In the charismatic and evangelical churches I’ve attended as an adult, however, "minister" and "ministry" are at once simpler and more involved concepts. "Ministry" is the work of the church - internally, in the community, and around the world. "Minister" is the act of doing any or all of that. This is easily stated, but it includes everything from preaching and counseling to setting up chairs and cleaning the facility. Frankly, I believe that the Bible supports this view of "minister" and "ministry". I’m in no way denigrating seminary or Bible college trained pastors, only saying that I believe that this broader definition of "ministry" is more complete scripturally.

So, how does this apply to homeschooling? There are two sides to teaching Bible and Christianity, though in life they need to be seamlessly integrated. Children need to be taught basic Christian beliefs, to read (regularly) and understand the Bible, and prayer. In some ways this is easier, in the sense that it can be taught and learned at home. The other side is learning the applying, the using, of what one knows in serving the Lord - AKA "ministry". Of necessity, this will involve at least some time outside of the home. It may include things that are beyond what Mom and Dad feel prepared to teach. Or it may be that the child has attained an age when Mom and Dad want to utilize teachers from outside of the family. I would like to tell of some of the things our family has done as illustrative of the kinds of outside of the house options homeschooling parents may want to investigate and use.

One of our church’s pastors decided to start a youth group for younger kids - 3rd through 7th grades - that would have more advanced teaching, serious worship time, and encourage the children to assist in one of the church’s ministries. That sure sounded interesting to us! When our eldest joined the group, we kept an eye on the group, to be sure that the potential would become real. It did. The children are taught the basics of Christian beliefs - the nature of God, the Trinity, salvation, baptism, prayer - and about non-Christian religions and worldviews. The children also learn about (and do) worship, including choosing and leading a song. More to the point of this article, the children are encouraged to assist (serve) in several of the church’s ministries. Quite a few of the children have become worship team members for the church’s Children’s Ministry (similar to a Sunday School department). Another part of the Children’s Ministry that has been greatly helped is Child Care (Sunday nursery and pre-school-age classes and also during the week). Many children serve as teacher’s assistants, increasing the teachers’ effectiveness by helping keep order and assisting with activities. After serving in the Child Care ministry for several years, when our eldest reached age 18, she became a coordinator for a midweek class.

Like many churches, ours has long had junior high and high school youth groups. Frankly, when our eldest was within a few years of being old enough to join, what we saw of the appearance and behavior of the groups made us nervous (looking back, it is possible we may have been excessively cautious). However, after several years, we noticed that our church’s youth groups’ behavior and appearance had much improved, evidencing less compromise with pop culture. We also learned that the pastoral leadership was doing more substantial teaching and worship, and having the groups undertake local outreach ministry and take part in missions projects. And so our youngest is participating in the junior high group.

Youth groups have received much flak among Christian homeschoolers, some of it deserved. There is no scripture passage or principle that forbids youth groups. And indeed, some youth group critics have pointed out certain key factors for parents to look for when considering having their children participate in their church’s youth group. First, does your church have a youth group because that is something churches are "supposed to do", or because God has called your church to have one? Does the Youth Pastor see that position as just a rung on the pastoral staff ladder, or as a ministry to which God has called him? What is the group trying to do - is it a place to have "safe" fun, or a place where leaders encourage spiritual growth and help the youth learn ministry by doing? And does the group offer things your child(ren) needs? Or would they be attending just because all their friends do?

Through a friend, we learned that Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF) has a 2-week training course they call, "Christian Youth In Action" (CYIA). CYIA attendees are trained about Christian life and witnessing in general, and how to assist with leading the various activities in a CEF 5 Day Club. The training includes witnessing at a park and helping at a 5 Day Club that is in-progress or at a Christian-run daycare center. One of the requirements for receiving the training is that attendees promise that they will assist with at least three 5 Day Clubs, Good News Camps, or Vacation Bible Schools in the coming year. After completing the training, students can be referred to Clubs being organized in their area. Our children found CYIA to be a good combination of classroom and hands-on training, plus a chance to apply what they have learned. Our eldest attended her first day at a CYIA very reluctantly, but by the third day, she was planning how to get her best friend to attend the next year’s CYIA.

College will confront young Christians with challenges to their faith in some courses’ content (in a general way), in courses designed, in part, to challenge Christian ideas, and in professors who seek to challenge and dismantle the faith of any Christian students in their classes. Two programs that are designed to help young Christians prepare for these challenges are Summit Ministries and Worldview Academy (WVA). While our munchkins have not attended any Summit Ministries camps, Summit has been recommended by Focus on the Family and Chuck Colson, and our church has organized group trips for interested high school group members to Summit camps. Two (soon, all three) of our munchkins have attended WVA camps. WVA is an intense week of instruction about how the Bible speaks to various moral, cultural, philosophical, scientific, and religious issues. WVA activities and instruction also include role-playing practice exercises, time for street witnessing, and a "field trip" to a natural history museum to allow students to see the deceptive ways the theory of inter-species evolution is represented as fact in museum displays. From what I understand, Summit’s camps are similar in approach and content.

For high school graduates, Youth With A Mission offers several types of courses that combine intense personal training with extended outreach and ministry time. YWAM has bases all over the US and around the world. During a course, students live at the base and wherever the outreach takes place. YWAM’s five-month-long Discipleship Training School (DTS) is divided into two segments. The first, lasting three months, focuses on personal discipleship and living the Christian life through classroom instruction, small group discussion and prayer, worship, devotions and journal keeping, and service at the training base. Ministry teams are also formed and trained for the ministry activities planned for the outreach. The second segment is a two month outreach trip to a YWAM base outside of the US to minister in that country - at churches and in outreach. Different YWAM bases in the US work with bases in different countries, so the country to which DTS students go varies. YWAM also has more advanced training courses for young people wanting to learn about becoming missionaries, and for those wanting to prepare to serve the Lord effectively at home and in the career world. Our eldest has loved her DTS, and at the time of this writing, she is on an outreach trip to Fiji.

Mercy Ships has what are called "Mercy Teams", that coordinate and handle advance logistics for a Mercy Ship at ports of call. This may be for a one or two year term of service. They also have short-term volunteers on the Teams, who serve for as little as two weeks, up to three months. Youth for Christ holds "Summer Institutes", which offer multi-track training for people interested in ministering to teens. I’m sure many other ministries offer similar programs. The programs I’ve mentioned all have a common thread - they combine training that prepares the student for some kind of ministry with opportunities to participate in the ministry for which they trained.