group your teen runs with. (It’s a big teller for where they may be headed.) Take back control of the family. (The trend of ‘students running the household’ should be cut off. That’s all I’ll say about that, I might get my self in some trouble on this one! haha, seriously.)
- Come by anytime and observe. You’re always welcome to come see what we do so you can be educated about what your teen is to expect when they come. Your teen may be freaked out that you come and check it out, but nevertheless, you will learn very quickly what we are about and how we do things!
- Ask your teen what they learned at the last camp, event, Wednesday night or Sunday morning and/or any other activity. (Engaging conversation about our gatherings show your teen you’re interested in THEIR WORLD. It shows them that you have a concern for what’s going on in their space. This is crucial not just to get them connected to our ministry but to keep them connected TO YOU as the parent.)