7 Ways to Connect Student Ministry to the Home

By Josh Robinson

Restored from the YouthMin archive.

I’m all about partnering with parents. I want to be a catalyst for helping Mom and Dad step up to the calling of leading their family spiritually. Before we communicate with the family, we need to make sure it is as simple as possible. If your families are like the ones I serve, they are already inundated with information from school, sports and more. It needs to be simple. I want to streamline how we communicate with parents so they know what to expect and how to stay involved.

Here’s my issue with using concepts of family ministry and verbage of “partnering with parents.” We talk all about it in student ministry. Most of us have spent hundreds of dollars to attend conferences to build a family ministry, not just a student ministry. It is one thing to talk about partnering with parents, but how do we do that practically? On a weekly basis? How do we drive home the message from the student ministry into the walls of the home?

1. Email

We recently started using MailChimp as our outside communication because of its great design and best of all, it’s free! You can custom design it to fit your branding. I believe that any outside communication from the student ministry should be top-notch. Mail chimp has great templates to make it your own. In each email we include the series info in the main body of the email. On the sidebar we include information on events and on-line sign ups via our website.

2. Drive it Home

We include 3 “Drive it Home” questions for further discussion from the message at Source. We send out the email the day before Source (Tuesday) so that parents know what is coming up and how to continue the conversation with their students.

3. ParentLink

We provide a monthly link to what we call, “ ParentLink. ” The first page is our spring calendar so that parents can stay up to date on the ministry. It has a few pages of information on raising students and how to understand their culture. We print out the newsletters to have on the information tables as well but I have found that having it digital makes it easily accessible.

4. Texting We use Simply TXT to communicate with students, parents and volunteers. We send out text messages a few days before we have our student gathering. We include what series we are currently teaching with a little info on the title of the message. Texting is probably one of the most vital tools to communicate with parents.

5. Vimeo

We video the message during Source each Wednesday so that parents can watch and stay connected to what their students are learning. I love vimeo because of its clean and professional look. For new families, it is great to be able to watch what students are learning before entering the ministry.

6. Series Overview

We use a title slide on our website to explain the series overview and weekly teaching information for parents. In a series overview, I always include the big idea of the teaching and break it down week-by-week.

Last but not least…

7. Printed calendars and brochures

We use these for for each main event. In the brochure we include the why, what, where, who, when, how much and more. We include a release form folded in the brochure so parents have all they need in one place to register their students. A majority of parents sign up online, but it is always good to have printed information for parents.

Communicating with parents is not always easy. In today’s culture we have multiple ways to connect the student ministry to the home. My desire is to help make parents the heroes in their student’s lives. As technology grows, who knows how we can encourage parents in the future!

What ways do you connect the student ministry to the home?

What practical ways do you help parents lead their family spiritually?

Share in the comments below!

Bio

Latest Posts

Josh Robinson

Pastor to Students at Church @ the Springs

I am Josh Robinson. A follower of Christ, husband to Cassidy and new dad to Micah. I’m a graduate of BCF in Christian Education and after entering full-time ministry, I finished a M.A.R. in Christian Leadership and a Masters of Religious Education from Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary.

I’ve served in student ministry for 8+ years and have a passion to lead students to imitate Christ and influence the world!

Latest posts by Josh Robinson (see all)

– February 15, 2013

Growing Leaders Love Feedback – January 4, 2013

Interview Tips for Student Pastors – November 29, 2012