Youth Ministry begins at home

By Jeb Egbert

My mother was baptized into the Body of Christ through the WCG in 1963. As a boy, I became acquainted with going to church every week, miles from where we lived. We had no youth program, and from what I can remember, the congregation I attended in Los Angeles had no intentional youth-focus.

Week in and week out I, along with my two sisters, would join my parents for the two-plus hours of services. We sang the same hymns. We listened to the same sermonettes and announcements and sermons. We had no service for the kids.

To some, what I experienced was a sure recipe for disaster. "You couldn’t possibly have been reached, listening to big people sermons," some might conclude.

But I was reached. How?

My parents deeply loved me (they still do) and I knew that. They also deeply loved God, and I knew that too. They took their calling of parenthood seriously. They understood the need to "bring up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord."

And so we had chats at the dinner table about scriptures. After every service, we discussed the sermon. Dad and Mom would ask questions about the message to gauge our level of comprehension, and turn the conversation into an opportunity to further help us with our understanding.

If someone had asked me when I was 9 years old to define youth ministry, I think I would have said, "It’s what happens in our home." Youth ministry was not perceived as some isolated means of doing for parents what they could do for themselves.

The same is true today. Youth ministry is an emphasis within the WCG, but it only serves to complement the remarkable (and exceedingly challenging) work of parents.

I thank God for my parents and for their resolve in sharing the gospel with me when I was young. I attribute anything that I am, first and foremost, to the grace of our Lord and Savior, and secondly to the relentless, loving, nurturing ministry of my parents within our family.

Thanks to all the parents who are prayerfully and regularly sharing their faith with their children. May any efforts toward denominational youth ministry support the incredible discipling work that you are engaged in with your offspring. Clearly, the biblical approach to youth ministry is that it begins at home.

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