The goal is to envelop our children and youth with as many people of faith of all ages as possible—people whose faith they can look up to and admire.
It has been said that it takes a village to raise a child. From a spiritual viewpoint, it takes a congregation. That means we need a faith family in which members have an understanding of their parts in passing on the faith to our young people. Faith webbing is a concept we have been developing at St. John’s since 1982. It attempts to help all members of the congregation to fill the relationship voids in each other’s lives. These people are like surrogate grandmas and grandpas, moms and dads, brothers and sisters, cousins, and nieces and nephews.
In this book, you will meet various youth.
Youth like Christopher, who at a young age has learned to turn to his church family in a time of need. Youth like Tori, who jumped into a congregation at the age of twelve and six years later graduated from high school totally immersed in her congregation. And you will meet youth like Josh, who at the age of fourteen has over one hundred people in his life whose faith he admires. From our standpoint, that is true youth ministry. That is faith webbing at its best, and that is what our young people need in order to grow up strong and true.
So, jump on in, meet some youth, and start thinking about how faith webbing can not only
impact your children and youth but your entire congregation.
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