If you haven’t heard of the latest strategy that’s been catching on for some time in children’s ministry, youth ministry and family life departments, then you might be missing the boat!
The ORANGE strategy comes from Reggie Joiner and the ReThink Group. The idea behind it is simply the merging of:
The authors of whatisorange.org invite us to:
Imagine the difference if every LEADER, every VOLUNTEER, every PARENT was on the same page, WORKING TOWARD THE SAME END. What if we all believed our mission was connected to how we INCITE WONDER, PROVOKE DISCOVERY and FUEL PASSION in the heart of every child.
The ORANGE strategy is defined by six distinctives:
- offering support with a network of experienced leaders
- synchronizing spiritual growth efforts of all age-group leaders and parents for children, ages 0 – 24
- providing ideas that are simple for parents to implement at home
- building on relational leadership, meaning every kid is connected to a consistent leader
- generating updated curriculum that stays relevant
- formatting curriculum in a customizable layout to meet a variety of church needs
To help churches meet the goals of the ORANGE strategy, The ReThink Group offers their own cutting-edge curriculum, complete with all kinds of fun and fascinating bells and whistles.
Programs target preschool, elementary, middle school and high school students, but the conversation extends towards college students and the role of the church in supporting today’s young adults as they make the most strategic decisions of their lives.
Content is well-written, easy to follow and extremely flexible. Themes are downloadable and presented in full-color. Lessons include small group and large group instruction, Bible lessons, creative activities, worship suggestions, skits and video options.
In addition, there’s an amazing array of extras to help you increase your church-to-home connection with parents.
However, you don’t have to buy into the curriculum financially to utilize the elements of ORANGE.
The strategy itself, offers children’s, youth and family life ministries direction, purpose and help toward creating passionate volunteers who know where they’re headed. They have evaluation tools, offer yearly small and large conference options and will hook you up to a substantial network of implementers who can give you suggestions on how to make the ideas work within your budget and within the constraints of your ministry.
The strategy was built upon the passions and proven practices of other ministry giants such as Sue Miller; who since her early days at Willow Creek, has urged us to establish small groups at every age and grade level so that kids could be known and loved by consistent leaders as they discovered the God of the universe.
The strategy addresses some of the key issues of the day; as based upon research studies by George Barna and found in his book Transforming Children Into Spiritual Champions.
The strategy has fueled movements within the church to develop Family Life Ministries; which synchronize children’s ministries, youth ministries and college ministries to create a continual pathway of spiritual growth for ages, 0 to 24.
In fact, you only have to let Reggie Joiner drip his passion on you ONCE to see for yourself the difference a consistent leader, a synchronized program, purposed volunteers and the addition of parent involvement can make in the life of a child in the development of their faith. Joiner has published Think Orange for ministry leaders and Parenting Beyond Your Capacity for parents. Both books are inspirational reading.
The ORANGE strategy is causing churches across the country to be more intentional with their vision, their leaders, their volunteers, their parents and their programming to meet the needs of today’s generation.
If you’re working with kids and families in ministry, the core values of ORANGE are something worth considering.
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