Introduction: We only have about 40 hours a year with your kids at church. We also know that the parents’ influence is also limited and that other adult voices are needed in the lives of our kids. To develop a strategy to maximize the influence of both the church and parents is not only effective, but also scriptural. Think Orange is a paradigm shift. It is a brand new approach to capturing the hearts and imaginations of this generations parents and kids.
Church+Family= Orange (two combined influences make a greater impact than just 2 influences.)
This is all about churches and families working together to impact kids. What if every time you saw the color orange you thought about the changes that need to happen to reach the next generation? What if the blending of red and yellow always reminds you of the importance of partnering with each other and especially the family? What if whenever you came across something orange you thought about leaders who are investing their lives to influence kids and teenagers? There are two powerful influences on the planet- the church and the home. If they work together, they can potentially make a greater impact than if they work alone. They need each other.
Too much is at stake for either one to fail. Their primary task is to build God’s kingdom in the hearts of men and women, sons and daughters.
#1 Orange-ology
It stands out as bold. It is a secondary color, created when you combine two primary colors, red and yellow. Orange is what red and yellow can do when they combine efforts. If you paint with only one, you get only what one can do. But when you paint with red and yellow, you’ll get new possibilities, fresh solutions, and vibrant outcomes. What if the solution for the next generation is neither yellow or red? What if the answer is both? What if the church and the home combined their efforts and began to work off the same page for the sake of the children? We propose that the answer is Orange. For the Orange effect to become a reality in the next generation, a new breed of leadership must emerge. We need leaders who will recast themselves, becoming catalysts to change the way the church and the home partner.
Church leaders are the most logical people to champion this cause, as most churches have the platform and the network needed to rally the home and the church and the synchronize their efforts. But the church has not experienced leveraging its influence to truly engage the family. Too many churches are accustomed to painting in yellow that they have difficulty thinking in terms of Orange. Rather than synchronize their efforts, they attempt to convince parents to start painting in yellow.
What’s really at stake when the church and the family don’t think Orange , when they are not advancing the same strategy?
- The church forfeits it’s potential to have greater influence on kids’ and students’ lives.
- Churches miss critical opportunities to meet the needs of unchurched parents in their communities.
- Communities continue to perceive the church as institutional, insulated, and irrelevant.
- The church is characterized by superficial relationships.
- Productions or programs are positioned as the answer.
- Parents and leaders fail to teach the same truths in a synchronized effort.
- Parents avoid or abdicate to the church the responsibility to be spiritual leaders.
They need to work in sync. Working on the same thing at the same time is not as effective as working on the same thing at the same time with the same strategy. When you do this, you get Orange!
