If you’ve been serving children or teenagers in the church for any length of time, you have have likely observed how essential it is to partner with parents. At Rooted, we want to encourage and equip you to begin a family discipleship ministry in your local church. Whether you are a member of paid staff serving children or teenagers, or a committed lay leader invested in families, we offer a family ministry mentorship to support you. Our next cohort begins in February, so apply today!
Still unsure what family ministry is? Below, we offer some resources to get you started. We hope these will be helpful to you and other leaders in your local church.
Rooted’s Family Discipleship Courses for Parents and Churches
Eleven different parenting video courses from the experts, each with their own Bible study curriculum.
The Important Role of the Church in Family Discipleship
Rooted had the privilege of presenting a micro-event at the 2023 The Gospel Coalition Conference in Indianapolis.
Video includes:
“How the Whole Church Can Disciple Young People” (Terrence Shay)
“The Critical Need and Simple Direction for Equipping Parents to Disciple Kids” (Cameron Cole)
“Ministry to the Modern Child” (Clark Fobes)
Panel discussion with Cameron Cole, Danny Kwon, Clark Fobes, Anna Meade Harris, and Terrence Shay.
Basic Principles of Family Ministry with Cameron Cole
In this workshop from Rooted 2023, longtime youth and family pastor and Rooted founder, Cameron Cole, begins by debunking some myths about what family ministry means. He then moves into four key components of effective ministries to families in the church, with a special emphasis on how to work well with parents.
Nuts and Bolts of Family Ministry: A Rooted Panel
In this panel from Rooted 2023, panelists Terrence Shay, Andrew King, Kerry Trunfio, Connor Coskery, and Cameron Cole talk about making the shift from youth ministry to family ministry. Their conversation includes a frank discussion of the roadblocks and insecurities they have faced, practical advice about how to partner with parents, and ways to get the whole church on board with the concept of family ministry.
How to Start a Family Ministry in Your Church by Andy Cornett
Perhaps you suddenly find yourself with responsibility for a ministry that wants to move in the direction of family ministry, or working with the children’s team just got added to your job description in youth ministry. Or maybe you are an engaged parent or church leader wanting to start family ministry from the ground up. What do you do?
Spiritual Foundations for Supervising Family Ministry Staff by Andy Cornett
I’m writing to those who supervise staff, lead ministry teams, or have the task of building partnership between ministry areas. I want to share a few spiritual ingredients to doing that collaborative work well. I offer these encouragements not out of any desire to do a “spiritual bypass” or to hyper-spiritualize your work. Instead, they are genuine heart checks for you and me as we go about our labor.
Gospel Catechisms for Young Children and Teenagers
At Rooted, we are passionate about young people being able to articulate the gospel. If you are looking for a quick and easy way to share the gospel with your child every day, below you will find three “gospel catechisms:” one for younger children, one for teenagers, and a “gospel identity catechism” you can use with any age. You can use these in the car on the way to school, at the breakfast table, or during your bedtime routine. No matter how you use them, we pray these questions will remind both you and your child about the good news of who Jesus is and what he has done for us.
Grace-Based Parenting by Tim Kimmel
Dr. Tim Kimmel, founder of Family Matters ministries, offers a timeless look at parenting. Rejecting rigidity and checklists that don’t work, Dr. Kimmel recommends a parenting style that is the opposite, emphasizing the importance of communicating the unconditional love that Christ offers and affirming this timeless message of grace to one’s family.
Keeping the Faith by Christian Smith (First Things)
The good news is that, among all possible influences, parents exert far and away the greatest influence on their children’s religious outcomes. Stated differently, the bad news is that nearly all human responsibility for the religious trajectories of children’s lives falls on their parents’ shoulders. The empirical evidence is clear. In almost every case, no other institution or program comes close to shaping youth religiously as their parents do—not religious congregations, youth groups, faith-based schools, missions and service trips, summer camps, Sunday school, youth ministers, or anything else.
