2010-08-05T16:56:00.000-07:00

A Blog for Parents

This webpage was birthed out of a recent brainstorming session with a group of parents at Mt. Zion. It is designed to assist parents as they fulfill the God-ordained role of shepherding their children in the faith. It is the desire of the student ministry of Mt. Zion to partner with you in this process as we equip teens for ministry.

After observing the teen culture through 10+ years of student ministry and reading some great books such as ReThink: Decide for Yourself, Is Student Ministry Working (Steve Wright and Chris Graves) and Already Gone: Why your kids will quit church and what you can do to stop it (Ken Ham and Britt Beemer) some disturbing conclusions can be made regarding student ministry in the American context:

1. Youth ministries often teach practical and relevant messages at the expense of teaching sound doctrine . . . leading to a greater rate of church dropout after graduation as their faith is challenged during the college years. While there is nothing wrong with practical and relevant, we must understand that nothing is more practical and relevant for the Christian than having a correct understanding of God (sound theology).

2. For various reasons, local churches have been looked to as the primary means of biblical instruction for children and teens. While churches should play a significant role in leading students to spiritual growth, biblical fellowship, evangelism, and service, they are never to take the place of parents as the primary means of discipleship for their children. Scripture clearly teaches that it is the parent, especially the father, that is to take up the role of shepherd for the family. The best way to describe the family and church relationship is that of a partnership working together to raise children in the teaching of Christ. It is Mt. Zion's role to partner with parents in assisting the spiritual growth of their teens. While our church will seek to evangelize and disciple students to the best of our ability, our primary desire is to partner with parents in this process. For a better understanding of this biblical principle, see the book ApParent Privilege in the "recommendations" section.

3. Christian teens have fallen into the trap of following the low expectations of our culture. We see little difference between the actions and attitudes of teens within the church and those that are outside the church. There is an expectation in our culture that teens will go through times of rebellion against parents and other authorities, that the teen years are to be free of real responsibility, and that teens are to use these years to enjoy life before adulthood kicks in. The problem is that none of these expectations can be found in scripture in regards to Christians. Christians, regardless of age, are to walk and talk differently than the world. We are set-apart and we must encourage teens to follow this biblical model of lifestyle. See the book "Do Hard Things" in the recommendations section for more insight into this challenge to teens.

So, this simple blog is designed in the hopes that it can be a resource to parents as we seek to go against these trends in church culture. We hope it will offer resources for you to take up the role of shepherding your child in the faith. We want to be a part of that process and do all we can to encourage your child to follow Christ in a radical way, but we do not want to overstep our bounds in what God has ordained as the right order of discipleship in the home.

Please contact the youth pastor, Jason Roberts, at any time to offer suggestions in regards to this blog. The blog is for you and we would love to offer more resources at your request. Please e-mail Jason if you have any questions regarding the student ministry.