As most of you know, St. John has been given the opportunity to collaborate with Ministry Architects, thanks to a grant we received through the Youth Ministry Grant Initiative (YMGI). Ministry Architects was invited to do an initial assessment of the children’s and youth ministries and to make recommendations about how it might move strategically forward.  Ministry Architects met with 48 individuals in 15 focus groups or one-on-one meetings. They also used the used the results from the YMGI survey to do the assessment. 

The following is an excerpt from the full report: 

Youth Ministry in the Home
There seems to be a consensus from staff and church leaders that the church has taken the responsibility of the spiritual formation of children and youth away from parents and now it is time to equip parents to reclaim this role. This agreement is a good thing! It’s an indication that God is moving in SJLC and the leaders have received the message.      

When the youth were asked if they wished their parents talked more about faith at home, the answer was overwhelmingly “Yes, as long as it wasn’t too serious for too long.” A parent said, “Give us tools and help make us comfortable praying with and talking to our kids.” Another adult shared, “We put so many resources into our children already, let’s go a step further and get families more involved.”

The church’s drive towards this new initiative was influenced by the book, “Sticky Faith,” and has been read by many staff members at SJLC. Based on extensive research out of Fuller Institute, the major premise of the book is that kids who stick with their faith over the long haul have parents who intentionally talked and lived out their faith in the home."

Ministry Architects developed a full report giving us some great next steps! You can read the full report here. We are excited to see how God uses this report and the work by Ministry Architects to further our ministry.