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Let’s Work Together

By Kera Hubbard

Kera Hubbard and her husband Jeff are youth and family ministers at Nichols St. Church of Christ in Bay City, Texas.

Every youth worker asks the question, “How can I reach all of my teens? How can I touch each of their lives?” I am not here to give you "the answer;" however, I have found a method that might just be an unexpected blessing.

My husband, Jeff, and I have recently started to follow our dream of being youth ministers together. We have worked with many youth groups and teens alike, but our biggest problem has been not being able to reach the opposite gender the way that those teens deserve.

As a woman, my specialty is mentoring girls. Yet, I find myself "clueless" about knowing how to reach guys in our youth group. I do not know how they think or what they like or dislike. They are like aliens to me! My husband finds himself in the same arena when it comes to ministering to the girls at our church. The problem is that as youth workers, we are expected to love and teach all the teens. Only by God’s grace have we been blessed with an alternative method for reaching every teen, boy and girl alike. We work together as a team ministry at our church.

The idea of a husband and wife youth ministry team is being incorporated in a growing number of churches. The Bible is clear that gender-based grouping for spiritual education is part of God’s original design. It makes perfect sense for males to reach males and females to reach females. The Apostle Paul gives a call to all believers in Titus 2. Paul instructs the older men to teach the younger men and for the older women to teach the younger women.

Teach the older men to exercise self-control, to be worthy of respect, and to live wisely. They must have sound faith and be filled with love and patience. Similarly, teach the older women to live in a way that honors God …. These older women must train the younger women to love their husbands and their children, to live wisely and be pure, to work in their homes, to do good …. In the same way, encourage the young men to live wisely. And you yourself must be an example to them by doing good works of every kind. (Titus 2:2-7, New Living Translation).

Jeff and I are using this approach as a way to have greater influence for Christ in our youth and family ministry. We are both employed by the same church. We serve as partners, teaching and reaching the teens in our local community by showing them God’s love.

Jeff and I also believe that we must follow God’s plan in accordance with what the Bible teaches. We are working together as a team using a model similar to the one used by Priscilla and Aquila in the Early Church (Acts 18). We draw on each other’s strengths and learn from the other the best methods to touch teens’ lives for Christ.

For us, our team ministry is an ideal situation. Nevertheless, we realize that this is not ideal for everyone. I also do not want to convey that one must be married to be an effective minister, or that a wife must quit her present job and become fully employed by the church so that she and her husband may work together. Many different types of Christians and leadership groupings can effectively mentor God’s people.

I have seen men and women mentoring teens in many different ways. There are instances in which youth ministers and their wives work side by side, and times when committees of women serve together and focus on touching the teen females in their church. There are also mother/daughter projects, father/son projects, and armies of volunteers that make youth work possible through team cooperation.

Jeff and I have been extremely blessed to share the same passion for God and for teens, and through our passion we are able to devote our entire lives to serving the teens and their families at our church.

As a team involved in youth and family ministry, we encourage men and women alike to get involved in mentoring teens. We are called to teach all people, to reach both genders in the name of Christ. God has a perfect design and an easy to follow plan of action. Let all embrace the idea of men and women working together to bring glory to God.

Used with permission.

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