Editor's Note: Whether you're an established church looking to refresh your vision for ministry or a new congregation looking to start a specific outreach, the 101 Ministry series on Church Central is designed to help you insure that healthy church work results in making disciples. Check all the articles in this series for helpful introductions to new ministries or keys to evaluate existing work.

The trend of family ministry began in the late 1990s. As a movement, family ministry has crossed denominational lines and infiltrated various theologies and traditions. However, what that means for churches remains unclear.

According to Dr. Dan Hodge, who wrote a summary of "The Youth Workers' Handbook to Family Ministry," by Dr. Chap Clark, for the Center for Youth & Family Ministry (www.cyfm.net), family ministry often turned into the latest bandwagon for churches, rather than becoming an intentional ministry strategy.

"Many churches jumped on board, but had little idea of what family ministry is," writes Hodge. He says that is understandable, since family ministry looks different in differing churches.

Dr. Clark, who is associate professor of youth, family and culture as well as the director of youth ministry programs at Fuller Theological Seminary, defines family ministry by three varying perspectives:

Therapeutic/counseling perspective: A ministry addressing the emotional and relational needs of a congregation. Churches adopting this perspective may offer classes, support groups and counseling for families.

Nuclear family perspective: Ministry that equips and strengthens individual families within the church and helps them to function as a "whole" family. Churches adopting this perspective view discipleship as the job of the Christian family and may train and equip parents to do this work.

The church as a family perspective: Views the local church as God's model for the family. Namely, as a close-knit community in which nuclear families should draw together and not operate separately. Churches adopting this perspective emphasize connections, both relationally and programmatically, among diverse people and ministries.

While Clark points out both strengths and weaknesses of each of these three perspectives, he says the main issue for any family ministry is in finding a place in the core of the church. Rather than creating a bigger and better individual ministry, the impetus for family ministry has become one of integration.

"For too long youth ministry has been seen as a separate, hands-off program—creating its own purpose statement and strategic plan, its own checkbook and lay leadership, and its own way of doing ministry," Clark writes.

Not only in youth ministry, but in others, this model  must change if the church is to be connected.

Dr. Rob Rienow, family pastor at Wheaton Bible Church in Wheaton, Ill., agrees that family ministry should be viewed differently than other "silo" ministries and  become more of a strategy than a program.

"Forming a new department of family ministry, as an independent entity in the church structure, is a recipe for problems, frustration, and ineffective ministry," Rienow wrote for the Association of Marriage and Family Ministries. He noted that separate ministries rarely schedule events together, fellowship together or strategize together toward common goals and objectives.

Integration is important to Rienow as well. While his perspective seems to fall under the nuclear family perspective (as defined by Clark), Rienow suggests that viewing the family as the "essential discipleship center" will create a horizontal rather than vertical strategy for church ministries. The result is that a family focus intersects every area of the church.

In essence, Clark advocates the same idea. "Parents are the ultimate youth workers, and we must partner with them. Kids need the entire church and the church needs all the kids," he writes. "Family ministry is everybody's ministry."

Set a goal that by the time students graduate from high school, they will make a smooth transition into adult-member roles.

Consider how your programs affect the rest of the church. This includes events that affect parents (e.g., Can the parents pay for this camp when they paid for a youth retreat last month?) and decisions that affect other ministries (e.g., Does the choir need the van that weekend, too? Could we spruce up the preschoolers' space instead of repainting ours?).

We're called to be people of God before we do the work of God (John 15). What is a good barometer for this? When there is conflict, competition or calendar coordination, is your staff and lay leadership more for another ministry than they are for their own area (Philippians 2:1-4)?

If programs move the youth ministry away from the rest of the church, consider dropping them.

For youth ministry to move toward a more family-friendly stance with the church, youth workers must let go of the idea that they're the only ones called to care for students. A family-oriented youth ministry program at the very least recognizes that it's a servant of—and partner with—parents in reaching kids. And the church is ultimately responsible for seeing that youths—before they graduate from the group—are valued, esteemed, and integrated into church life.

(Clark's list is from an article that originally appeared in Youthworker Journal, July/August, 1999.)

Women's Ministry
Marriage Ministry
Children's Ministry
Youth Ministry
Men's Ministry
Singles Ministry