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what is parent life?
Parent Life is our ministry to parents of teenagers in our LifeTeen and EDGE programs. There are three parts to our Parent Life ministry:
- Parent Support
- Parent Life Gatherings
- Parent Life Retreats
As parents, you are vital to our ministry. You are the primary instructors of the faith for your teenagers; while we see them an hour and a half a week you see them nearly ten times as much (even though it may not seem like it). We will know them for at a maximum seven years; you have known them since their first breath. This is why you role as an instructor of the faith is so important. Teenagers will mirror their parents religious beliefs and attitudes more than we may always realize, which means you have a great impact on your teenagers relationship with God and their faith.
We also know that you need ministry, too. Being a parent of a teenager presents unique joys and challenges in the Christian journey. Many parents have also expressed a desire to "have what their teens have" or to experience some of the same things teens experience on a retreat or at a LifeNight. Parent Life has grown out of a desire to bring a similar, relevant ministry to you as parents.
parent support.
As stated above, there are three components to the Parent Life ministry. The first that we will be implementing at our parish is Parent Support. This is a huge way for parents to be involved in the faith journey of their teenager and our youth ministry at St. Francis.
During the year there are many things we do as a youth ministry that we are underequipped to do. Our Core Team volunteers simply cannot make all of the food, environments for retreats and LifeNights, pack the busses and vans for retreats, while still trying to minister to teens. This is where as parents you can have a huge impact on what we do.
Many times we need extra help with set up for a night or retreat, help preparing food, or even creating pieces of environment for LifeNights and could use your help. Being part of a Parent Support group allows you to not only be plugged in to what we do as a youth ministry, but to also serve your teenager and his or her peers. Without people to help out with these tasks, they will often not get done. This is the first aspect of our Parent Life Ministry, and it will begin in the fall of 2009. If you are interested in helping out as a part of this group, please contact Joel Stepanek for more information.
parent life gatherings.
The second component of Parent Life are the gatherings. Parent Life Gatherings are an opportunity for parents of middle and high school teenagers to get together for community, prayer, and discussion on topics relevant to our Catholic faith and Christian parenting. These are more than workshops; these are occassions for you as a parent to grow in your faith and relationship with Jesus Christ.
We are excited to be in the planning stages of our gatherings, and are tentatively planning to start offering these gatherings monthly beginning in the new year. As we begin to solidify plans we will be contacting all parents of teens in our ministry, and of teens in our parish with information about how you can become involved with this incredible new ministry.