Family Matters Blog Series Pt. 6: Family Ministry Shift Conclusion

For the past six weeks, we have been looking at one strategy for introducing children to the gospel and keeping them involved in church, family ministry. Today we conclude the "family" matter.  I hope this blog series was a blessing to you and has presented you with an option for your ministry, church, or family. Family ministry equips parents to become the primary disciple-makers of their children.  Proponents believe the 21^st century church is failing congregations by not partnering with parents to equip them to share in ministry to the next generation.  The goal is to accurately pass on the gospel to the next generation through the family.  There are at least four types of family ministry strategies, family based ministry, family equipping ministry, family intergrated ministry, and the traditional programmatic, segregated approach.  Although young adults are highly educated, they are largely “unchurched,” and rarely to they read the Bible or meet with others to study the Bible.  Approximately 70 percent of young adults agree that the American church is irrelevant, and only 24 percent attend church weekly.  This means that the church must disciple young adults differently, parents and mentors must be involved with the church in the discipleship process, and the church must prepare to disciple a more ethnically diverse congregation.  Recent research found that Millennials are very close to their parents and thrive on relationships. Family ministry as a long range plan, and not a quick fix, might be the answer.

 

Related Posts:

Family Matters Blog Series Pt. 5: Strengths & Weaknesses of Family Ministry Models

Family Matters Blog Series Pt. 4: Active Churches In Family Ministry

Family Matters Part 3:  Contemporary Approaches & Leading Voices in Family Ministry

Family Matters Part 2:  Biblical Basis for Family Ministry

Family Matters Part 1:  The Historical Roots of Family Ministry

Introduction:  Blog Series, Family Matters, The Family Ministry Shift

 Bibliography

Baucham, Voddie Jr. (2007).  Family Driven Faith, Doing What It Takes to Raise Sons and Daughters Who Walk With God, Wheaton:  Crossway
Floyd, Ronnie  When the Bible Meets Life Sampler, biblestudiesforlife.com
Haynes, Brian (2009).  Shift, What It Takes to Finally Reach Families Today, Loveland:  Group Publishing, Inc.
The Holy Bible, (1984).  New International Version.  Grand Rapids:  Zondervan Publishing

Jones, Timothy Paul (2011).  Family Ministry Field Guild, How Your Church Can Equip Parents to Make Disciples, Indianapolis, Wesleyan Publishing House.
Mercadante, F. (2008). The Millennial Generation, Postmodernism, and the Changing Face of Catholic Youth Ministry.
Rainer, T. S. (2011). The Millennials, Connecting to America's Largest Generation. Nashville: B&H Publishing Group.
Stinson, Randy and Jones, Timothy Paul (20 Trained in the Fear of God, Family Ministry in Theological, Historical, and Practical Perspective
Younts Jones, Christine,  A Blueprint for Family Ministry,  Retrieved December 5, 2013 from Childrensministry.com: http://childrensministry.com/articles/a-
blueprint-for-family-ministry

SURPRISE!!! Thanks for Birthday Greetings, Surprise Birthday Bash!

Words cannot express my heartfelt gratitude to all who posted Birthday greetings on my Facebook wall. I feel so blessed, loved, and appreciated. I want to thank my husband, Bill for the awesome surprise birthday party, my family and all who dined with us on Monday, March 16th. Oh yes, I was so surprised to see all the friends, radio staff, and church members, and family on Monday evening.  I thought we'd just go out for a quiet dinner at a nice restaurant.  Instead, the restaurant, complete with servers, came to us!  And no, it was not quiet! We had awesome weather, a delicious meal, catered by Donald's Catering, and great guests for the occasion. Once I got over the shock, I had a blast.  There is a Happy Birthday song (Stevie Wonder style) video.  Hopefully, I can get it posted. Thank you and may God bless you, each and everyone who said a kind word, extended a courtesy, gift, or $3.16 contribution (put the decimal where ever you like) to Jesus Saves Ministries.



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Family Matters Blog Series Pt. 5: Strengths & Weaknesses of Family Ministry

By: Min. Angela Lee Price

I began on February 14th, entitled "Family Matters:  The Family Ministry Shift," based on my research paper from December 2013 written for the Master of Theology program at Campbellsville University.  Next week, we conclude the family matter.  This post, though, I want to talk about the strengths and weaknesses of family ministry models.  

A strength of family ministry models is in recent research that rate parents number one as most influential in the lives of their children.  Contrary to previously held notions about the “generation gap” and parents not being able to relate to their children, surprisingly, Millennials rank parental influence number one on their list of influences.  Millennials are very close to their parents and thrive on relationships.  Not only have “helicopter parents” hovered over their children and given Millennials special attention and sheltering, they have created great relationships with their teens and young adults.  Churches can capitalize on these strong family bonds by tweaking children and youth ministries to equip, train and involve parents.  Churches need to see parents as the primary spiritual educators of their youth and take more definitive steps to equip parents to disciple their young adults.  Frank Mercadante , in the article, “The Millennial Generation, Postmodernism and the Changing Face of Catholic Youth Ministry,” states,  “It means working together to better evangelize the entire parish community. It means not doing youth ministry in an adolescent vacuum. Instead of building disciple-making youth ministries, we need to work collaboratively to grow a disciple-making parish community.”  (Mercadante, 2008, p. 8)  His point is that the whole church, and not the

 youth or young adult ministries, must make discipling youth a priority.  While speaking for the Catholic faith, his statement holds great validity for Protestant Evangelicals as well.

Theories differ on how one arrives at a fully discipled church.  Intergenerational groups eliminate ministry divisions that exist with current ministry models, and this model lends itself to a unified and relational disciple-making experience.  However, Mercadante expresses the cautionary sentiment held by many pastors and experts, “It would be a mistake to take this observation to an extreme by slashing all youth gatherings and only offering intergenerational activities. Young people want and need to be gathered with one another. It’s not about switching out the youth ministry menu as much as expanding it by adding some intergenerational variety (Mercadante, 2008, p.7).

One of the major drawbacks for family ministry is that it is a very slow process.  It has the greatest opportunity for success in churches that don’t see it as a quick fix to getting youth in church, or to increasing their membership and baptism totals.  There are a lot of barriers to overcome in shifting successfully to this new paradigm, and the shift may not be fully realized in our lifetime.  To the extent the family ministry proponents don’t view themselves as the “fixers” of the marriage problem, churches implementing family ministries will be much better off.  Families are broken, but in some communities, the problem is compounded by addictions, crime, poverty, chronic illnesses, and a whole host of environmental, and generational woes. 

A recent study conducted by Timothy Paul Jones and the Gheen Center for Christian Family Ministry revealed that well over 90 percent of parents rejected the notion that professional ministers were the people primarily responsible for their children’s spiritual development. When asked if parents should disciple their children, not one parent disagreed.  In fact, more than 90 percent wanted to answer their children’s biblical and theological questions.  However, one out of every five parents admitted to never engaging in prayer, Bible reading, and worship in their households (Jones, p. 98-99).  Breaking generational habits, or curses is going to require fasting and prayer.  Churches must lead the way in repentance, confessing that previously held notions of how to do ministry have been detrimental to the the Kingdom of God, the health of the church, family.

Next Week:  Part 6:  Family Ministry Conclusion

Related Posts:

Family Matters Blog Series Pt. 4: Active Churches In Family Ministry

Family Matters Part 3:  Contemporary Approaches & Leading Voices in Family Ministry

Family Matters Part 2:  Biblical Basis for Family Ministry
Family Matters Part 1:  The Historical Roots of Family Ministry
Introduction:  Blog Series, Family Matters, The Family Ministry Shift

Keas Tabernacle CME Church Celebrates Women's Day 2015

By:  Min. Angela Lee Price
Women Encouraged to Run And Tell That!
We praise God for all that he is doing in the lives of women, and for their many significant contributions through out history.  I am still thanking God for the preached word on Sunday, March 15th in Big Blue Country in Mt. Sterling, Kentucky at Keas Tabernacle CME Church Women's Day! On Selection Sunday, everyone talks "Bracketology" in Kentucky, where we have two powerhouse national championship winning basketball teams, the University of Louisville (2013) and the University of Kentucky (2012). I preached from John 20, selecting my Number 1 Seed for their "Spiritual March Madness," Mary Magdalene. She was the first to run and tell, to deliver the life-changing, life-transforming message on Resurrection Day, He is risen. Through Mary Magdalene, we see how much the lives of women matter to Jesus.  By her actions, we how much Jesus mattered to Mary Magdalene.  I told the congregation that in order to run and tell the world that Jesus saves, we must start early while it’s still dark, stay fit, stay late, search for Jesus, and stride wide.
Recently, three courageous women ran and told it on Facebook, Black Lives Matter. Now that message has become a movement around the world. Our forefathers in the Civil Rights Movement ran and told it, We shall overcome. And 50 years ago, on March 15, 1965, President Lyndon Johnson went to Congress in support of a voting rights bill, stating, “We shall overcome.” With the promise of a bill, our ancestors ran on four more days, from Brown Chapel Church in Selma, across the Edmund Pettus Bridge --some 25,000 marchers--on to the capitol in Montgomery.  

No matter your gender or race, you matter to Jesus. First, run to the altar and confess Him as Lord and Savior (Romans 10:9). Run to the altar and ask God to roll away your stone -- the stone of your health issues, gall stones, kidney stones; the stone of your milestones, the accumulated years. God can heal you, and roll back the years that the locust and the cankerworm tried to destroy (Joel 2:25).  Then, run and tell somebody your story and tell'm to the utmost Jesus saves (Matthew 28:19-20)! Now run and tell that!

A BIG shout out to Pastor Vincent and First Lady Felice Farris for their gracious hospitality.  Also, a special thanks to Rev. Pamela Pittman and the liturgical dancers, M.O.D. Squad, Misses of Distinction. Young Lives Matter, too! Many churches all around the nation are dying because they are not reaching our youth with the Gospel. We desperately need young people representing for God in the Kingdom. And M.O.D. Squad, represented well.  In photo with me:  First Lady Felice Farris, and Sis. Cynthia Garrett Freeman, a St. Stephen Church member and Jesus Saves Social Network member who traveled to her former church with me and my husband Bill for Women's Day.
 

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Family Matters Blog Series Part 4: Active Churches in Family Ministry

By: Angela Lee Price

An example of an eye-opening paradigm for engaging young people in ministry and for strengthening families is Family Ministry.  Proponents of the family ministry movement cite two Scriptures consistently, among others, to support their position that the primary responsibility for discipleship of children is with parents. The first passage is Deuteronomy 6:5-7 (NIV), “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your heats. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” A second passage cited as the foundation for family ministry models is Ephesians 6:1-4 (NIV), specifically verse 4, “Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.” Family ministry proponents believe parents and the church have abdicated biblical mandate to cultural norm. This approach to ministry has merit, and is worth future consideration.  This week, we look at a few of the  churches that have implemented a family ministry program.

Part 4:  Active Churches  In Family Ministry         

In order to minister to a fragile and fragmented 21^st century family dynamic of single-parent, blended-family, and two-parent households, churches are implementing family ministry models in a variety of ways.  There is no concensus for what it means to be a family-friendly church.  Many churches are choosing to keep traditional structures, such as Sunday school, and age-organized ministries and small groups while developing programs to strengthen family-like intergenerational relationships in the church.  A few examples follow of churches, pastors, and an advisory team actively promoting family ministry models.

Lynn Block is the children's director at Kensington Community Church in Troy, Michigan.  Her program is called "Team Up"-families together building God's Kingdom. Families work, play, and learn together. Family small groups meet twice monthly-once with adults only and once as families. Families serve together inside the church, and in the community.  She states, "We encourage parents to be involved in training. Families might run Sunday morning classes together. Older children help with puppets or snacks.”  Community involvement teaches youth that they are ministers, and to not be self-centered.  She states, "And families minister together at nursing homes and inner city churches and missions. It teaches kids that they are ministers too. It excites the kids to not just be spectators. This is very important because parents want their kids to be givers, rather than self-absorbed takers." (Yount Jones website)

Ronnie Floyd, Senior Pastor, Cross Church, Northwest Arkansas has partnered with LifeWay Christian Stores to serve as their General Editor for the Bible Studies for Life series.  In 26 years in Northwest, Arkansas, Cross Church has baptized more than 17,000 people.  Floyd, along with a advisory team of church leaders and scholars from across the country, offer suggestions on the content of the curriculum that is “created by churches for churches."  (p.4).  A primary goal of the material is to strengthen families:

Strong families have regular spiritual conversation.  Bibles Studies for Life helps parents get conversation stared and take the lead as the primary disciple-makers of their families by providing an overview of what the whole family is studying.  For churches who use it across multiple age-groups, it aligns all ages in studying the same concepts.

Tim Smith, a pastor to family life at Calvary Community Church in Westlake Village, California offers parenting seminars and classes, complete with catered dinner and speaker, to equip seekers in how to instruct their children.  The church has two support groups for parents: Confident Kids and PARTY (Parents of At-Risk and Troubled Youth). Tim sends out a Family Times newsletter that contains resource reviews, a schedule of parenting classes, and information on parenting issues.   He states, "The thing about family ministry is that it's not an ‘either/or’ thing but a ‘but/and’ thing.  We can do it in our structure. We don't have to throw out Sunday school. We think of ways to add to what we're already doing." (Yount Jones).

Note:  This excerpt is from my Family Ministry research paper dated December 2013 written for the class, Innovations in Contemporary Church, Masters of Theology Program, Campbellsville University, however, most of the images are current from the websites they reference as of this post date.
Next week:  Part 5:  Strengths and Weaknesses of Family Ministry Models

Related Posts:

Family Matters Blog Series Part. 3: Contemporary Approaches to & Leading Voices In Family Ministry

Family Matters Part 2:  Biblical Basis for Family Ministry

Family Matters Part 1:  The Historical Roots of Family Ministry

Introduction:  Blog Series, Family Matters, The Family Ministry Shift

Are You Afraid of Friday The 13th?

T.G.I.F., Thank God I'm Forgiven, and it's Friday, the 13th! Oh, is the 13th an an unlucky number for you? Many people are running from black cats, avoiding ladders, tossing salt over their shoulders, and clinging to their lucky rabbit's feet, crystals, and good luck charms today in hopes of avoiding spells, voodoo hexes, and curses. You may not realize this, but church-going people are more superstitious than you might think. And many, particularly the young and new believers, are engaging in occult practices like never before.   

Believe it or not, whenever you forward an e-mail, be it a prayer or what have you, to a specified number of people in order to obtain a "special blessing," you have just engaged in a form magic. And whenever people of God rely heavily on prophets and prophetesses for personal prophecies, instead of on the Word of God for objective truth, they are engaging in a form of witchcraft. And when Christians let their children play card games with witches and wizards and where demon-like characters and monsters cast spells, they are out of the will of God and are subjecting their children and their households to demonic attack.

Magic, spells, voodoo, witchcraft and divination belong to the set of practices known as "the occult." Occult practices include visiting palm readers and fortune tellers, and participating in seances and rituals as a means to contact dead, spirit beings, and obtain supernatural knowledge. God hates these things. The Bible says, "And do not let your people practice fortune-telling, or use sorcery, or interpret omens, or engage in witchcraft, or cast spells, or function as mediums or psychics, or call forth the spirits of the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord (Deuteronomy 18:10b-12a, NLT).

The Psalmist said, The Lord is my light and my salvation.  Whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid  (Psalm 27:1)?   The Bible says, "For God has not given us a spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind (2 Tim. 1:7). So, don't be afraid of witchcraft, wizards, spells and unlucky days. The Ancient of Days is all you need. He is much more powerful than any black cat, satanist, psychic, or magician. Pharaoh's magicians couldn't match Moses' power (Exodus 8:19, 9:11), and the King's magicians couldn't interpret his dreams, but Daniel could through God's revelation (Daniel 1L20, 2:27, 4:7ff, 5:7-30). Acts 19:19 describes how the people who had practiced magic gave it up after they trusted Jesus, "And many of those who practiced magic brought their books together and began burning them in the sight of everyone" (NASB).

If you'd like a FREE ESV New Testament Holy Bible, or Here's Hope New Testament Bible e-mail me at jesussaves1@insightbb.com and I will send it to you, no strings attached, while supplies last.

Jesus Saves Ministries

E-mail:  jesussaves838@gmail.com

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Remember, it is not Mohammad, Buddha, Confucius, nor New Age that saves. Jesus saves!

Happenings on the Jesus Saves Social Network - March 6, 2015

Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of Bloody Sunday, the Selma-to-Montgomery March, & Enactment of the Voting Rights Act of 1965

By:  Angela Lee Price

This weekend marks the 50th anniversary of the March from Selma to Montgomery which led to the Voting Rights Act of 1965. This  major historic occasion should not be overlooked. As many are aware, Jesus Saves Ministries served for 10 years in the church and local community empowering more than 1,000 Kentucky citizens with the vote through voter registration campaigns. We directly assisted some 40 former felons in Kentucky in regaining their voting rights, and we assisted the Louisville branch NAACP in helping more than 100 former felons regain their voting rights enabling them to vote in the 2008 Presidential election. We encourage you to research the events that occurred over the course of the entire month of March 1965 in the marches from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.  People died and many more put themselves in harms way fighting for the vote, a right that too many people now-days take for granted.

Commemorating the 50th anniversary of Selma is about saying thank you to God and to our forefathers, those brave men and women, black and some white, who stood up for justice and for our dignity and right to be treated equally at the ballot box; secondly, its about remembering that people died securing voting rights for this and future generations of African Americans and people of color, and hopefully in doing those two things, we will be more responsible in doing what we ought to do, and that is VOTE in upcoming elections.  Whenever  African Americans don't vote, we trample on the graves of all those who died on March 7, 1965, on  Bloody Sunday, all those who were beaten and jailed, and all those who gave generously of their time, talent, and resources in non-violent protests securing this important civil right due every citizen of these United States.

                      

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   Family Matters Blog Series Pt. 3: Contemporary Approaches to & Leading Voices In Family Ministry

 Part 3:  Contemporary Approaches to & Leading Voices in Family Ministry
How do we keep our youth in church long enough to get the gospel in them?  One approach to keeping our youth in church is called family ministry.…
Continue

Related Posts:

Family Matters Part 2:  Biblical Basis for Family Ministry
Family Matters Part 1:  The Historical Roots of Family Ministry
Introduction:  Blog Series, Family Matters, The Family Ministry Shift

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      "Blue of L" Day Is Friday, March 6th!
We invite you to join us this Friday, March 6th, for "Blue of L" Day! Dress in Blue with us to kick off National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month! Kentucky has one of the highest mortality rates of colon cancer in the country. The good news...the disease can be prevented and successfully treated if caught early. Honor God's temple. Get regular checks for colon cancer. Jesus saves!
 

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Top Members On the Leaderboards   
Thank You for Sharing Your Faith On the Jesus Saves Social Network

1	Min. Angela Lee Price Louisville, KY, United States
2	Idris Busari | PiKture Time Film Goshen, IN, United States
3	Ephesians 3 Louisville, KY, United States
4	Heaven's Disciples Bedford, OH, United States
5	Stacee Spurling Louisville, KY, United States
6	Jazlyn Columbia, MD, United States
7	Christ The King Ministries Islamabad, Pakistan
8	Joyce E. Vaughn Louisville, KY, United States
9	Phyllis M. Webb Louisville, KY, United States
10	Carolyn Mckinney Perth Amboy, NJ, United States
11	Linda Evester Small Killeen, TX, United States

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   Join Us At These Upcoming Worship Services

1. Kenwood Northeast Baptist Church, Crestwood, KY on Sunday, March 8th.  I will be the guest speaker bringing the message at the 11:00 a.m. worship service.
2. Keas Tabernacle CME Church, Mt. Sterling, KY  on Sunday, March 15th.  I will be bringing the message at their Women's Day worship service beginning at 11:00 a.m. 
   
3. March is Women's Month at St. Stephen Church.  The Theme is "Stepping In...the Spirit, Stepping Up...for one another; Stepping Out...on Faith."   Sunday, March 29th, join me at the Dosker Manor location, 419 E. Muhammad Ali Blvd., Building A. I will be bringing the morning message at 11:00 a.m worship service.
4. Kenwood Northeast Baptist Church, 7 Last Words of Christ, Good Friday, April 3rd

Hello, I am Min. Angela Lee Price, Founder of Jesus Saves Ministries, and the Host of the Jesus Saves Social Network.  I want to personally extend an invitation to all Jesus Saves Social Network members in the Lexington, Louisville, Southern Indiana and surrounding areas to join me at Keas Tabernacle CME Church, Mt. Sterling, KY for "Spiritual March Madness."  I will be bringing the morning message as the Woman of Keas CME celebrate Women's Day at 11:00 a.m.  The theme is "Women of God."  All women of God join us and wear the color white with black accessories as we celebrate Women's Day at Keas CME Church!

  Join Us for Fasting and Prayer Each Wednesday During Lent

"But ye are a chosen general, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that you should show forth the praise of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light;"

 1 Peter 2:9.
Lent is 40 days of fasting and repentance in preparation for Resurrection Sunday (Easter), this year on Sunday, April 5th. The six Sundays in Lent are not counted among the 40 days of lent as each Sunday represents a "mini-Easter," a celebration of Jesus' victory over sin and death.

Beginning Wednesday, February 25th - Wednesday through Wednesday, April 1st, we invite you to join us in a full or partial food fast (your preference).  If you cannot participate in a full or partial food fast, then consider giving up something very important to you for 12 hours on Wednesdays, (junk food and sweets, shopping, cell phone, computer, television, text messaging, caffeine, etc.) and give that time to the Lord in prayer, Scripture meditation, or by participating in a Bible study.  If Wednesday is not a good day for you, choose a day on which you feel you will be able to fast consistently during the Lent season.  Be ye holy even as God is holy! Your are a royal priesthood, a chosen generation!  
Important Dates: 
•February 18 - Ash Wednesday 
•March 29 - Palm Sunday
•April 2 - Maundy (Holy) Thursday 
•April 3 - Good Friday 
•April 5 - Easter Sunday

   The St. Stephen Women's Ministry Presents a Stage Play with a Message of Healing, He Restoreth My Soul

 

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   The National College Choir Explosion is March 7th, Louisville Palace, 7:00 PM
featuring national gospel artists  Byron Cage, Karen Clark-Sheard, Martha Munizzi, and Ricky Dillard
Plus College Choirs from Across the Country Competing for $30,000 in Cash Prizes

Jesus Saves Ministries celebrating nine years of lifting up Jesus Christ!

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