“4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.”
We believe that God has entrusted parents to be the primary spiritual influencers in the lives of their kids (Deuteronomy 6:4-7). Because of this, we in student ministry seek to equip parents to diligently disciple their kids in the Lord. We believe the greatest gift we can give teenagers on their faith journey are parents who love Christ and are faithful to train them in the Lord (Proverbs 22:6; Ephesians 6:4). Yet, it is a common experience for parents to feel inadequate or unprepared to handle the responsibilities of parenting a teenager. We believe that being a teenager can be challenging, but being a parent can also be challenging. We in student ministry want you to know you’re not alone—we’re with you.
While we believe faithful parents are critical in helping their kids know and share Christ, there will be times when students will not feel comfortable coming to their parents for advice. Furthermore, some students have not been given the luxury of believing parents. Who will they turn to? Student ministry experts believe a teenager needs at least five faithful adults in their lives besides their parents (https://theparentcue.org/why-your-kids-need-five-other-adults-in-their-lives/). That is why student ministry is also important in students’ faith development. We in student ministry seek to partner with parents to provide and connect students to caring, faithful adults that students can turn to for godly wisdom and to walk with them through the various trials that they must go through in life. Where parents are absent, unwilling, or unable to train their kids in the Lord, it is even more important that students find caring, faithful adults—the kind of adults that we seek to provide in our student ministry.
To assist parents like you, we have provided links to resources that will prove beneficial to you as you seek to be faithful to God’s call on your life to disciple your kids in the Lord. If you have any questions or would like more information about our student ministry, please contact Pastor Brandon at brandon@christccevfree.org.