Ministries- Family -Model

Level One: Increasing Awareness
Level Two: People Helping People
Level Three: Developing Programs and Services
Level Four: Networking and Skill-building
Level Five: Integrating and Expanding

Level One: Increasing Awareness

Local church group leader examines demographics of congregation in relation to the family.

• What is the percentage of adults in each age category?
  (e.g., 20-29 years, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 65 +)
• What is the percentage of children in each age category?
  (e.g. 0-2 years, 3-6, 7-11, 12-19)
• What is the percentage of families within the congregation? Childless married couples? Families with adopted and/or blended children? Couples whose children have left the nest?
• How many single dads? Single moms? Grandparents? Singles?
• You might also want to consider what are the educational, racial and ethnic origins of families in the community?

Local church group offers a class or two during the year:

• Each class is taught by a minister or a trained member of the church community.
• Classes are directed at some need of families identified by the demographic study, such as:
  • Marriage and/or relationships
  • How to start a family night tradition
  • Effective parent-child communication
  • The challenges of families today
  • Understanding the developmental needs of teens

Objectives of level one:

• Local group leadership understands the demographics of their congregation
• Leaders and/or individual family advocates begin thinking about the need to support and minister to families
• Leaders and/or individual family advocates are motivated to do more to help families.

Level Two: People Helping People

Local group leadership and interested members focus on the need to develop family ministry

• A committee is formed to discuss family ministry priorities.
• Group leaders continue the evaluation process:
  • Evaluate group finances
  • Works with family ministry committee to prioritize the needs of families in their congregation
  • Evaluate the skills and expertise of people in their congregation who may be able to make a contribution to the ministry.
• Leaders aim for a particular level of family ministry, based on the resources within the community and the needs of the congregation

Local church group continues to offer one or two family-focused, educational classes a year and adds the following:

• A communication network for church volunteers to minister to families in the church community, such as to provide:
  • Child care for single parents so they can take a night out
  • Transportation services for elderly to go to church events, appointments, shopping trips, etc.
  • Big brother or big sister services to children at risk
  • Family visits to home-bound elderly people
• An annual weekend retreat or conference, such as:
  • A marriage enrichment or parenting workshop
  • A youth retreat
  • A family campout
  • A series of training sessions for volunteer Sunday school teachers or youth mentors.

Objectives of level two:

• Families begin to feel supported within the spiritual community
• Group leaders understand that family ministry will grow through relationships (not just through programs and services)
• Community members experience the joy and fulfillment in ministering to others of all ages
• Community members see the need for a structure and for specific programs to develop family ministry.

Level Three: Developing Programs and Services

Local group leaders provide administrative support to the development of family ministry:

• By working with leaders of small groups whose focus is family-oriented
• By supporting individuals who are willing to advocate or coordinate different aspects of family ministry
• By allocating financial resources to family-focused programs and services

Local group keeps up activities of first two levels and adds one or more of the following types of programs, products, and/or services:

• Family worship services (such as a Saint Germain service, Sunday service, or Vigil for Youth)Spiritual education for children and youth (such as providing Sunday school classes or materials that parents can use to teach their children at home)
• A list of family social agencies, counselors, or support groups that are available to members in the local area.
• Opportunities for volunteer service within community social agencies, such as centers for pregnant mothers, domestic violence, or substance abuse.
• Family education classes with an emphasis on preventative crisis, which might include communication skills, conflict resolution, positive discipline, spiritual development of children, building family traditions.

Objectives of level three:

• Group leadership fully supports and sustains administrative structures to support families within its ministry
• Community members understand the importance of supporting and ministering to families
• Volunteer community members are more committed to developing programs and services to support families within the church.

Level Four: Networking and Skill-building

Local group leaders are sensitive to the needs of families and advocate the family in all that it does:

• By being aware of the needs and challenges of families when making decisions regarding services, events, programs, and activities
• By developing programs based on community demographics of families
• By establishing a family ministry committee or advisory board or hiring a professional family or youth minister
• By networking with other church members both in the field and at headquarters regarding effective programs and services

Local group keeps up all the activities of the first three levels and adds skill-building programs:

• Trained ministers and/or professionals conduct workshops that build skills, such as conflict resolution or effective communication.
  • Workshops involve high levels of interaction.
  • People discuss real problems in light of the new skills being taught. For example: During a workshop on marriage, the couples would move to a private place and talk about the specific issues in their relationship relating to the new skill being learned.
• Local group provides leadership training for ministering servants, youth mentors, Sunday school teachers, community service coordinators, and so forth.

Objectives of level four:

• All members within the community have a higher degree of trust and commitment to each other.
• The children and youth within the community feel accepted, loved and bonded to mentors within the leadership and congregation.
• Ministers and other trained people have a higher degree of expertise in ministering to families.
• Parents feel supported and are confident that the basic spiritual needs of their children are being met within their families and church group.

Level Five: Integrating and Expanding

Local group leadership and congregation see a need for an integrated plan for family ministry:

• Leaders and/or family advocates develop an intentional, well thought-out plan for ongoing development of family ministry
• Leaders and/or family advocates develop effective programs based on the five purposes of our church: ministration and service, spiritual education, fellowship, worship, and outreach

This level incorporates the activities at the other levels and adds:

• Small groups are formed to study the masters' teachings and admonitions specifically regarding the family and children. These groups can also hold prayer vigils for families and can choose to expand into some type of ministration for families.
• The family minister or family advocate or family committee is networked with other groups of family ministers and educators.
• The spiritual education programs also include crisis intervention. Congregation has trained ministers and/or other members who can offer assistance to families who experience death, violence, acute sickness, or some other crisis in their lives.
• Support programs are in place for support to families through life changes, such as having a new baby, becoming empty nesters, going through a divorce, becoming a widow, etc.

Objectives of level five:

• All church members realize that the emphasis of their church is to strengthen the family (in the larger sense of the word)
• Family ministry permeates all other ministries and includes not only support for the institution of the family itself, but includes ministry to people of all ages and dimensions of life.
• Family ministry is a part of the local group's mission and vision statements, promotional material, and so forth.
• Family ministry creates a ripple effect of positive change for members within the spiritual community, their immediate and extended families, as well as others in the larger community.
• Community service agencies frequently call the local church group for help and support because their ministry is well known.