I’m fearful that we are setting children’s ministry leaders up for frustration as it pertains to the future of family ministry. The truth of the matter is that the best family ministry strategy beings with the adults in the home growing personally in Christ and modeling healthy marriage and family relationships to the best of their ability.

“Love it, let’s do it!” There’s a pause in the room as no one wants to bring up what needs to be said next. In the back there’s a throat clear and then…the question. “How are we going to promote thi..” Nooooooo! The air in the creative room has been vacuumed out, a fire breaks out, a bear flies in, the ceiling collapses and the meeting is over because everyone is dead! Boy, that escalated quickly.

From the moment church is over, parents may have only one thing on their minds: time to get my kids and leave. Naturally the next step becomes similar to herding cattle: the “Parent Pickup” line. Parents wait patiently (sometimes not so much) for their turn to pick up their child. When their turn comes, more often than not I hear the question, “Did my child behave today?” While this may be the most important thing to a parent at that time, I believe as leaders it is our duty to share things with parents that they need to hear and probably wouldn’t hear unless they ask a specific question. For me there are three things I believe that all parents need to hear.

The average couple watches 46 hours of television every week but spends only 28 minutes communicating with each other. That’s only four minutes a day! As a children’s or family life pastor, one of the most impactful things you can provide is training on communication. Healthy communication between parents fosters not only a good relationship between the couple but also among their children.

Many would argue that too much communication is better than too little communicating. However, I would disagree. If our goal is to ensure parents are fully equipped to disciple their children and that they will want to utilize the services of the church, then over-communicating can be just as dangerous as under-communicating.