Just For Parents
The first line of the FPC youth ministry mission statement begins with the simple phrase, “In partnership with families.”
Hundreds of youth parents show up each year for our Family Facelift, our Fall Kick off, and our Prayer Partner Breakfast. Dozens serve in pivotal roles week-after-week as teachers and small group leaders. The most fortunate get the chance to spend a week or a weekend with our kids on one of our amazing youth ministry getaways. And most other parents find ways to “help out,” driving for an event, providing food, opening their homes.
But our “partnership with families” is about much more than the countless ways that parents serve our youth ministry. We see the roles reversed. Our primary job as a youth staff and as an overall ministry is to serve, support and empower families to do what they can do better than anyone else—instill a rich and full sense of Christian identity in their children.
Our church provides a listening ear to parents who find their families in crisis, whether the crises are natural (like puberty) or overwhelming (like prison). Our youth staff and volunteers work hard to stay connected with students who may have detached from the formal programs of the church or who have begun to question their faith in ways that may feel unsettling. And perhaps most importantly, FPC provides youth with a place where they can get to know a “great cloud of witnesses” of adults who share a common sense of values and a common delight in teenagers.
If we can be of support to your family, please feel free to contact us at any time. You can contact me directly (615-298-9506 or mdevries@fpcnashville.org), or you can connect with Katy Miller, our Youth Program Coordinator (615-298-9570 or kmiller@fpcnashville.org), who can connect you with just the right person on our staff for your particular situation.
We do have a brief parent survey we’d love for you to take, if you haven’t done so already. If you’d like to send a message to us right now, you can do so by clicking here. If your family is brand new to First Pres and would like for our staff to reach out to your son or daughter, click here, and we’ll be back in touch with you very soon.
Blessings,
Mark DeVries
Associate Pastor for Youth and Their Families
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