Why do parents avoid partnering with our family ministries? Good question and I am honored to have Trevor Lee, a family pastor at Life Community Church in Kirkland, WA, writing a guest post today. You can check our Trevor’s blog here and make sure and follow him on twitter! Check out 6 reasons why parents avoid family ministry…

A couple weeks back Michael wrote a wonderful post on the “6 Reasons We Avoid Family Ministry.” After reading that I made a realization that in many ways pastors/churches are not the only ones avoiding the conversation about family ministry. Parents are also avoiding family ministry. Despite the amount of inspiration you share, vision you drive or resources you push… some parents are avoiding the philosophies of family ministry. Here’s why…

1. Fear of Failure – Fear has a tendency to freeze us or immobilize any efforts put forward. Parents fear they will fail because of their own lack of spiritual knowledge or their lack of qualifications to lead their families in faith.
2. Not Sure How – This reason could be an excuse or it could be a cry for help. No matter the reason, as ministry leaders we need to make sure we have resources available that both equip and support parents to lead their family to Christ. There are some great resources out there now and this excuse can be remedied.
3. Unhealthy Spiritual Life – Some parents avoid leading their families because they have sin or struggle in their own lives that they are not working out. This translates to an avoidance of faith the other six non-church days of the week. As leaders we need to connect with parents regularly – especially the parents that are not connected to a small group or attend church less than once a month.
4. Too Busy to Lead – Leading the ministry of the family adds one more thing to the already long list of things for parents to do. Help parents realize that it’s not about making more time for one more thing. It’s about using the time they have, the situations they’re in and the activities they participate in as opportunities to mentor their children in faith.
5. Lack of Church Support – Family ministry is not a fad or a sermon series in your church. Family ministry is something the church leadership must encourage and support in order for parents to embrace their roles as leaders in family ministry.
6. Deficiency of Vision – You hear it all the time; vision must be communicated regularly. There’s a reason you hear that…because it’s true. If family ministry is important to the vision of your church you must regularly evaluate how you are communicating the importance of family ministry. Make sure other things aren’t distorting that vision. Keep the vision for family ministry loud, powerful and moving forward.

I’m sure there are many more reasons why parents avoid family ministry. I want to invite you all into this conversation because families are all different and their reasons for avoiding family ministry vary depending on the region you’re in. So, why do you think parents avoid family ministry?