The title of this chapter is 'Family-Integrated Ministry'. In this chapter, Paul Renfro, the discipleship minister at Grace Family Baptist Church in Austin, Texas describes and teaches about this model of family ministry. I have to admit, when I was first doing research and studying the three models of ministry (1 - Family-Integrated; 2 - Family-Based; and 3 - Family-Equipping), I thought the least about Family-Integrated, primarily because this model calls for the dissolving of age-segregated ministries. In a Family-Integrated church, the entire family does everything together. I personally saw (and still see) some issues with this model, but to quote one of my textbooks from Intro to Youth Ministry, the 'perfect' model is a myth (Purpose Driven Youth Ministry). However, I do see more positives now than I did before. This model places a HUGE emphasis on the primary 'discipler' being the family, more specifically the father. Renfro also explored the problems and issues that churches would have to overcome if they were going to implement this family-integrated model and brought up this interesting thought.
"In some cases a young person is so tightly connected to a youth group that he or she is more committed to that youth group than their own family." (Pg 74)
I must confess that I was guilty of this at times when I was younger. In fact there were times when I would miss meals and outings with my family in order to go to church and 'hang out' or work. Now, when I look back, I sincerely regret those times. Sure it was fun to hang out with other people my age and to work at the church and see my work count for and go toward something that was ministry related, but today I can honestly say that I wish I had spent more time, and had more time now where I could be with my family. That is one thing that see that this model of ministry truly helps to promote and make happen. Of course a majority of this model assumes a lot about the family, particularly the parents, being Christians and involved in the church. One of my questions regarding this model, would be how would this model address that situation, where there is a youth who is a Christian but his/her family/parents are not.
I think Renfro would answer your question by calling another family to be sort of surrogate parents, but I definitely have questions about similar things. I have seen that kind of thing in my own church working well (that is, surrogate parents), but we have age-oriented ministries and that kind of thing still happens.
ReplyDeleteI don't think this model brings much to the table. Most of it could be combined with other models and programs.
I, also, wasn't very excited about reading the chapter, but grew to like it a lot, then ungrew to not like it a whole lot. It is pretty respectable, but again, the benefits could be possible in other ministries.
Your quote from page 74 makes a good point, Pat. Personally, I'm thinking that models like these need balance and I don't think the Family-Integrated has much of that. I definitely think that youth can get so attached to a youth group that their family suffers but why not fix that by providing more balance through the Family-Based or Family-Equipping models? I agree with you guys that I don't like much of this model but I think certain aspects of it can be used.
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