Tools for Parent Ministry

By Shawn Michael Shoup on March 22 2011

Most of us have figured out by now that to be effective at ministering to teenagers, we have to think about how to also reach out to their parents. Some of us are parents of teenagers ourselves and want to be informed. Regardless of where you fit, here are some sites that focus on parents and parent ministry: keeping them informed on teen culture, equipping them for spiritual influence, and helping to make them an ally of student ministry.

Center for Parent / Youth Understanding– CPYU was developed in 1990 by Walt Mueller. They have the tagline “understanding culture to impact culture” and offer several resources to that end, including the Youth Culture e-Update, 3(D) Reviews of popular media, and pages of articles and pop culture commentary. Lots of help for the parent that wants to stay in the know.

The Source for Parents – This is a relatively new site from Jonathan McKee, the mind behind The Source for Youth Ministry.  Jonathan’s Source site has always done a good job of keeping youth workers informed about trends in student culture and now this site aims to do the same for parents. Subscribe to weekly parent helps, Jonathon’s blog, and a youth culture blog.

Homeword– Jim Burns founded Homeword in 1985. He is known as the guy who was Doug Field’s youth pastor and is passionate about equipping families for success. Homeword does this through daily radio programs, an extensive web site – with one of the best monthly parent newsletters you can find anywhere, and lots of quality print material.

Real World Parents– Founded by Youth Specialties’ own Mark Matlock, this site offers conversation starters, family activities, and my favorite – daily Scripture prayers that are emailed to parents to remind them to pray for their kids.

All four companies also offer seminars / parent training sessions that you can host locally. Bring in a professional to talk with your parents about teen culture and parenting. Even better, partner with a couple of churches in your area and make it a community event.

If you are looking for a way to communicate relevant information to your parents on a monthly basis, check out The Parent Link.  They provide you with lots of great material in a ready-to-print (or publish to PDF) format.

In one way or the other, it’s important to connect with the parents in your ministry. When you have all these great resources at your disposal, it will give you all the more reason to make regular communication with parents an integral part of your student ministry philosophy. 

Comments

From Jeremy Smith on March 24, 2011

I love this article!  Thank you so much!  I am all about supporting the parents and these will assist with that.