Before we start, I\u2019d like to ask a couple of questions.<\/p>\n
Do you . . .<\/strong><\/p>\n It would be difficult to find many churches or leaders that wouldn\u2019t offer an enthusiastic \u201cOf course!\u201d<\/em><\/strong> to those questions.\u00a0 We all understand how parents impact kids (after all, we all had parents).\u00a0 We also can easily see how growing families need the church.\u00a0 The reverse is also easily seen \u2013 growing churches need families.<\/p>\n I think we\u2019re all on the same page so far, but here is the point where we may start to move in different directions: WHAT ARE WE DOING ABOUT IT?<\/p>\n What are we, as church leaders, doing to help families, kids, and churches have a consistent relationship that helps each of us grow and develop?<\/p>\n I know, I know.\u00a0 We have programs.\u00a0 Lots of programs.<\/p>\n I won\u2019t start listing them here because you already know what they are.\u00a0 And you may have already doubted their strategy, purpose, and effectiveness in ministering to families.\u00a0 They started with the best of intentions.\u00a0 And they may have had a season where they were amazing at bringing in some community members or allowing families to serve.\u00a0 But maybe they haven\u2019t proven to be as aligned with the rest of the church\u2019s mission as time has passed.<\/p>\n What if there was a strategy that would help include families into your church community no matter where they were in their faith journey?\u00a0 A strategy that could include single parents, new parents, grandparents, foster parents, legal guardians, and elementary aged kids of every background imaginable.\u00a0 On top of all that, the strategy not only helps you recruit volunteers to help in various roles, but it creates a culture where the volunteers begin recruiting people in their own circle of influence!<\/p>\n Imagine a strategic place in your church community that you could regularly speak to parents to encourage and equip them to be even better\u00a0 spiritual leaders.\u00a0 But wait, there\u2019s more!\u00a0 This strategy also centers around the idea that the ideas, concepts, and faith building encouragement is best applied in our everyday lives.\u00a0 In our homes.\u00a0 With our families.<\/p>\n The strategy is called FX, a stylized way of saying Family Experience.\u00a0 It\u2019s something I\u2019ve personally been involved in creating, implementing, and teaching for over 25 years.\u00a0 I believe it\u2019s the hub of the Orange strategy because I\u2019ve seen it work.\u00a0 FX puts your ministry into an active position for encouraging and seeing life change for kids and parents, regardless of their faith journey.\u00a0 It combines the strengths of the church with the strengths of the family to form something impossible for either the church or the family to do on their own.<\/p>\n The Family eXperience is so much more than an event or a program added to your already busy schedule.\u00a0 It\u2019s a strategy to help you as a church and as a leader invest your time and resources in a way that effectively helps you achieve your mission. FX intentionally sets aside a specific time and place to put parents AND their children in the same environment and using a multi-media, fast paced style to communicate eternal truths that are relevant to their daily experience. When parents and kids can remember a video, or a joke, or a song, that they both shared at the same time in the same place, it sticks.\u00a0 It sticks in their memory and sticks in their own individual family culture.\u00a0 It is no longer something they experience one day a week, but it becomes something they live with each day.<\/p>\n One place many churches begin is with Jingle Jam, a free downloadable event for families \u2013 jinglejamfx.com<\/p>\n We\u2019ll also be releasing another Easter Jam experience for 2022 soon.<\/p>\n Both of those events are a great way to dip your toe into the waters of an effective FX ministry.\u00a0 But\u00a0 please, don\u2019t let it stop there.\u00a0 Families need to know that churches are on their side and wiling to actively partner with them.\u00a0 Churches need to provide ways for parents to comfortably be a part of the faith community.\u00a0 Christmas and Easter get a lot of focus from people who are seeking ways to incorporate faith into their lives, but we understand that twice a year isn\u2019t optimal for truly making this a priority.<\/p>\n You can make FX an effective part of your ministry on a monthly, weekly, or seasonal basis.\u00a0 Your 252kids curriculum already includes a weekly FX plan from August to November, with a single Christmas featured script called Jingle Jam in December.\u00a0 The weekly scripts pick up again in January through the end of March, and again feature a single special event for the Easter holiday.\u00a0 Finally, weekly scripts finish out the school year through the end of May.\u00a0 We think this is an optimal plan for most churches to partner with families, and constantly stoke excitement and enthusiasm for the environment.<\/p>\n I know that this is only the beginning of the conversation.\u00a0 If this is the first time you\u2019ve even heard of FX or if you\u2019ve only begun to look into this distinctly ORANGE strategy, please keep asking questions.\u00a0 We\u2019d love to help you incorporate FX into your community easily and effectively and we have the tools available for your leadership.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Before we start, I\u2019d like to ask a couple of questions. Do you . . . believe that families with elementary aged kids are important to the church community? think that the major moral influence in a kid’s life is from parents? believe that a local church should do all they can to encourage and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31710,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[523,104],"tags":[97,300,98,301,302,303,304,106,61,71,305],"authors":[306],"life-stage":[64],"class_list":["post-31709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ministry-leadership","category-orange-strategy","tag-childrens-ministry","tag-church-families","tag-elementary","tag-events","tag-family-experience","tag-fx","tag-orange-events","tag-orange-strategy","tag-parents","tag-preschool","tag-what-is-fx","authors-greg-payne","life-stage-kids-ministry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n
Equipping families to grow spiritually<\/strong><\/h2>\n
What is FX? <\/strong><\/h2>\n
Parents and kids – together.<\/strong><\/h3>\n
FX is more than another church program. It’s is a strategy.<\/strong><\/h3>\n
It’s not a one-time experience. It’s ongoing.<\/strong><\/h3>\n