{"id":264975,"date":"2024-11-18T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-11-18T19:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.navigators.org\/?p=264975"},"modified":"2025-01-13T10:42:57","modified_gmt":"2025-01-13T17:42:57","slug":"spiritual-generations-in-reverse-the-bartels-ministry-to-youth-in-grand-rapids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.navigators.org\/blog\/spiritual-generations-in-reverse-the-bartels-ministry-to-youth-in-grand-rapids\/","title":{"rendered":"Spiritual Generations in Reverse: The Bartels\u2019 Ministry to Youth in Grand Rapids"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

While living in their neighborhood in Michigan for 16 years, Jim and Jodi Bartels<\/a> felt the Lord tugging on their hearts to pursue ministry to youth in Grand Rapids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
Jim Bartels reading the Storybook Bible to youth in his backyard.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe saw a lot of youth wandering around the community, and the last place they wanted to be was home,\u201d Jim recalls. \u201cAs we got to know them, their stories, and their homes, our hearts broke for them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jim had been serving on staff at a local church, but as he continually received promotions, he realized that he was getting further removed from hands-on interaction with youth and their families. As Jim and Jodi prayed about their path forward, they felt a strong calling from the Lord. \u201cIt was almost an Abrahamic type calling to go, not to a land, but to the students,\u201d Jim says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jim and Jodi resigned from their roles at the church and walked in faith to where the Lord was calling them. As they began to connect with youth workers in the community, Jim and Jodi connected with Navigators Henry and Jacque Bouma, and they were introduced to The Navigators I:58<\/a> ministry vision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Jim and Jodi heard the Boumas\u2019 story, they became convinced that Navigators I:58 was how they would be able to reach the youth in their community long-term and joined staff in February 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Building a Ministry to Youth in Grand Rapids<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Over the years, Jim and Jodi have made lasting connections with local schools and students in their community. Intentionally opening their home as a safe, hospitable place where youth can feel like they are loved, cared for, and seen, Jim and Jodi and their three children have put into practice a Navigator I:58 value of whole-life discipleship, turning their backyard into a mission field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every Tuesday afternoon, Jim and Jodi host a time for snacks, playing basketball, and reading from the Jesus Storybook Bible with local elementary students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As their group grew, they invited a local organization called Urban Transformation Ministries to provide leaders to help with discipleship. Now, Jim and Jodi continue to devote their Thursday evenings to equip leaders and disciple students through the organization\u2019s high school Bible study program called Thursday Night Hype, and many of the students they had discipled in middle school are now a part of this high school program. Pursuing Life-to-Life\u00ae discipleship<\/a>, Jim and Jodi regularly meet up with students, grabbing a milkshake, breakfast, or opening their home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reaching Families Through Kids<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

While spiritual generations are often thought of as older generations pouring into younger generations, the Bartels are seeing what could be called reverse generational impact as they make connections to families through the kids in their community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One example is a 10 year old boy named Jay who has been coming regularly on Tuesday afternoons for backyard basketball and Bible study. As Jim poured into Jay\u2019s life and helped him with his struggles with anger, Jay\u2019s brother saw their love and care and began to connect with Jim and Jodi. Since then, Jay\u2019s older brother has been coming to Thursday Night Hype and church with his brother to learn more about the love and care of Jesus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While discipling students through real-life lessons on things like conflict resolution, forgiveness, purity, and anger management, Jim and Jodi have not only seen youth grow in their interest for faith, but they have also seen the parents of these students begin to express an interest in spiritual conversations, learning about the gospel, and even coming to church with them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the Bartels continue their ministry in their Grand Rapids neighborhood, pray for more opportunities to reach the youth and their families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Discipleship Tip:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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The Bartels\u2019 ministry is unique in that through focusing on children and youth in Grand Rapids, they are in turn building relationships and reaching parents, siblings, and the community at large. Their story is proof that those who are young can be disciplemakers too, leading those around them closer to Christ! Look around to your community, family, and networks. Are there any ways that you can be engaging with a younger generation, building them up in their faith or introducing them to the Lord?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Share God\u2019s Love With Your Neighbor<\/h3>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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The Bartels have made their neighborhood their ministry, gathering Bible studies in their backyard and engaging with local schools and families nearby. As believers, we are called to be good and loving neighbors (Matthew 22:39), but you might not be sure how to be intentional with the community you are surrounded by. Learn seven simple ways that you can engage with your neighbors through The Navigators resource, Share God\u2019s Love With Your Neighbor.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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LEARN MORE<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jim and Jodi Bartels have created a thriving ministry to youth in Grand Rapids, Michigan \u2014 all through opening up their home and backyard.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":264973,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_helpful_pro_status":1,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6337],"tags":[1483],"mission":[65],"topic":[44],"class_list":["post-264975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ministry-impact-stories","tag-disciple","mission-navigators-i-58","topic-discipleship"],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/www.navigators.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/111924-Article-Ministry-to-Youth-in-Grand-Rapids-Web.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"The Navigators","author_link":"https:\/\/www.navigators.org\/staff\/thenavigators\/"},"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.navigators.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264975","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.navigators.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.navigators.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.navigators.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.navigators.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=264975"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.navigators.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264975\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":264990,"href":"https:\/\/www.navigators.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264975\/revisions\/264990"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.navigators.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/264973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.navigators.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=264975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.navigators.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=264975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.navigators.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=264975"},{"taxonomy":"mission","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.navigators.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/mission?post=264975"},{"taxonomy":"topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.navigators.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topic?post=264975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}