Orange ’11 Breakout: How to Lead a Family Ministry Meeting

This seminar was led by Mike Clear.  Mike is one of the founding Pastors or Discovery Church in California. (Side note, his wife’s name is Crystal…Crystal Clear).

“The Orange Leader Handbook” is a great tool to use in your Family Ministry Meetings.  Go over them together as a team.

• The Orange-O-Meter is seeing how well you and your team is doing at implementing some family ministry (Orange) principles.

He encouraged us to take this test below as a Family Ministry team and process how we are doing with each of the 5 strategies of Orange.

So after you take the test, process this with the team and go over how you can strategically make changes to your ministry.  Go over this together.

The Leader Handbook also provides Leader Meeting agendas.

5 Strategies of Orange:

1. Implement Strategy – Align church leaders and parents to lead with same end in mind

• Is your team Synchronized?
• Do you have a specific leader designated for families in your church?
• Do you have consistent meetings to work through critical issues with your team?  Team could be volunteers, parents, others.  Not necessarily staff?
• Do you have a common language to align your leaders, parents and volunteers?
• Do you have clear wins for each age group?  What is the win for each event or group?
• Are you strategic in programming?  Is it simple or cluttered?
• Is there systematic, consistent training to help you understand the overall strategy and their roles in that strategy?

2. Refine the Message – Craft core truths into engaging, relevant and memorable experiences

• Is the curriculum you use emphasize key spiritual concepts for each age group you are ministering to?
• Are there age-group environments designed to teach 1 key truth r a single idea each week?
• Is the content synchronized content?
• Is the truth presented each week focused on 1 key truth?
• The people who are communicating, are they engaging and being evaluated and coached?
• Is the curriculum you use relational experiences and engage?
• Is the ministry appealing and give appropriate content?

3. Reactive the Family – Enlist parents to act as partners into the spiritual formation of their own children

1. Does the church positively communicate a compelling vision and that they are responsible primiarly for their children’s spirutal growth?
2. Do you have a pro-family culture that reduces competing programming?
3. Do you have Parental support and provide resources?
4. Do you provide consistent family experinces that bring them together so that there can be meaningful interaction
5. Celebrations are strategically planned for parents and children to mark critical defining moments in their spiritual journey
6. Is there a promotion of effective family time that you are providing so that they can have meaningful time at home?
7. Community-wide focus

4. Elevate Community – Connect everyone to a caring leaders and a consistent group of peers

1. Church-wide focus – is the entire church on board with building community through organizing children and adults together for discipleship?
2. Invested leaders – are leaders invested in children and youth to help them in their spiritual formation?
3. Consistent relationships – Are small group leaders valued and championed at every age level to help connect children/youth relationally and spiritually?
4. Family Reinforcement – Do parents value small group leaders as partners in teaching spiritual truth?
5. Graduated system – Small group leaders are encouraged to graduate with the same kids and students in to older age groups
6. Spiritual priorities – Do small group leaders assume responsibility to model and lead students so that they
7. Personal faith – Do students own their own faith?

5. Leverage Influence – Create consistent opportunities for students to experience personal ministry

1. Strategic service – Do leaders and parents embrace service as essential in discipleship process?
2. Related opportunities – Has leadership created and managed a clear process through which students can plug into consistent ministry opps?
3. Intentional Apprenticeship – Are adult leaders being effectively trained and partner with children and students to help serve them.
4. Targeted studies – Is there a yearly teaching series that is specifically taught to serve?
5. Global involvement – Opportunities are highlighted for small groups and families to serve outside the church?
6. Personalized mission – Are leaders assuming the responsibility to help student leaders identify and use their gifts for a personal mission mindset?
7. Redemptive purpose – Do students understand their place in a bigger story and anticipate opportunities to communicate that story to others

Got a thought on any of this? TAKE A MINUTE and share your thoughts, questions, comments or concerns.