How Do You Reach The “Drop Off Parents”?
Anyone working in religious education has prayed with this question for hours and hours. As strange as it sounds, most parents are often the greatest obstacle to accomplishing the mission of training youth in the faith. The truth is that regardless of what you do, most kids will grow up and live the model of how their parents live – particularly concerning the faith. Oh there are exceptions to this rule but those are far less than the number of students who follow their parents.
With the last faithful generation dying off (Our current seniors), we will soon see a landscape of a very different church. It will be much smaller but faith filled. The next generation to take over will be those who have been evangelized and have an intimate connection to God.
The rest of their peers who could be there will have left the faith a long time ago. They received no evangelization and see the Catholic Faith as a dead religion with no life nor power. Thus, the real need to evangelize the parents we still have. If you afraid of loosing them, don’t worry, they will be leaving sooner or later unless their knowledge of Jesus changes from book knowledge to heart knowledge.
One of the most effective methods for evangelizing parents is and evangelistic retreat for parents of sacrament age children. The Pastor initiates a mandatory rule that if their kids are going to receive the Sacrament, Parents must go through a weekend retreat done on campus.
I know, if you are a staff person and you see those highlighted words “mandatory rule“, you want to run and hide. Why? because it means that battles are ahead and it makes your job difficult. You are most likely going to take a hit as well as your Pastor.
Why would we want to do this, you might be asking? Because the fruits are worth the suffering. Jesse called us to bare fruit that will last. That is eternal fruit. Fruit that comes from leading people into a relationship with Jesus Christ. Fruit that is present only because they are living in the life of the Holy Spirit. Last reason for why you should do this or something like it – Because Jesus died so that we could have a chance to lead people home.
Let us come in and teach your staff to do an evangelistic mission for those parents. Offer it twice a year. The first year, we will run the program portion of the first retreat and have a staff member be present for the second. As you grow this retreat ministry, you will be able to get parents involved and have them learning how to do it.
Soon it will be the testimony of those parent that will sell this retreat in the future.
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We seek to provide parents with a clear understanding of what they may have missed in their own religious education. We will:
- Equip them with an accurate description of God’s saving plan;
- Help them to become properly disposed to God’s grace so that they are free to respond;
- Lead them to exercise their free will to say yes to God;
- Place them on the path toward growing in the fundamental disciplines of a disciple of Jesus Christ;
- Connect the dots of our Liturgical and Sacramental life so that are relevant within their daily lives.
Equipped with these foundational truths, parents will want to grow in their own relationship with Christ and, of course, desire that for their children. This can be done. It takes time, great effort and a committed crew that will bathe this in prayer.