Head to the Heart: The System

Confirmation Instruction vs. Confirmation Ministry

Head to the Heart is designed to blur the lines between youth group and youth education, making confirmation learning fun, while retaining both the information and the kid.

Imagine a three-legged stool. (Go ahead, imagine it . . . ) The stool only works effectively when all the legs are intact. If one leg breaks, it topples over. The equally important three legs of the Head to the Heart (H2H) stool are Theme Events, Servant Events, and Fellowship Events. Why do we call them Events? Well, wouldn’t you rather attend an event than go to class? Yeah, that’s what we thought too!

The first and third weeks of each month are normally set aside for a Theme Event. At Theme Events, everyone comes together at church for learning (in a variety of engaging ways) in large group and processing and sharing in small peer groups.

The second week of each month is set aside for small peer groups to create and participate in Servant Events and Fellowship Events, translating their faith into action and building community. These Servant and Fellowship Events are key to bonding peer groups and Guides, thus creating a caring environment for deep small group conversations at Theme Events.

The final week of each month is set aside for nurturing the nurturers at a Huddle. This event looks more like a party than a teacher training meeting. You can also encourage families to schedule a “Family Date Night” on the last week of each month while your volunteer leaders are huddling.

While we suggest you follow the monthly schedule as indicated above, no two churches use the H2H System exactly the same way. That is the beauty of H2H—you can customize the program to fit your church’s situation and schedule. Just try to include Huddles and all three legs of the stool in your schedule planning to ensure your program is a comprehensive and complete ministry system.

Leg One: Theme Events

In the standard H2H system, all grade levels of your confirmation or junior high ministry program come together for the Opening and Presentation by your Host (a pastor or other leader). The PowerPoint slides and teaching aids are set up to be used by one person, or volunteers can supplement and enliven these events with participation in skits, video clips, art, and other Creative Interruptions. Following this interactive whole-group immersion into the topic, small peer groups break away to care, share, and join in prayer. Everyone comes back together for a low-key blessing and closing to end the event. That’s right: think event not class.

Leg Two: Servant Events

In the H2H system, one learns to be a servant by serving. The second week of every other month is set aside for small groups to participate in Servant Events that move faith into action. Each small peer group chooses, plans, and completes its own activity, or they can coordinate with other small groups to do a Servant Event together.

Leg Three: Fellowship Events

In H2H, the second week of every other month is set aside for small group Servant or Fellowship Events. They can be alternated each month. One month a Servant Event, the next month a Fellowship Event. What is a Fellowship Event? It’s really nothing more than the small group getting together for fun and fellowship; bowling, skating, going to a movie, whatever.

Wait. What? You want me to give up a night of teaching confirmation so the kids and their Guides can go bowling?

Yep! And here’s why: having fun together is the best way to break down social barriers between youth of different school social groups. With barriers down, trust and connection grow. With trust and connection, groups are more willing and able to have deep conversations about faith and life. If you want H2H to have a lasting impact, Fellowship Events are not optional - they are essential.

The Huddle

According to Dr. Peter Senge, systems change guru at MIT, to build a true learning organization you have to regularly critique, tweak, and constantly improve your system. In the Head to the Heart system, the leadership hosts a gathering on the final week of each month (or every other month) for their volunteers. We call this party a Huddle. Huddles are the place to get your volunteers together, support them in their roles and treat them to a fun time.

Share experiences, look back, deal with special issues, look ahead, and give feedback in tweaking the program month by month. Hold your Huddles in homes rather than at church. Don’t call this a teacher training event. People don’t want to come to a boring church meeting, and neither do you.

Huddle nights are set aside as Family Date Nights for non-Guide parents. Give your families a Wednesday night back now and then! With our over-scheduled world, intentional time to spend on a Wednesday as a family can be a great gift.

Because What Happens at Church Shouldn’t Stay at Church...

OK, we know it’s a goofy headline, but it’s true. The church has been replacing parents in their child’s faith formation for too long. We have been inadvertently sending the message “we are the professionals” and we can do it best. We are frustrated with parents and perhaps even resentful and angry with them. Why? Here is the hard truth; because parents are doing exactly what we’ve taught is required of them. Ouch.

It really is high time for the church to give parents back to their kids in faith. This is one thing we can all agree on. But the question is, how? Certainly not by guilting or begging them. Most of us have already tried that. We’ve even tried delicious donuts and fancy coffee.

We at Faith Inkubators have a better way. We’ve seen it work in thousands of churches and families across the world. It is called FAITH5 and it is incorporated into every Faith Inkubators ministry system, including Head to the Heart. FAITH5 is a simple, five-step nightly ritual that families practice each night in their homes. It is a non-threatening way to get parents back on the front lines of their child’s faith formation. We promise it works. It can’t not work.

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