Well this is the last chapter of Family-Based Youth Ministry and my final post for this class. It's been a lot of fun and very helpful to learn, write, and figure out more about family life ministry through these texts and posts. The last chapter in this book is titled "Making it Work: Implementing a Family-Based Youth Ministry." This chapter was the chapter that ever person reading this book and every person in ministry wanted and wants to read in this kind of book. This chapter deals with how to actually administer and implement the family-based ministry within their churches. I liked what DeVries had to say in this chapter.
"...I am talking less about establishing specific programs and more about creating an ongoing ethos (what might be called a "new normal") in the ministry." (Pg 176)
"Family-based youth ministry is not, strictly speaking, a "model" but rather a foundation that every youth ministry needs to ensure its long-term impact." (Pg 176)
I think this is one of the beauties of the family-based ministry philosophy. The fact that it isn't a model in itself but a philosophy, allows the idea of allowing the entire family to be ministered to together. I love that since it isn't a model in and of itself, you can still use a specific model if you want to, and implement a family-based philosophy within it. I personally still think that the family-based might be the easiest and the most effective philosophy of the three presented within the Perspectives book that I mentioned and discussed earlier. However, I think that if you are wanting to reach the most Biblical and the most effective philosophy of the three, I believe that the family-based one is only the beginning. The family-equipping goes beyond what family-based begins and helps create opportunities for parents to catch the vision of, understand, accept, and fulfill their Biblical mandate to be the primary disciplers of their children.
Yeah, definitely Pat. The Family-based model is just a philosophy. I like what you said when you wrote that you "love that since it isn't a model in and of itself, you can still use a specific model if you want to, and implement a family-based philosophy within it". That's the beauty of family-based, is that you can easily implement other "models" with it, while still being family-based. Actually, I think you could implement family-based and no one would even know. Just "hide" it under another model and you'd be set!
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you as well when you say that family-based is only the beginning. Start with family-based then add family-equipping is the way to go...