ReThink - A Serious Call to Think Through 21st Century Student Ministry

I never pay much attention to post cards that come in the mail to the church but this one time I'm glad I did.  It was an advertisement for a book called reThink by Steve Wright.  Steve is the founder of InQuest Ministries and author of reThink, ApParent Privilege, and Becoming An Eagle. He is also Assistant Pastor of Student Ministries at Providence Baptist Church.  I have also found out that Providence is a reformed Baptist church so that is a good thing when it comes to these matters.  I recommend that you check out www.inquest.org to learn more.  There are some good resources there.

One resource that I'm really glad I found was reThink.  I must warn you that reading this book will hurt and challenge you to the core.  It truly has got me to "rethink" what I'm doing as a student pastor and how I'm doing it.  It hasn't  made me want to throw away everything I've been doing for the past 10+ years but it has challenged me to think through how can we, as the local church, do things better - especially when it comes to having the maximum impact on students.

What am I thinking?  Well recently a parent said something to me that best sums up what I’m thinking.  The parent said, “We love our church, but out church has almost missed the boat in one area – the parenting class for dads has been one of the best things I have been a part of and their has been some real growth in my life and the lives of the dads in the group.”

This conversation and other conversations I had with parents helped me to realize, I want to help and facilitate ministry that trains our parents to be the primary disciplers of their children.  Why?  Because the stats show that a parent has way more influence in their child's life that a youth pastor.  Don't get me wrong, we play a crucial role but we can make our roles so much more effective if we are willing to "rethink" the way we are doing things in the local church.

I really would like to see my church start making an effort to minister to our families – specifically the parenting of teens.  Student ministers probably need to start thinking through how they can play a part of this.

I’m not suggesting we need to change the way we do things – just some ideas to make things better.  This involves bringing parents into what we are doing with student ministry and equipping them to disciple their children.  I do not necessarily agree with everything that Wright says but I do think there is much here to explore – especially when it comes to equipping our parents.

Points from the book:

• There are two institutions championed in the Word of God, the family and the Church.  How does the church champion the family?  How does the family champion the church?  What is the student pastor's role in supporting this?  Please read chapter 2 – a biblical framework of student ministry to explore more.
• To have the greatest impact and influence on a student we must continue to offer quality discipleship but also making sure our church is spending adequate time equipping and encouraging its parents to disciple them because they are the ones who spend a majority of time with their kids and they are the ones that will have a godly effect on them long after they leave the youth ministry.  Consider this, the average student spends approximately two hours per week at church – that is less than 2 percent of a teens time per week.  To consider more read chapter 5 – locking arms with parents.
• Chapter 6 has some great suggestions on implementing a Parent Leadership Team that I think would be very helpful as we implement our new team:  pp.175-180.

Get the book.  Read it. Let me know what you think.