AXIS...the
family based student ministry
“If you reach the family, you reach the world.” -Bill
Bright
“The role of the Church is to mentor parents, the role of
the parent is to mentor their children, and the legacy of
faith continues to the next generation.” -Ed Cole
Parents, there’s a new way of doing student ministry that
sadly, most student ministries are not doing or do not
think they can do. It’s called the Family-Based Youth
Ministry. Axis is becoming this kind of Family-Based Youth
Ministry.
We don’t want to be like most student ministries and just
do our own thing like come up with our plan to minister to
your children and leave you out of the equation. We want to
come alongside you and partner with you as parents to see
the maximum spiritual impact on your child’s life. If we go
in one direction and parents go in another we fail to make
a maximum impact. Our desire is to see parents and student
ministry helping one another to accomplish the same goal.
The goal is maximum spiritual impact on our students and
your children’s lives.
By far the most influential people in a young person’s
spiritual life are his or her parents.
George Barna’s research shows that somewhere around 85% of
people who make a commitment to Jesus Christ are making
that commitment before the age of 18-those who don’t make
the commitment by this age probably never will.
Partnering with parents is a mind-set, not a program. You
might not notice a lot of program changes from the programs
mentioned on this website but you will notice a difference
in attitude, philosophy, and mind-set that you’ve probably
never seen in a youth ministry before.
The foundational scripture for our Family-Based Youth
Ministry is found in the Shema.
The Shema, also
known as Deuteronomy 6:4-9 is written on the door frames of
Orthodox Jewish homes. Jews recite this part of the Torah
every morning and evening. The Shema states:
“Hear,
O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 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 hearts. 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.
Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your
foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and
on your gates.”
This Scripture is the cornerstone of family-based youth
ministry. One way we want to reach students is by
strengthening families. Daily youth ministry for us must
consist of equipping families to succeed. In biblical days,
the people of Israel had a much better understanding of
their roles as parents. According to the Shema, not the
church but the parents are to be the primary discplers of
their children. The people of Israel knew it was their
calling to impress upon their children the Word of God,
talk about it and live out their faith as a family unit.
Our goal is to come alongside parents to help them pass on
the faith to their children. We will not underestimate the
power of parents in the spiritual formation of their
children. If spiritual formation is our goal, then parents
are too valuable to leave out of the equation.
Think of what I’m saying this way, there are few people
that are in therapy because of dysfunctional friends, but
many are in therapy because of dysfunctional families.
This new dimension to the axis student ministry will not
renovate our student ministry but it will enhance what we
do and how we connect together families, students and God.
How we plan to be successful as a family-based youth
ministry.
1)
Build Nets
Build a spiritually challenging, accountable, and
encouraging net of relationships for each of our students.
This net will be a combination of youth workers, parents,
family members, small-group leaders, and mentors who will
intentionally and purposefully pour into our students.
2)
Communicate
We want parents to have the right information. We will not
assume that your children are keeping you informed about
what’s going on. This website is the dedicated place for
students and parents to get all the latest information on
what’s happening in student ministry. On the website you
will get accurate, available and advance information
concerning the youth ministry and upcoming events. We will
also have quarterly parent meetings to share student
ministry information, listen to your needs, honor you as
parents and allow you to connect with other parents.
3)
Encourage and Equip
We know that bringing up teenagers is not an easy task so
we want to affirm you in every way we can. We also want to
help you minister to your child. Here’s something you’ll
hear from us, “Here’s what we’re doing. How can we support
what you’re doing?” By equipping we mean that we could help
you by offering things like seminars that deal with teen
depression, raising boys, raising girls, etc. We want to
come alongside you and create a net of influence for your
children.
