Since you asked, here are three ideas I believe are vital for successful family ministry:

· Kids need parents who will help them advance in their relationships with God. (No one has more potential to influence and monitor a child’s relationship with God than parents!)

· Parents need churches that will help them know how to be spiritual leaders. (Maybe the greatest gift a church can give parents is the confidence and courage to do what God has wired them to do!)

· Churches need leaders to do less for kids and more for families. (Church leaders have a limited amount of influence on children. Parents have lifelong influence!)

Q:  What about curriculum? Do we have to buy products from your organization (reThink Group) in order to create an Orange ministry?

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A:  Sure we’ve created some curriculum options from on Orange perspective that you are welcome to try on for size, but there is no single cookie cutter plan that works for every church and every style. If any partnership is going to work effectively between a church and a parent, there needs to be a degree of customization; it should fit your culture and your community. The one thing I believe you need is a cohesive plan that everyone can understand and embrace.

Q:  How can we (the church and the family) help young people carry their faith into adulthood?

A:  I think a big part of the answer lies in offering our students a bigger story to live in. Everyone needs to experience something bigger than themselves. The question is not whether they will find these elements in the story they choose. The question is whether the story they choose will be God’s story.

One of the reasons some students are walking away from the church is that they have found something more exciting. When there is nothing dangerous or adventurous about your style of faith, you begin to drift toward other things that seem more interesting and meaningful. Students should get the chance to realize what they are capable of doing when God is moving in them. If they experience God at work in them, they’ll have a hard time getting over it.

Q:  Our family ministry team is so excited about “thinking Orange”! Do you suggest we all wear orange to our team meetings--and maybe on Sunday mornings?

A:  You don’t have to purchase, subscribe, download, log in or wear anything specific to be an Orange leader. (You can even be an Orange leader and not know it.) If you just don’t look good in orange, that’s OK. You don’t have to cover yourself in orange to make an orange statement, but then again if you feel really passionate about it, why not?