One Small Step at a Time

We are doing something in our youth ministry that is new for me, and I'm excited about it. We're doing a study series with all of our high school students combined (Beyond and Exit 112). We are doing a guys group on the Doug Fields study Guy Talk.
We have a girl's group going through the book Lies Young Women Believe.

We are doing a simlutaneous group for the parents of the girls, leading them through the book.

And we are leading a group for parents of the guys, teaching them the guys material.

All four groups meet on Sunday nights at the church at the same time.

This past week was our first week, and I loved it! We didn't see huge numbers of parents, but just the fact that we took a step towards doing more family oriented ministry has me so juiced! I'm leading the guys parents group, and we had the best discussion I've ever had in a parent's session. Parents are ordering the books we are teaching from, and diving in. We're providing discusison guides for them to use at home through the week with their kids. Students are seeing their parents come and invest in their spiritual growth, and feeling cared for. It's cool.

And since we're doing it during regular youth group hours, the kids whose parents won't come aren't left out. It just feels like regular youth group to them. The breaking along the gender lines is a creative twist we don't often do, so it adds energy to the discussions as well. We've got five weeks to go, and I couldn't be more excited.