// Episode 324: First Show of 2018! //
• Confidentiality and Parents
Download Youth Ministry Podcast: Episode 324
About the Author: Josh Griffin
Josh Griffin is one of the leading voices in youth ministry with 25+ years experience in the trenches, currently serving as the junior high pastor at Mariners Church and before that the High School Pastor at Saddleback Church. He's the co-founder of DownloadYouthMinistry.com, YMUniversity.com and heard in 400+ episodes of the DYM Podcast w/Doug Fields. He's created more than 50 youth ministry resources and authored several books including 99 Thoughts for Small Group Leaders. Josh and his wife Angela have 4 kids, which are now all teenagers! Contact Josh | Speaking Requests
I really appreciate you speaking into this subject of privacy and when to involve the parents. As a youth pastor and a father of teenage girls I have had times when I struggle with when to involve parents. My line has always been imminent serious harm (suicide, harm to others, etc.) and have had to make those calls several times unfortunately. This is a bit of a context issue, but what if the student having sex is a boy and the one struggling with pornography is a girl. I’m sure that you may come to similar conclusions on how to handle it, but even if it was unintentional it seemed that it’s terrible if girls have sex and boys are the only ones that struggle with pornography. That certainly is not the case in my youth group. Thanks again for tackling these issues.
Good topic on confidentiality. I feel that Jesus’ model of confrontation is valid here in Matthew 18:15-18. I believe in the instance of a child/parent/youth worker relationship, the parents should be the “two or more” that should be in the know after the youth worker lovingly confronts the student. Also, students being minors and small groups not being professional counseling, I don’t believe there should be an expectation of professional level confidentiality. My philosophy for youth ministry is that it should be supplemental to what discipleship should already be going on at home. And even where there is little-to-no discipleship happening in the home, I believe it’s important to set the precedent that the youth ministry is there to assist the parents, and not replace them.
I think it should also be communicated clearly to the students in the small group expectations that nothing is sacred in terms of being shared with their parents, but the goal is to always treat everything that is shared with love and respect that is displayed in Scripture with the intention of spiritual restoration and discipleship.
[…] episode dives into youth workers questions and gets a veteran perspective and advice. Check out episode 324 where the team discusses parents and student […]