Reggie Joiner, founder of the reThink group and Co-author of Playing for Keeps/Losing your Marbles, has noted how church, represented by the color yellow and family, represented by the color red combine their influences to make the color orange. The light of the Lord (yellow) and the love of the home (red) “collide” to make an influence that is greater (orange) than either unit operating in and of itself.
Some studies suggest that anywhere from 70-80% of students raised in church drop out of church after high school graduation, with many to walk away from their faith altogether, never to return. Joiner calls for new strategies to be developed within this church/family partnership paradigm so that young people continue to attend church as they enter college and adulthood.
I believe the comprehensive strategy that Joiner is calling for is Next Generation Ministry (NGM). NGM encourages the next generation to worship, study, and serve together as they transition from one life group to another. Joiner emphasizes that once a child is born, a parent has 936 weeks with his or her child until he or she graduates from high school and moves onto college or young adulthood. In contrast, next generation ministry leaders (pre-school, children, youth) only get 52 weeks (36-40 weeks if you take out holidays, sick days, vacation days, sports, etc.) to influence a toddler, a child, or a teenager for Christ.
In any given year, a parent or guardian has 3000 hours to teach their child the ways of the Lord whereas next generation leaders are given an average of 40 hours at church. Well-documented research by social scientists Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton have taught ministry leaders that parents are the primary disciplemakers of their children. Long before this groundbreaking research was completed, however, God gave families this time-tested directive in Deuteronomy 6:4-9. Parents were to have faith talks with their children when the child awoke, at their house (breakfast/dinner table, etc.), on the way (to and from school, etc.), and when the child went to sleep.
Psalm 78:1-8 adds that parents were to tell the next generation of God’s commandments and glorious deeds. There is a faith legacy or torch that needs to be passed down to the next generation and grandparents are often involved in this faith process (2 Tim 1:3-7).
Often included within next generation ministry are milestones, phases, or rite of passage ceremonies. Milestones can play out differently depending on church context and philosophy. Rather than give you a full myriad of options, I have chosen to list just one faith journey that churches and families can walk together on. Brian Haynes in his book Shift details seven rite of passage events that the church should partner with the family to celebrate as a student develops through his or her life stages; (1) The Birth of a Baby (2) Faith Commitment (3) Preparing for Adolescence (4) Commitment to Purity (5) Passage to Adulthood (6) High School Graduation, and (7) Life in Christ.
Next generation ministry encompasses smooth transitions as handoffs are made when a preschooler moves into children’s ministry, a child moves into student ministry, or a teenager moves into a church’s collegiate/young adult ministry. Rite of passage ceremonies come naturally and assist the discipleship process. In next generation ministry, a “student” is a baby, child, or a teen. Next generation leaders work hand in hand with parents and guardians to make disciples of students (Matt. 28:19-20).