relational youth ministry – leader communication with parents
June 2, 2009 by deanna
Filed under articles, for leaders, leader articles
OK, if you have ever been a teenager, then you may be able to remember how many of the “details” you let your parents in on about your life…well, at least in a reasonable amount of time so that the family can respond as needed. For example, what time a game started AND ended, when a major assignment was due, when the college financial aid paperwork needed to be completed…you understand.
Well, the same is true with the youth we work with – they in general DO NOT fill their parents in on any details that we ask them to during youth group. So, instead of staying on them to communicate with their parents, I think we should just cut out the middle man and communicate DIRECTLY WITH the parents. If you happen to be a parent (like me), then you can probably appreciate this piece of advice (LOL!). Some ways you can keep in regular contact with the parents are the following:
1. Email them bi-weekly or monthly – create a e-mail distribution that allows you to send mass e-mails out about any upcoming events or important information that you need the parents to know about. We had a pregnancy prevention speaker come speak to our youth group and because we knew that the subject matter was sensitive, we made sure that the parents were notified prior to the speaker coming…just in case they may want to keep their 7th grader home that night, you know???
Think about utilizing an e-newsletter that can provide links to the church web site and other resorces you would like to make available to them (online sign-up for events, camp registrations, permission slips, etc.). You can also use this as an encouraging tool, spotlighting a different student and family each month – this really goes a long way…parents like other people bragging on their children; I know I do! My kids were just in a wedding and I cannot get enough of all the people talking about how well they did coming down the aisle!!!
2. Create a youth ministry web page or some sort of social networking page (like facebook) that allows you to post quick updates, downloadable forms, and important information for parents to be able to access whenever they need too.
3. Don’t send things home with the teens for the parents as the only option of communication. Many times, parental consent forms get lost on the way from the youth room to the parking lot (ask me how I know…I have collected many that were used to pass notes around during service, some were left in the seats, the bathrooms…etc.). So, if we make things available directly to the parents (like in the church lobby, via a web site, or e-mailing an attached form), we can take some of the responsibility off of the students (even though I would still send a form home with the students).
These are just some quick ways to connect with the parents that will help create more of a relational youth ministry. Parents will feel more connected and believe that you care for both them and their student…because we do.
I would like to hear some more suggestions related to this post. We have horrible troubles with communicating to parents even though we do all of the things suggested above. We’ve tried mailing letters, and they say they never get them. We try e-mailing multiple times about everything we do, but parents still act oblivious to what’s happening in the youth group. I really don’t have time to call each parent in the youth group individually for every event. We’re just not sure what to do about this problem.