Mission statement
We are seeking to bring teens and young adults to spiritual and functional maturity by connecting them and their families to the church body, specifically an extended Christian family of stable adults.
Core Values
In 2 Timothy 1:3-5, Paul identifies Timothy’s mother and grandmother as the forerunners of his faith. It is clear that both had great influence on his spiritual maturity and development. In Titus 2:1-8, Titus is encouraged to minister from the top down. Paul tells him to start with the older generation with his teaching, so that they would in turn teach and mentor the younger generation.
We believe that in today’s (2009) culture, adolescents are typically isolated from significant adult relationships that could help bring them to maturity. In addition to having secular structures that create adult-teen relationships based primarily on performance, many church youth ministries are built around a model that isolates its young from the rest of the church. Not only do these programs inherently discourage adult/family involvement, they are what Mark DeVries (Family-Based Youth Ministry) calls orphaning structures, or programs that end at a certain age. While a teen may feel comfortable and nurtured in a youth program, they may feel lost upon graduation because that program was never integrated with the rest of the church.
We believe that in order to mature both spiritually and functionally, every adolescent needs: 1) a stable family and 2) an extended Christian family. In the case of an adolescent who does not have a stable family, the extended family can provide the guidance they need and can also reach out to the broken family.
Implementation
The first step in addressing the needs of our adolescents is to recognize the shortcomings of a traditional youth program. In many of these programs, parents hold a youth pastor/program almost completely responsible for the spiritual development of their children. In reality, they need something that even the most well-staffed and well-funded youth programs may not provide – relationships with stable adults that aren’t programmed. They need relationships that are simply part of everyday life.
The solution is to develop and cultivate adult-teen relationships, not by forcing but by encouraging them through highly relational/social activities. Life-Bridge is the first step to involving godly, stable, and relational adults in the lives of adolescents.
The ultimate goal would be to have the definition of youth ministry expanded to include not just a teen cell group, a missions/service trip, or a social event; it would also include the everyday relationships and ministry of an extended Christian family. It starts, however, from the top down. We already have an excellent ministry that is designed to mature adults in grace and bring them to stability. Though we do not a have a dedicated or trained youth pastor, every adult at Grace Christian who is walking in Christ can contribute in some way to an adolescent’s development. The wisdom and experience of a community of believers working together may very well be more powerful in the life of an adolescent than any program that seeks to stand alone.