Youth Transition Network

Discover what current college students said about their transition to college in our video room and consider becoming involved today as a YTN Ambassador.

Shepherding for the Future Options

Based upon our research the parent teen relationship is vital in setting our teens up to succeed when they leave home. Shepherding for the Future is based upon this research and Jesus' Shepherding of His young disciples. It is clear that Jesus was constantly looking to the time He would no longer be with His disciples and was working to set them up to succeed, desiring that "they would do greater things then He had" once He was no longer able to be with them in person. We as parents can take a similar approach to our pre-teens and teens leading to students who feel believed in, trusted and empowered to tackle the future on their own.

This series has a range of options for parent groups, in churches, ministries, and Christian/home schools environments.

1) A one-hour session, covering the key issues and principles of shepherding pre-teens and teens session has been designed for parents nights or Sunday school hour times where parents of teen and pre-teens can be gathered more easily.

2) A weekend retreat with four sessions has been developed offering the opportunity to delve more deeply into the research related to teens and the four key principles of Shepherding.

3) A Shepherding for the Future & Reboot four-day retreat. This incorporates our teen content around the faith issues we uncovered and the Shepherding content for parents. The material parallels each other and creates non-threatening points of discussion between teens and parents designed at building a sound relationship and approach to the teenage years and the future together.

4) A Reboot Retreat for Teens This four-day retreat covers the central issues that confuse and discourage the hearts of our teens related to their faith in a open dialogue, discussion and teaching format. Each session approaches the students through their own experiences and stories helping them internalize it in a more real and experiential fashion. The sessions include:

The retreat works with groups of teens from different ministries or it can be crafted to help students address challenging issues within the culture of their youth ministry. It leads them towards making a commitment to one another to love and care for each other addressing the dual life issues so prevalent in our youth ministries today.