Effective Youth Ministry: Embracing a family-orientated approach

Abstract

This article embraces the Sola Scriptura approach of the reformed theology. Firstly, the article focuses on the crisis in Youth Ministry, namely its inefficiency in leading young people to Christian maturity. It addressed one of the contributing factors to the crisis: the isolation of youth from the adult world, and particularly from their own parents and the larger church community. From the Sola Scriptura principle, a family-orientated approach to effective Youth Ministry is proposed where parents are expected to take responsibility for their children’s spiritual growth. The church should then support parents and families in this process. Different role players in a family-orientated Youth Ministry are identified and some new perceptions regarding their different tasks are proposed.