Your plate is full and you feel busy, but is your plate full of the right things? Are you busy for the sake of being busy, or are you actually carrying out God’s calling for your life? For your sanity, and for the sake of your church’s future, you need the clarity of recalibration in your family ministry.
Fifteen leaders in the family ministry movement came together to write Recalibrate: A New Measure for Family Ministry, and you and your team are going to love each chapter. The book aims to help you adjust and measure for healthy outcomes, to help you identify and correct unhealthy norms, and to honor God in the way you lead the families in your church.
A few of the many topics covered in the book include, “Staff and Volunteer Dynamics” by Brian Haynes, “The Art and Influence of Meaningful Conversations” by Ron Hunter, “Grandparenting the Way It Was Meant to Be” by Jim Wideman, “Youth Ministry in Thirds” by Richard Ross, “The Future Steps of Our Children” by Lydia Randall, and “When Churched Kids Don’t Have Churched Parents” by Timothy Paul Jones.
The first chapter alone is full of great insight that makes it clear right from the start just how helpful of a tool this book will be for any ministry. In this chapter, Philip Nation begins to recalibrate the big picture for family ministry by creating a discipleship culture for the family. Here are my favorite quotes from the chapter to give you a taste of how rich this content is:
“First, you need to tell the truth about the spiritual condition in families today. Second, you need to offer practices that will develop a healthy discipleship culture in the home. Finally, set reasonable measurements to know if families are embracing a discipling culture in the home.”
“Too many families live with unhealthy spiritual patterns. One question you may ask is: Do they even know it?”
“Spiritual Absentia . . . Parents hold their spiritual concern for kids as an almost secretive portion of their lives. Discipleship happens but not by anyone in the family. Instead, parents act as surrogates hoping the leaders of the church will disciple their children.”
“Hobbyism . . . Parents disciple kids to believe that entertainment is the point of life. They create the worst kind of church attender—a consumer of religious goods and services rather than a servant of Christ and His mission.”
“Selective Subject Syndrome . . . The only hope is the weekend but it is consumed with extracurricular activities and the mythical “down time” hoped for by weary parents.”
“Secularization . . . Families also allow worldly wisdom to guide decision making, especially for their youngsters.”
“Romanticism . . . Personal eases becomes the end goal of it all. When the mission of God requires sacrifice and the loss of comfort, Christ’s lordship is rejected because it involves difficulty.”
“We are called to be disciples who make other disciples. You can set this as a powerful new norm for families. The spiritual work of a family is to raise disciple-making disciples that focus heart, soul, mind, and strength on loving God and living as Kingdom ambassadors.”
“Kids and students are the disciples of today who can make a powerful impact in seeking revival in the church and spiritual awakening in the culture.”
“The ‘drop off for discipleship’ model has not worked and will not work.”
“Recalibrate your leadership to move families out of survivalist tactics and entrepreneurial dreaming to raising global troublemakers for God’s kingdom.”
“Your ministry will take on new life and power when you recalibrate the expectations of what God can do through families, students, and children.”
“Your choice is between tolerating unhealthy practices of ministry and generating healthy patterns of multiplicative disciple-making. It is the age old choice between pleasing God or man.”
“Your work as a leader is to give biblical instruction that will lead to personal application.”
“Faithful living will display itself in lives characterized by such things as grace-filled relationships, moral holiness, and an increasing faith in God’s power.”
“Anyone can stay busy. Leaders must measure whether or not the ministry and the families are spiritually fruitful.”
“The ultimate fruit of your leadership is new followers of Jesus.”
Available Now!
- Recalibrate: A Review - October 31, 2019
- What If Your Team was Challenged to All Move Towards the Same Goal? - July 12, 2018
- 3 Ways to Focus on God’s Presence this Christmas - December 6, 2017
