Outside The Box Conversations... In A Box

You are the authority on youth ministry at your church.  Yes…YOU! It is your responsibility to walk alongside families and through the ups and downs of adolescence give them tools, resources, encouraging words, challenges, and opportunities to raise their teenager.  One of the ways that is most effective is setting up parents to have the winning conversation with their child, instead of you!  Most of the time we are thinking about events for our families to attend at our church on our time.

What if you didn't create another event that brought families to you and your church building?  What if you gave parents or caring adults a kit to take the conversation to their home?

Subscription boxes are all the rage right now in just about every area of life.  Why not make a box for parents to take home and have an experience with their son or daughter that leads to a life giving, crucial conversation?

You can do this!  Its not difficult, it just takes some strategy, some thought, some fun and many hands to make all these boxes happen. 

What could come in the Mom/Daughter Box:
-Two mugs- ones that you can design yourself with a sharpie then bake to make the mug design permanent
-Sharpies
-Hot chocolate
-Hershey kisses or dove chocolate
-Conversation guide- this is where you need to be strategic
-Things to Remember
            -design the experience so the caring adult doesn't have to think about it!
            -set the stage for what you want to talk about.

My recommendation is talking about identity.  This world throws so many things at teenage girls and a lot of times it’s hard to cut through the lies and get to the truth of who God says that they are. Design the conversation and questions to focus around who God says that they are.  

What could come in the Dad/Son Box:
-Make your own chili kit
-Interactive type game(Fun for teenage boys)
            -we made up a game using a deck of cards where each suit required something different.
                        -hearts = push ups
                        -diamonds = sit ups
                        -spades = questions to answer honestly
                        -clubs = special challenges (random acts of silliness)
-Conversation guide - Be strategic with this conversation
-Things to Remember
            -design the experience so that it’s a win for the adult AND the teenage boy.
            -make the experience line up with the conversation

My recommendation is talking about purity and pornography.  Our teenage guys are inundated with sexually explicit media at every turn.  It’s harder than ever to keep your mind focused on good wholesome things.  The only way to combat this is to get caring people involved in their lives and actually talk about it.  It’s an awkward conversation to talk about porn with a teenager but it needs to happen.  The conversation shouldn't point towards shame but the freedom we have from this through Jesus. 

The pictures at the top of this post give you an excerpt from the conversation guides for each of these conversations, think of what this could look like for your church and your students.

Give the caring adult that is bold enough to tackle these conversations everything.  Think through the entire experience and make sure to give them step by step instructions, even if you think it’s obvious.  Leave no detail out!  The conversation is the most important part, but the experience will earn them the right to talk about the topic openly and honestly.

Remember, if you are the only one having important conversations with your students then chances are in the long run you lose.  Get parents involved and give them the keys to conversations that matter.