{"id":36190,"date":"2024-06-21T15:01:52","date_gmt":"2024-06-21T19:01:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thinkorange.com\/blog\/engage-every-parent-to-have-positive-spiritual-influence\/"},"modified":"2024-06-28T15:02:08","modified_gmt":"2024-06-28T19:02:08","slug":"engage-every-parent-to-have-positive-spiritual-influence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thinkorange.com\/blog\/engage-every-parent-to-have-positive-spiritual-influence\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Every Ministry Leader Should Partner With Parents"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On average, a ministry leader has 40 hours in a given year to impact the life of a kid or teenager. In other words, there are many different things working against a kid showing up to your church. To name a few . . . vacation days, holidays, sick days, and blended family calendars. But when you add all of those up, you get around 40 hours every year. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And as a leader, you need to calculate what you are going to do with those 40. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other hand, when you calculate the number of waking hours parents have with their kids, the answer is 3,000. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So when you look at the 40 hours you have in contrast to the 3,000 hours parents have, doesn\u2019t it make logical sense to engage parents?<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you want to make a difference and have a lasting impact on the life of a kid, you need to think in terms of how to partner with parents. More specifically you need to engage every parent<\/a> to win.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What it Means to Engage Every Parent<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When we say every parent we mean<\/span> every<\/em> . . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Parent.
<\/span>Guardian.
Parent of kids with special needs.
Foster parent.
Single parent.
Gay parent.
Parent outside the walls of your church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We mean every human who has a parental role. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You see, “every”<\/em> requires you to understand individual parents.
<\/span>Every<\/em> enables you to do more than what you would usually do.
It requires you to think outside the content of parents you see every week.
Every<\/em> requires you to think about the parents you don\u2019t have a relationship with.
Ministry leader, every<\/em> requires you to think about the parents you don\u2019t see.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because here\u2019s what is true… <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every Parent Wants To Be A Better Parent<\/b><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

If you act like every parent wants to be a better parent, then you’ll do more than you would have done before. Because with this mindset, you’ll give parents more potential, credit, and actually respect them more. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what does engage<\/em> parents actually mean? <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We simply mean to engage parents w<\/span>ith their families, friends, kids and teenagers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Engage parents with a community that will actually support them in winning and what they do as a parent. So that one day when their kids grow up and become adults, they\u2019ll still be friends. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Engage every parent is such an important strategy because we want to connect parents to something that will help them win at home. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Partnering with Parents Looks Like in Your Ministry<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

So what does that look like in your ministry? <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We actually did a research project where we met with leaders all around the country and asked how they knew they were winning when it came to partnering with parents. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Essentially, what does a win look like? <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

All of the ideas kind of came down to these two concepts: <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n