Families? In YOUTH Ministry?! Yeah, right.
The face of youth ministry is always changing. The programs of the past are fading fast, and even the title of "Youth Minister" is in a state of flux. In the past, programs were teen centered, high impact, and high emotionally charged events. The programs focused solely on the teens as teens, not necessarily teens as budding adults ("adult larva" as I like to call them). The programs challenged teens to live as Christian teens, with the hope of them becoming Christian adults, but, in reality, there were few examples of Christian adults for them to see, and they were unclear what being a "Christian adult" meant. And in many ways youth ministry served as more of a wedge between teens and adults rather than a bridge between teens and adults.