Make parents your advocates.
Since we no longer need to include parents, we forget to outside of permission slips and meetings. We can use the excuse of it being easier to get to know kids from unchurched homes, or a safe way to answer a student’s deepest questions. As a parent, I can’t say it often enough. When I discover a random adult (no matter how well-meaning) that I don’t know is texting my child without my knowledge, it creeps me out. If you make ways to get to know the parent, even if you include them in the texts, you build a trust bank with the family. Your relationship with the student can actually have more impact if you include the parent.
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Don’t live in fear. Live in wisdom.
Just today I watched a PSA from a local police department describing how sexual predators and human traffickers use Snapchat, dating websites, and texting apps to lure teens. Due to issues like this as well as youth pastors gone awry in the news, many churches now have policies about not being alone with students or using private messaging at all. We don’t have to live in fear, but using wisdom and accountability is a must.
We were made for relationship and interaction. Technology can be used to aid this, but the key is to remember it was never meant to replace it.
This article by Leneita Fix was originally published on YouthMinistry.com, © Group Publishing, a division of David C Cook.
