Family Ministry (The Plan as We Go Forward)

North Side Baptist Church exists to make disciples of Jesus Christ.  Whether at home or abroad, we seek to fulfill the Great Commission by making disciples.

We define a disciple as someone who:

  1. loves Jesus
  2. learns the teachings of Jesus
  3. lives those teachings out
  4. and leads others to do the same.

While the ministries of our church seek to make disciples, we realize this: the greatest environment in which someone is discipled is none other than his or her home.

Your family doesn’t need something, they need somebody.

And we want to equip you to make disciples within the family unit.

The Partnership

Family Ministry is a partnership geared to make disciples working with both the church and the home.  Psalm 127 is what is called a “Song of Ascents.”  The spiritual leaders would stand along the path up to the place of worship and sing this song over the people as they would gather together.  So as these individual families would join with other families for corporate worship, the spiritual leadership would sing out: “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.”

We know that a home can be built on so many things, but unless we are discipling those within it, our efforts are worthless in the long run.  That’s why our church wants to equip your home to make disciples.

Our strategy is simple:

  1. Equip parents to evangelize and disciple their children.
  2. Enhance church programming to supplement home discipleship.
  3. Engage family-based needs through awareness and training.

EQUIP

In order to equip parents, we must disciple them by teaching them the Word of God.  Starting in September, our discipleship groups are going to embark upon a 3-year Bible study plan that teaches through the Scriptures chronologically.

What’s unique about this plan is that all ages will be studying through the Scriptures together.  This plan will enable faith discussions to happen more naturally in your home.

In addition to providing a unified curriculum, we also will be providing your home with a weekly Bible reading plan that corresponds with the study.  

With numerous options, your family will be able to select a plan that works best for your situation and helps ground you in the Word of God.

Family Alter

We also realize that there are issues in your home that need training.  Throughout the course of a year, we can’t address every single issue in a sermon or in a discipleship group, but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t a legitimate need in your life.

That’s why starting August 11, we will provide weekly 5-minute training videos entitled “Family Alter.”  These videos will equip your family to make small alterations for home transformation.  Available and shareable from the website, you can get some helpful tips that can change the direction of your home each week.

Specific Ministries

We also want to be intentional about equipping the men and the women in our church.  Understanding the different needs, we want to teach you from the Bible what it means to be a man of God or a woman of God.  That’s why we have a plan on how we are going to use some life on life mentorship and teaching from God’s Word to equip both groups.

All of those events for the next year can be found on the website today.  Giving you plenty of time to prepare, we hope you will plan to take the time to be equipped.

NSU

For those desiring to know the Word more, we have the entire year’s NSU calendar ready for you today.

And to make sure you will never have to miss out on a class opportunity, we have this year’s six classes available on both Sunday and Wednesday nights.  Throughout the year, there will always be a NSU course in the Chapel at 6 on these nights.

Due to this schedule, childcare will always be available and you don’t have to worry about missing your discipleship group.

ENHANCE

We believe in the importance of a partnership between the home and the church, that’s why it is critical that we enhance our church ministries to supplement home discipleship.

If we really are called to make disciples, how do we need to focus our time when the generations converge on the church campus?  That led us to take our discipleship values and turn them into goals for the different ages.

  1. Our preschool ministry will focus on teaching a love for Jesus
  2. Our children’s ministry will focus on helping these children learn the teachings of Jesus
  3. Our student ministry will focus on equipping teenagers to live those teachings out
  4. And our adult ministry will focus on equipping them to lead others to do the same.

It’s a strategy that addresses the biblical mandate but also a person’s development process.

Preschool

In our preschool ministry, our goal is to instill a love for Jesus into these children.  We want to help them know the love that God has for each of them.  We want them to begin a love for God, a love for his word, and a love for the people of this world.  So our time with your children will reflect that.

On Sunday mornings, we will have gospel groups for our preschoolers.  Using this family-based curriculum, we will teach them the foundational biblical narrative.  For those preschoolers coming for both hours, the activities will be different but build upon each other.

On Sunday evenings, we will have Mission Kids.  At this early age, we want to instill a love for the people of this world.  And on Wednesday evenings, we will have Truth Kids.  Teaching them a love for God’s Word is foundational at this age.

We believe that with dedicated leaders and an appropriate teaching focus, we can help these preschoolers develop a love for Jesus at an early age.

Children

As these children grow, the years from 1-5th grade are pivotal.  That’s why our focus will be to help them learn the teachings of Jesus.  Due to their comprehension level, these children are at a place where they can learn and respond to the truths of the gospel.  Our focus will be geared towards that.

On Sunday mornings, our children will come to gospel groups.  This program will have a large group portion and a small group portion in both hours.  One change is that this program will be repeated at both hours and the ministry is for the complete time.  That means your children will not be dismissed during the services.  If children stay for both hours, they will go to gospel groups for 1 hour and stay in worship with their parents for the other hour.  At this age, we think both of those things are extremely helpful.  As a parent, you can serve in one of these areas.  We truly desire that church time and family time can be one in the same thing.

On Sunday evenings, Mission Kids will teach children to use their gifts, time, and resources to make a difference on mission.  This activity-based ministry will be fun for this age but also teaching them to serve others.  On Wednesday evenings, Truth Kids will teach children how to navigate through the Bible in a fun environment.

All of these ministries lead children to learn about Jesus and give them the chance to respond to him.

Students

Many teenagers possess a genuine love for Jesus and have learned a lot of truth about him.  In these critical years, the most difficult aspect is how to live it out.  That’s why our student ministry is designed to equip our students to put truth into action.

On Sunday mornings, we lead discipleship groups for our students.  Notice the shift from younger ages attending gospel groups to students moving into discipleship groups.  We want to raise the bar in our expectations of these students and equip them to live for Christ.  These groups will keep them connected with the family-based curriculum, but also enforce how to live for Christ day in and day out.

On Sunday evenings, our student ministry will be a part of NSU.  At this age, their worldview is being tested daily.  What better way to equip them to live for Jesus than disciple them and surround them with disciple-makers within the church?  This step helps them become a part of the church at large rather than just the student ministry.

On Wednesday evenings, students come to the Peak.  This ministry will allow students to use their gifts, invest in their friends, and receive critical biblical instruction in needed areas.

We believe wholeheartedly that we can disciple these teenagers to live for Jesus in their daily lives.

Adults

With our adults, we want to equip you to become disciple-makers.  We want you to lead others in following Jesus.

That’s why our worship services, discipleship groups, and NSU courses are designed to equip you to lead others in discipleship.  We also believe that as a result of this simplified schedule, you are more freed up than ever before to find a place to serve.  As you can tell, this schedule simplifies a lot of things for our church, but it also takes a lot of people to pull it off.

We are praying that you would step up and find your place to serve with the church.

ENGAGE

Our third and final step is to engage family-based needs through awareness and training.  When the unexpected happens in your family, we want to help you along every step of the way.

That’s why we are offering groups like Divorce Care to help with the pain of separation and divorce.  We are starting a brand new group for engaged couples that we are calling Just About Married.  The Gathering this year will be focused on the home.  We are planning a marriage conference, parenting workshops, and so much more.

All of the events are now available in detail on our website.  Registration is live today and you can make your plans for the 2015-2016 year.

We have also collected a group of resources that we believe to be the best out there to help you in key areas.  This group of books are now available in our bookstore.

Here We Go

Since this is an all-encompassing plan and a lot to process, we have a magazine to help fill in the details.

We want to set you up for success in order to lead your family into a closer walk with Jesus than ever before.

  1. Equip parents
  2. Enhance ministry programming
  3. Engage family needs

Eph. 4:12 teaches that it is imperative that we equip you to do the work of the ministry.  We believe that this family ministry plan provides our church with a concentrated effort to do just that.  Please read through the contents of the plan in detail and pray that God would do something incredible in our midst in the coming year.

Unless the Lord build the house, those who build it labor in vain.