- “A family place for children” is one of the three top benefits newcomers site as what they look for in a church.
- 75% of Protestants leave the church during their late teens, but 49% return by their late 30s.
- Having children is the number one impetus for people returning to church.
- Problems churches have with family ministry programs:
   1-they don’t always know what to do
   2-they try to get families to join without reshaping the ministries of the church
   3-they add programs/activities without determining how to make all aspects of church life welcoming and nurturing for families

What Families Want in a Church
- After a family starts visiting a church, it takes from 1 month to 2 years for them to decide to join.  During that time, the family needs to feel:
   1-accepted and liked by people important to them
   2-satisfied with their children’s Sunday school classes
   3-satisfied with the quality of the clergy
- A family needs to make at least 7 friends within their first six months of attending or they’re likely to stop attending.

What Families Tend to Find
- Typical church groups segregate family members.

What Families Have to Say
- Ministry leaders need to discover how families are involved in the congregation and what they’re looking for (visitation, by telephone, written surveys).

What Families Do and Do Not Do (at home)
- Do the families pray, read the Bible, and talk about faith at home?

What Scripture Says
- The Bible doesn’t have a lot to say on families an family life.
- Take individual lessons and apply to each family member.

What Churches Can Do
- A church doesn’t need lots of money, lots of staff, or lots of room.
- A church does need a vision and a commitment.

Ch 2 – Program Basics: Innovative Ways to Build an Effective Family Ministry

Step 1: Understand Families Today
- About 2/3 of children live in families with 2 parents.
- In the UM Church, 81% of families are 2 parent families and 6% are in 1 parent families.
- Single parents: 39% were never married, 35% are divorced, 22% have an absent spouse, and 4 % are widowed.
- In single-parent households, 85% are only the mother, while 15% are only the father.
- Young people in single-parent households are more at risk.

Step 2: Create a Vision and a Mission
- A vision is a one to four sentence statement of what a family ministry could look like.
- A mission is a statement that focuses on how you generally hope to achieve your vision.
- Mission statements are narrower than visions.
- Create the vision statement before the mission statement.
- Where is family ministry positioned in relation to the other ministries of the church.

Step 3: Make Family Ministry a Priority
- Try not to attach it to only one area (i.e. families with teenagers).
- Keep family ministry as a central role of the church.
- Divide it into broad categories (by age, single, etc.).

Step 4: Examine Your Current Programs
- Look at what is currently being offered and examine how they could integrate families.
- Christian Education – 
 Is the topic of family life ever covered?
 How are parents in the church being educated?
 How are families receiving education together?
- Service and Mission – 
 How can families be involved in service and mission projects?
- Worship – 
 Are the services family-friendly?
 Are families included in the service?
- Congregational Care – 
 Do you consider families going through divorce?
 Do you consider the homebound, sick, etc.?
- Music and the Arts - 
 How can the music ministry be more inclusive for families?
 How can families be involved in the arts?

Step 5: Set Your Family Ministry Agenda
- If you find “holes” in what is being offered, try to fill them with programs and activities … but start slowly.
- Feedback is essential.

Step 6: Continue to Learn
- Check out the latest books, magazines, newsletters, websites, mailing lists, human resources.

Step 7: Keep Going
- Everything won’t work.
- As Mother Theresa said “God hasn’t called me to be successful; He’s called me to be faithful.”
- It takes a long time for a family ministry to take root and be successful.
- Start slow and build. 
- Throw out what isn’t working.

Ch 3 – Exciting Education: Meeting Needs Through Learning 

Family Education Ideas
   ? Create parent-child book groups.
   ? In the summer, have families bring beach towels and blankets to your church for evening ‘star’ parties.
   ? Have a class on the importance of voting and why being faithful involves being involved in the political process.
   ? Create a class to teach children and parents how to communicate with one another more effectively.
   ? If you have a church library, offer family story times.
   ? Rent a video or go see a movie.
   ? Encourage family members to talk about their faith experiences with one another.

Intergenerational Education Ideas
   ? Have an intergenerational class where children, youth, and adults come together to learn about the Bible and Christian heroes.
   ? Find people of different ages who would be willing to share some of the significant events that have occurred on their faith journeys.
   ? Create an intergenerational class on the ethnic heritage of church members’ ancestors.
   ? Create an intergenerational class that encourages people of different ages to mingle and talk to each other.
   ? Partner adults with teenagers and children who share the same interests.
   ? Invite people (from 4th grade and up) to an intergenerational class on faith and current events.
   ? Create an intergenerational class that highlights the strengths of children’s education and adult education.
   ? Develop intergenerational educational outings.
   ? Create an intergenerational in-depth Bible study of a popular Bible study.

Parent Educational Ideas
   ? Survey the parents of your congregation to learn what topics they’re most interested in.
   ? Offer classes on basic Christian skills that parents can use at home.
   ? Create parent-education classes on financial management for families.
   ? Provide a class on teaching Christian values to children and youth.
   ? Create a short series of parenting classes (possibly 3-4 classes) on evaluating parents’ faith experiences.
   ? Develop a class that focuses on a specific type of parenting, such as single parenting, blended-family parenting, two-parent family parenting, and so on.
   ? Sponsor an enrichment workshop for parents.
   ? Offer a class or an ongoing support group for two-parent families that focuses on marriage.
   ? Teach parents about the importance of family rituals.
   ? Offer classes for parents of children in specific age groups.
   ? Have a parenting self-reflection class where parents assess their feelings about being a parent.
   ? Invite a family therapist, a child development expert, or a parent educator in your community (who also is a Christian) to lead a class on parenting.
   ? Develop a five-series parenting class on the book Five Cries of Parents.
   ? Have a parenting class on a hot topic (drugs, alcohol, sexuality).

Children and Youth Education Ideas
   ? During a Sunday School class or youth group meeting, focus on the topic of family negotiation.
   ? Develop a class where young people assess the relationships they have with each of their family members.
   ? Have a class to discuss what to do when there’s trouble within a family.
   ? Focus a class on household chores.
   ? Develop a class about young people’s views of marriage and family.
   ? Talk about friendships in regard to how family members accept or don’t accept these relationships.
   ? Create a family wish list class.
   ? Have a “best” class; ask young people to write what they like best about their family.
   ? Periodically create art projects and crafts during class that would make good mementos for parents to keep.
   ? Offer a class on money management.
   ? Create a class about discussing faith.
   ? Include one to two easy, new ideas based on your class topic that young people can take home to do with their families.
   ? Watch videos that emphasize family values and then discuss them.
   ? Develop a “What Parents Do” class.
   ? Have a family fun class where young people identify the different ways they have fun with their families.

One-Time Educational Ideas
   ? Have an auto mechanic give a short course on car maintenance.
   ? Team up with a health organization or medical clinic to teach infant and child CPR to parents at your church.
   ? Ask a hair stylist to lead a class on hair care.
   ? If your church has a kitchen, offer a cooking class for families.
   ? Offer a class on video equipment.
   ? Have a sleep class for exhausted parents one evening.
   ? Have a one-time workshop on choosing Christian books for children and teenagers.
   ? Offer a sandwich-generation (caring for aging parents) class led by a pastoral care minister or a social services expert on the topic
   ? Offer a baby-sitting safety class for older children and teenagers.
   ? Recruit a web expert to teach families in your church how to set up a family web site.
   ? Lead a workshop on helping family members find their life purpose.
   ? As the new year approaches, offer a class on setting New Year’s resolutions.
   ? Invite a nutritionist or therapist who specializes in children’s eating habits to offer a class.
   ? Have a minister lead a class on helping family members identify their spiritual gifts.
   ? Identify a church member who is fluent in a second language to teach a beginning language class.

Ch 4 – Service and Mission: Families Help Others Together

Easy Ideas to Get Started
   ? Be clear about expectations and roles.
   ? Develop a cooperative atmosphere.
   ? Train families.
   ? Create meaningful service projects.
   ? Offer options (different times, age groups, experience levels, etc.).
   ? Debrief the experience after a service project.

Church-Based Service Projects
   ? Develop an annual church yard cleanup.
   ? Ask families to decorate your church sanctuary for Advent.
   ? Have families spruce up your church nursery.
   ? Create a family ministry read-a-thon.
   ? Develop family mentors for new members of your congregation.
   ? Have families create “Welcome Baskets” for new family members (either through adoption or birth) and deliver them to the families after the new family member arrives.
   ? Ask families to visit hospitalized members and members who are unable to leave home.
   ? Have families take turns serving refreshments following a worship service or during a church event.

Service Project Partnerships
   ? Each fall, Church World Service sponsors an annual CROP Walk for Hunger.
   ? Link up with a Habitat affiliate near you to do a family service project.
   ? Join USA WEEKEND’s Make a Difference Day held on the fourth Saturday each October.
   ? If you’re creating service projects for families with junior and senior high youth, consider going on a week-long work camp through Group Workcamps.
   ? Partner with human service agencies in your community during the fall to create Christmas giving trees.
   ? Get families involved with National Youth Service Day each April through Youth Service America, an alliance of more than 200 youth-serving organizations.
   ? Find service and mission opportunities near you by visiting www.volunteermatch.org.
   ? Scout for other service opportunities that already exist near you.

Service Projects for All Families
   ? Deliver a meal to people who are unable to leave home.
   ? Organize a church-wide food drive.
   ? Tie in a Bible study whenever you do any type of service or mission project with families.
   ? Collect mittens scarves, and caps during the winter for homeless families.
   ? Have families take turns changing your church’s outdoor sign of weekly information (if you church has a sign) or collecting bulletins left on pews or chairs after a worship service.
   ? Ask families to bring in treats 3-4 times a year (for SS classes).
   ? Whenever your church has a collection drive, create a list with two or three items that would be of interest to families with children of different ages.
   ? Partner with a shelter for families or a temporary housing unit for displaced families.
   ? Ask families to keep greetings cards they receive for birthdays, anniversaries, and Christmas for recycling.

Service Projects for Families with Young Children
   ? Collect toys for young children who are either hospitalized, in foster care, or in a crisis ministry.
   ? Have families with young children visit with people who rarely see children.
   ? Ask families to make May baskets (out of construction paper) and fill them with candy and small toys.
   ? Invite families to sort through their children’s outgrown shoes and clothes.
   ? Have families with young children draw pictures and make greeting cards for people in your congregation who are sick.
   ? Create a cheerleading service project where families with young children attend one sporting event in which your church participates.
   ? If your church lawn or nearby park has lots of dandelions, have families with young children go dandelion picking (with the goal of getting every single dandelion), to give as dandelion gift bouquets.
   ? Ask each family with a young child to buy a duplicate of their child’s favorite toy and go visit a pediatric hospital or crisis nursery.
   ? Have families with young children give a “shower of thanks” to your senior pastor, church secretary, children’s ministry, Christian education coordinator, or nursery caregiver.
   ? Ask families to volunteer to work at water stops and food booths for marathon races and walkathons.

Service Projects for Families with Elementary-Age Children
   ? Offer a dog wash in your church parking lot on a summer weekend afternoon.
   ? Have families offer home-care services for members going on vacation or on a business trip.
   ? Invite families to volunteer during a preschool Sunday school class.
   ? Ask the church council to designate a small space for a family-run church garden.
   ? Have families cut out grocery coupons to give to a local food bank.
   ? Make gift baskets for a nearby nursing home or assisted-care facility for older adults.
   ? Schedule a time for families to hold and rock babies in a hospital nursery.
   ? Be welcoming attendants as a family at a shelter or a drop-in center.
   ? Have families volunteer to rescue food that’s leftover at a special event, at restaurants, bakeries, and/or hospitals.
   ? Have families volunteer to stuff a church bulletin or assist with a large mailing for your church.

Service Projects for Families with Teenagers and Young Adults
   ? Coach a sports team for young children.
   ? Speak out about social issues in your community.
   ? Use more in-depth skills to create items for people in need.
   ? For families who like to travel and serve, Habitat for Humanity has the Global Village program. 
   ? Have an group take a long bike ride to raise funds for a worthy cause.
   ? Form a family welcoming committee that reaches out to families who join your church. 
   ? Collect slightly used musical instruments.
   ? For families with teenagers and young adults who are adept at working with cars, offer a free car tune-up for people in your church. 
   ? Tutor a young child.
   ? Have a family or a group of two to three families develop a youth or adult forum.

Ch 5 – Welcoming Worship: Creating Family-Friendly Services

Family Involvement in Worship
   ? Have families take turns making the weekly worship announcements.
   ? Invite families to read the lesson or part of the liturgy.
   ? Recruit families to be greeters and to distribute worship bulletins as people enter the sanctuary. 
   ? If your church has attendance registers for members to sign, encourage families to have each of their children sign the register.
   ? Create a focus group of families from your church to offer feedback about what they like and dislike about worship. 
   ? Have families participate in worship through music and the arts.
   ? If your worship service uses acolytes, consider having a family fill this role periodically. 
   ? Ask family members (and other church members) to wear clothing of the appropriate color to celebrate different seasons of the church year.
   ? By following your religious tradition, consider how families can assist with serving Communion. 
   ? Have families be ushers.
   ? Create an annual family worship service.

Worship Accessories
   ? Recruit your church sewing circle (or those who enjoy sewing) to make soft-bodies worship dolls, cloth books, or lap quilts for children to use during worship services.
   ? Distribute children’s worship bulletins.
   ? Find ways to offer simple items for family members to hold and use during worship, such as a star on Epiphany Sunday, a palm branch on Palm Sunday, or a nail on Good Friday.
   ? Include small pieces of writing paper in your pew racks along with sharpened pencils.
   ? Create a scriptural booklet about why your church worships God.
   ? Set up a display in the narthex of Christian picture books and novels for children.
   ? Create worship bags with activities for young children. 
   ? Develop a simplified worship bulletin for children and teenagers that includes the order of worship, the actual readings, and the words to hymns.
   ? Periodically create a flyer giving more information about a specific element of worship, such as a flyer about offering or hymns or sermons or prayers.
   ? Occasionally ask families to share their family faith stories with the congregation during a worship service.

Worship Ideas for Different Church Seasons
   ? Have families wrap their offering envelopes in one of the color foil wraps for Epiphany Sunday. 
   ? Celebrate baptism (on the Sunday after Epiphany, have time for families to go to the font and dip their fingers in the water).
   ? During the worship service on Transfiguration Sunday, ask family members to write on a piece of paper one thing that they would like to change about themselves.
   ? Since many families find it difficult to attend all the worship services during Holy Week, create times of the day when family members can stop, pray, and remember the significance of the particular day of this important week.
   ? Have each family bring a red candle to light and place on the altar to celebrate Pentecost.
   ? Invite a creative family to design a dramatic reading of Acts 2:1-13 for Pentecost.
   ? One of the longest seasons of the church is the season after Pentacost.  Have families bring an object they cherish that symbolizes ordinary life. 
   ? If your church has a decorated tree for the Advent and Christmas season, consider making tree decorating part of a worship service during Advent.
   ? Have families take turns lighting the candles in the Advent wreath each Sunday.
   ? Many churches traditionally have a Christmas Eve candlelight service late in the evening on Dec. 24.  Have an earlier one for families.

Children’s Sermons
   ? Have a sermon about relationships.
   ? Consider having a seasoned preschool teacher give the children’s sermon occasionally.
   ? Give to each child attending the children’s sermon an item to take to their parents, such as a carnation or a red heart.
   ? For a children’s sermon, recruit enough adults and teenagers beforehand so that each one can bring a child from the church nursery to your children’s sermon.
   ? Hold the children’s sermon in different parts of the sanctuary, such as in the balcony, near the altar, near the pulpit, in a pew, and so on.

Church Nurseries
   ? Invest in families.  Hire child-care providers to run your church nursery during worship services.
   ? Wire speakers in the church nursery so that nursery workers can hear the worship service while they’re providing care in the nursery.
   ? Periodically create processionals that include parents with young children so that they can come into the church together, and sing one short hymn. 
   ? Give your worship committee and worship leaders a tour of your church nursery.
   ? Incorporate a prayer time and a song time into the church nursery so that even the youngest of your church’s children get to participate in (or at least observe) prayers and songs.

Prayers, Offerings, and Readings
   ? Give each family a bubble solution container with a bubble blowing wand in it. 
   ? Have a reverse offering (pass around the plate full of pennies, each takes one).
   ? When creating responsive readings, instead of creating parts for people by age and gender, create them for different types of families. 
   ? Create a visible prayer chain in your sanctuary.  Each person writes their name on a piece of colored paper.  Helpers collect and assemble the chain and display it in the sanctuary.
   ? Give each family member entering the sanctuary a dandelion, wildflower, or some other inexpensive flower.  Everyone goes forward and places them on the altar with a ‘thank you God.’ 
   ? Create a prayer that emphasizes what family members do with their hands.
   ? Create a litany of confession where everyone responds after each sentence by saying “Have mercy on us.” 
   ? Give a cut-out heart shape to each member as they enter the sanctuary.  Each person writes the name of a family member they wish they felt more loving towards, folds it in half, and places it in the offering.
   ? Give each family member a sticky note as they enter the sanctuary.  Each person writes a prayer request and goes forward to place it somewhere (altar, pulpit, etc.).

Additional Ideas for Families and Worship
   ? Occasionally have parenting commissioning services to commission parents in their important role as their child enters a new stage in life.
   ? Examine other times to have worship services so that families can worship together. 
   ? Have a blessing of the animals ceremony during which families can bring their pets to a short, outdoor service.
   ? Be intentional about including family activities, family educational workshops, and other announcements for families in each church bulletin and newsletter. 
   ? Create new pledge cards for stewardship Sunday.
   ? During a worship service when it’s not too cold, have family members take off their shoes when they enter the sanctuary. 
   ? In some churches, young people preparing to be confirmed take “sermon notes” on the weekly sermon.
   ? On Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, provide ways to recognize the parents in your worship service while also learning more about them. 
   ? When giving a message about the feeding of the 5,000, show families part of the story.
   ? Find a puzzle that has a picture of a church.  As they enter, give each person a piece.  Afterwards, everyone gathers together to put it together. 
   ? When your church does a service or mission project that encourages people to bring items, designate a worship service to emphasize this.

Ch 6 – Congregational Care: Supporting Families

Easy Ideas for Support Families
   ? Learn the names of each family member, including children and teenagers.
   ? Make sure your youth and children’s programs aren’t overplanned. 
   ? List each family member in your church directory, including children, teenagers, and other family members who don’t attend your church.
   ? Celebrate holidays that are related to families. 
   ? Celebrate holidays that are related to families.
   ? Give each family member a permanent name tag to wear to church each Sunday. 
   ? On New Year’s, encourage families to write “family care” or “family faith care” resolutions.
   ? Accept and affirm each family’s involvement in your church, even if it’s minimal. 
   ? Create a family-friendly, warm climate within your church.
   ? When family members bring extended family members and friends to church, go out of your way to meet these people. 
   ? Occasionally call, e-mail, or drop a note to a family.

Ideas for Supporting Entire Families
   ? At church-wide fellowship gatherings, designate a photographer to take pictures. 
   ? Pair families of new members with families who have been members for a while.
   ? Create baby baskets to bring to families after the birth or adoption of a child. 
   ? Have an intergenerational, family-oriented vacation Bible school during the summer.
   ? Connect families whenever you can. 
   ? Create a family Bible study where family members study about being a family together.
   ? Find out about families that belong to more than one church or faith tradition. 
   ? Let people know about the family resources that are available in your church.
   ? Learn what families are looking for in your church. 
   ? Have a family spotlight in your church newsletter or church bulletin each week.

Ideas for Supporting Individual Family Members
   ? Create “prayer pals” or “faith partners” so that each child and teenager in your church is connected with an adult outside of their immediate and extended family. 
   ? Start an “It’s Amazing!” bulletin board (news clippings about members).
   ? Encourage teachers and youth group leaders to get to know each child personally so that young people have a caring adult in the church who supports them. 
   ? Recognize a “star of the week” from among the children and teenagers in your congregation.
   ? Find out the significant dates and anniversaries of family members. 
   ? As part of teacher training for your Christian education program, encourage teachers to get to know their students as individuals and to build relationships with them.
   ? Develop a parent network in your church. 
   ? When non-family members in your church begin to know the children, youth, and parents of the congregation, encourage them to attend concerts, games, or other events of individual family members to show their support.
   ? Find out where working parents are employed (support groups by work location?). 
   ? Learn what interests individual family members have.

Supporting Families in Transition and Crisis
   ? Be available to listen to families in transition (death, divorce, etc.). 
   ? Work with families to develop a theology that fits their family situation, such as a theology of single parenting, a theology of blended families, a theology of adoptive families.
   ? Give support to families who are experiencing any kind of change by introducing them to other families who have gone through the change and are now doing well. 
   ? Meet with other church leaders in your area or with family service providers to discuss the types of trends they’re seeing in family transitions and crises.
   ? Give all families clear signals about who to call when they’re in transition or crisis. 
   ? Assign a person to check in periodically with a family going through a transition or crisis.
   ? Find out about services for families in transition in your community. 
   ? Be intentional about educating members of prayer chains, congregational care leaders, and other who provide support in ways to give support to people in emotional and relationship pain.
   ? Create a small support group for people in your congregation who are facing a similar crisis. 
   ? Designate a small discretionary fund for your senior pastor who can then give financial aid to families in transition and crisis without committee approval. 

Visiting Families
   ? Whenever a family joins your church, have a staff person or lay leader visit them at home in order to get to know the family better. 
   ? Visit families whenever there’s a birth or an adoption of a child.
   ? An ideal time to visit families is during the final two months of pregnancy. 
   ? Assign each family in your church a new family to shepherd and care for.
   ? Make a point of visiting families who have members who don’t attend church. 
   ? Consider visiting families during key transitional times, such as a child starting kindergarten, a child turning thirteen, a teenager getting a driver’s license, a child graduating from high school, a child going to college, and so on.
   ? Visit families during the summer. 
   ? Be aware of when family members are having surgery.
   ? Visit families who are dealing with chronic illnesses or disabilities. 
   ? The best time to visit a family is for no reason at all.

Support Group Ideas
   ? Create parental support groups according to the age of children in families. 
   ? Ask families what types of support groups they would be interested in.
   ? Develop a support group for parents who are parenting along or are parenting with a nonbelieving (or nonchurch-going) parent. 
   ? Whenever you offer any type of support group for families, always provide a list of reliable referral resources for families who may need more in-depth counseling and therapy.
   ? Learn about the various issues families are grappling with and the types of families that are in your congregation.
   ? If a support group has more than six people present, separate the group into two smaller groups so that everyone gets a chance to talk and share.
   ? Whenever your church offers Bible study groups or other small group experiences, include at least one group for families. 
   ? Create a support group called “Parents of Faith” for parents interested in learning more about how to be Christian parents.
   ? Create support groups that cater to more general family concerns, rather than just crisis concerns (such as sexual abuse groups, AA, etc.). 
   ? Look for ways to create support groups, even for small groups of people.

Ch 7 – Music and the Arts: Creative Activities for Families

Vocal Music Ideas
   ? Periodically have a song or hymn sing during part of your worship service.
   ? Encourage families to sing together and perform together. 
   ? Create a family choir that practices and performs periodically.
   ? Encourage teenagers who enjoy vocal music at their school to be soloists at your church. 
   ? Create a repertoire of favorite songs and hymns that you sing often in your church. 
   ? Periodically have the children’s music director or leader teach families in worship simple songs of faith that also include hand motions or actions.
   ? The season of the church year in which families tend to know the most songs is Advent and Christmas; teach songs about other seasons as well.
   ? Ask families to invite extended family members to sing a faith song or hymn that has been a family favorite for a number of generations. 
   ? Create an annual family church concert.
   ? If your church has only one choir of adults, occasionally invite the children and teenagers of the choir members to sit with the choir and join in during one simple song. 
   ? Consider having your family choir go on tour occasionally.
   ? If you church has singing liturgy, occasionally ask one of your families to lead this part of your worship service. 
   ? Create a list of vocal instructors who attend your church.
   ? Ask families who enjoy singing to make lullaby musical tapes for families in your church who are expecting or who have infants.

Instrumental Music Ideas
   ? Create a family music night during which you put together a program of different church families performing in different ways.
   ? Have an intergenerational congregational band that rehearses once a month and performs 3-4 times a year for worship or other church events. 
   ? Seek out professional family groups and invite them to perform a concert at your church or during your worship service.
   ? Encourage families to present special music for worship services, in which even the youngest musicians can participate. 
   ? If your church has a church choir that gives a concert or does a music-only worship service occasionally, encourage the music coordinator to also include instrumentalists as part of the program.
   ? Offer piano and other individual music lessons at your church during the time that you want parents involved in committee meetings and other church activities.
   ? Create a contact list of instrumentalists in your church and distribute this list to families.
   ? If you have a bell choir or some other instrumental choir, look for simple music to provide to families with children. 
   ? Create music mentors in your church by connecting children and teenagers who play a certain instrument with an adult who plays the same instrument.
   ? If you church has an organ, find out if the organist is willing to give organ lessons to interested family members. 
   ? Encourage music teachers in your community to rent your sanctuary for recitals and concerts.
   ? Find children and teenagers who play the piano to perform piano duets for your worship service or other special church activity.

Ideas in the Arts
   ? If you have people who make banners for your church sanctuary, ask them to lead a banner-making class for families.
   ? Invite a stained glass artist to offer a class showing families how to make stained glass art.
   ? If your church has many families who enjoy making things together, have an annual arts fair where families can display their projects and sell them.
   ? Occasionally have a family craft-making event at your church where families can pick from 3-4+ art stations.
   ? Create family craft activities that tie into the church year.
   ? Find families who enjoy floral arranging. 
   ? Have families make Advent wreaths.
   ? During Advent, have a gift-making workshop for families to come and make gifts for friends and family. 
   ? Create a series of art-making activities during Advent, Lent, or other times of the church year.
   ? Ask families to design the front cover of your church bulletin or newsletter from time to time. 
   ? Have an annual church art fair where you display works of art made by family members throughout your church.
   ? Hold a creative arts event during the summer for families with infants, toddlers, and preschoolers. 
   ? Update the art materials in Christian education classrooms, family education classrooms, and arts/crafts centers periodically throughout the year.
   ? Sponsor an outdoor art fair at your church during the summer.

Ideas in Creative Movement and Drama
   ? Create simple creative movements for 1-3 families to do as a processional for a worship service.
   ? Find out if any families know clowning or miming that they can do for worship or other church events. 
   ? See if any families know puppeteering and invite them to share their talents.
   ? Occasionally encourage families to stand and do simple movements to hymns and songs. 
   ? Find out if any families are taking dance lessons.
   ? Include family members as part of readings or skits.
   ? Create prayers, meditations, and liturgies that have family members doing motions with their hands.
   ? See if any families are gymnasts, and have family members create a short gymnastic routine to a liturgical reading or meditation. 
   ? Find out if anyone knows sign language.
   ? After you baptize or dedicate a baby, carry the child with you as you walk throughout the congregation, introducing the child to everyone and everyone to the child.

Ideas in Writing and Literature 
   ? Invite families to contribute short devotions to create a short family devotional for Advent or Lent.
   ? Ask families to name their favorite Christian books. 
   ? Find out about the writing interests of families.
   ? Have a poetry workshop or class where you teach family members to write Christian haiku, blank verse, sonnets, free verse, and limericks. 
   ? Create family book-reading discussion groups.
   ? Find a sister congregation in another state, city, or country.
   ? Bring families together who enjoy creating baby books, creative memory scrapbooks, photo albums, or other types of records of family life.
   ? Start a family journaling group that gets together to talk and journal. 
   ? Have a hymn-writing session in your church where you have family members take the tunes of well-known hymns and write new lyrics to them.
   ? Find the names of all the published authors in your church.

Ch 8 – Special Activities: Serious Fun for Families

Honoring Family Relationships
   ? Have a mother-son milk and cookies gathering for families with children.
   ? Create stickers, bumper stickers, buttons, T-shirts, tote bags, or pens that show your church’s commitments to families.
   ? Organize a guy’s night out for dads and sons.
   ? Have an event that recognizes the relationship between siblings. 
   ? Honor the relationships between father and daughters by having a father-daughter iced tea.
   ? Celebrate family week during the first week of May. 
   ? Have a mother-daughter makeover.
   ? Have families recognize National Grandparents Day on the first Sunday after Labor Day. 
   ? Pay attention to the types of families you have in your church.
   ? Celebrate extended family connections.

Family Fellowship Activities
   ? Find out the day your church was begun and throw an annual “Congregational Family Birthday” party.
   ? Create a fellowship activity based on bingo, except create a card with six boxes across (FAMILY) and six boxes down.
   ? Have a family breakfast to meet the church staff one Saturday morning.
   ? Have families create a collage about their family. 
   ? Have a family ice cream social during the summer or a hot chocolate and cookies social during the winter.
   ? Create a families first event.  Talk in small groups about each family’s first: vacation, pet, home, etc.
   ? Have families come together to make family crafts.
   ? For a fellowship meal, create simple place mats with discussion questions written on them. 
   ? Have a family show-and-tell.
   ? Early in the Advent season have a family cookie exchange. 
   ? Parents are often looking for places to host a child’s birthday party (the church?).
   ? Have families each bring in one object that symbolizes their family. 
   ? Host a family progressive dinner for your church.
   ? Have a family collections gathering. 
   ? Have families meet after a worship service at a local restaurant or fast food place to fellowship and be together.
   ? After any kind of church gathering, have coffee, water, and juice (and maybe snacks) available.

Sports and Recreation Activities
   ? Have families with teenagers go on a church golf outing.
   ? In the summer, have your “Mom’s Day Out” meet at a local playground.
   ? Organize a family kick ball game.
   ? Have a “Bible Study and Bowl” 
   ? If your church has a gym or outdoor basketball court, have a family basketball game.
   ? Have a sand castle building event at a nearby beach. 
   ? Have a family fun night where families come together and play board games.
   ? Have a family bingo night. 
   ? Host a family ball bonanza.
   ? Have a penny hunt on your church grounds for families. 
   ? Organize a family hike.
   ? Have a family relay night. 
   ? Have a family relay night.
   ? Have a frozen turkey bowling event for families. 
   ? Have a family treasure hunt at your church.
   ? Have a “thumbody” family event … thumbprints, thumb wrestling, etc.

Outdoor Family Activities
   ? Have a movie under the stars night for families to watch  movies outdoors on warm summer nights.
   ? Have Bible stories in the park.
   ? Have families meet at a community pool or beach and have a family fun time outdoors.
   ? If your area gets snow, organize a family snow creation activity. 
   ? Have families take a trip to a nearby city and take a walking tour of the churches.
   ? Go on a hike for families to collect leaves, rocks, feathers, and/or sticks to use in making a small altar or fill a basket to display in their homes. 
   ? Organize a family fishing outing.
   ? Organize a family stroller, wagon, tricycle, bicycle ride. 
   ? Consider an outdoor family fair. 

Family Camps, Retreats, and Overnight Ideas
   ? Have a family camp-in or camp-out at your church.
   ? Check with your church’s denominational office to find out about family camps in your area.
   ? Have family overnight at your church emphasizing spiritual growth in families.
   ? Have a family overnight or retreat  where part of the time you encourage families’ spiritual growth as a family and part of the time you separate parents from children. 
   ? Develop an overnight outing or retreat called “Christian Family Fun.”
   ? Create a family getaway that teachers families practical spiritual disciplines. 
   ? To encourage marriages to flourish, a number of churches offer marriage encounter weekend getaways for couples.
   ? Have a family overnight event during which you encourage families to get into small groups and talk about meaningful family faith stories.
   ? Encourage small groups of families from your church to take a weekend or week-long getaway together.
   ? Organize a family service overnight.

Ch 9 – Take-Home Activities: Nurturing Faith at Home

Bible Study Take-Home Ideas
   ? Develop a congregational audiocassette that has stories of faith.
   ? Read a Bible verse and pray.
   ? Use a Bible atlas to find the location of Bible stories.
   ? Encourage families to use children’s, youth, and illustrated Bibles for family Bible study. 
   ? Place a scripture verse on the bathroom mirror each week.
   ? Encourage older children and youth to create a Bible study movie review after watching a movie or video together with the family. 
   ? Help children learn the books of the Bible.
   ? Create a Bible study of numbers.

Prayers and Devotions Take-Home Ideas
   ? Ask families to pray together.
   ? Create prayers that rhyme for families with young children.
   ? Have a parent start the prayer and each family member add a word or two.
   ? Make prayer pillows that have a pocket where Bible verses and prayers for each family member can be placed. 
   ? Create a family calendar or date book.
   ? Develop ways to end prayers in creative ways, especially for families with children.
   ? Do alphabet prayers.
   ? As you hear on the news about troubled areas in the world, write the name of the area and put it in a small box.  Periodically pull a name and pray for it. 
   ? Encourage parents to say a prayer for each child.

Advent Take-Home Ideas
   ? Give each child a Christian Advent calendar.
   ? Give each family a twelve-inch tapered white candle. Write the number 1 thru 25 on it for them to burn each day.
   ? Make a Jesse tree based on Isaiah 11:1.
   ? Encourage families to have an Advent wreath or set up a workshop for families to each make one. 
   ? Each night at dinner time have families choose a Christmas card from the cards received from friends and loved ones.  Pray for them.
   ? Have families set up an empty nativity scene somewhere in the house.

Christmas Take-Home Ideas
   ? Create Christmas family activities to do together.
   ? Sing Christmas carols together as a family.
   ? Look at the stars.  Find the brightest one.  Talk about the Christmas star. 

Lent Take-Home Ideas
   ? Have families set up seven candles on Ash Wednesday; light one each Wednesday.
   ? Ask families to each plant a flower bulb at the beginning of Lent.
   ? Have family members wash one another’s feet like Jesus did in John 13:5-15.
   ? Have family members get Easter baskets with liners and fill them with dirt & grass seed.

Easter Take-Home Ideas
   ? Read the Easter story aloud.
   ? Create a family Easter celebration.
   ? Have a religious Easter egg hunt.
   ? Make plans to plant your Easter lily outside.

Other Holiday Take-Home Ideas 
   ? For New Year’s Day, read 2 Cor. 5:17-18 and discuss how each person can become a “new creation” in the coming year.
   ? For Candlemas (Feb. 2), light candles to mark the 40th day after Christmas (when Mary went to present baby Jesus to the temple).
   ? For Valentine’s Day, cut out red, white, and pink hearts and write affectionate, personal notes and leave them around the house for family members to find.  Make 3 for each person and talk about how God tells us to love one another.
   ? For St. Patrick’s Day, pick three-leaf clovers and correlate to the Trinity as St. Patrick did. 
   ? For Mother’s Day, plant flowers in the ground for moms and grandmothers.
   ? For Father’s Day, make a book titled “What I Love About Dad.”
   ? For Independence Day, highlight similarities between American independence and the freedom of the Israelites from Egypt.
   ? For back-to-school days, write a message in chalk on the sidewalk (or make a sign) saying ‘Best Wishes _________.’ 
   ? For Halloween, encourage families to do activities that encourage children to give rather than just receive.
   ? For All Saints Day, highlight pictures of family members that have died and talk about them. 
   ? For Thanksgiving, cut out leaves from colored construction paper, have family members write something they’re thankful for and display the leaves.

Stewardship Take-Home Ideas
   ? Have offering envelopes for children and teenagers.
   ? Have families create a “Lenten box” and place a coin in it each day during Lent.
   ? Encourage families to divide chores between family members.
   ? To encourage family members to be more conscious of how they use their money, have each person create a weekly report of how they used their money in the past week. 
   ? Develop an abundance offering for a month or during a specific church season.
   ? Have families talk with their children about their money values in the spirit of abundance. 
   ? Create an Advent calendar offering.

Faith Discussion Take-Home Ideas
   ? Have parents write a letter or be videotaped (or audio taped) as they tell about the details and feelings surrounding each child’s birth.
   ? Discuss Sunday school lessons and/or the sermon on the way home from church.
   ? Give each family a toy donkey, sheep, or some other animal from the Bible to use as an object for one family member to hide and the other family members to discover as they go about their day.
   ? Post a map of the world on one of the walls of you home and paste a star on countries where your church supports missionaries. 
   ? Go for a family walk near a lake or a nature center.
   ? Have families talk with extended family members about their faith journeys. 
   ? Acquaint families with words in Greek or Hebrew.

Family Worship Take-Home Ideas
   ? With young children, have a church service at home.
   ? Focus on one hymn or Christian song each month.
   ? Encourage families to find important dates of faith commitments.
   ? Learn different songs that can be used as mealtime prayers.
 

Miscellaneous Facts

- The 2 most common problems in Christian education are 1) adults’ busy schedules (72%) and 2) young people’s busy schedules (66%).
- One of the main reasons people leave a church is because they didn’t receive any support and care in the midst of a crisis, and they felt angry and estranged.
- Half of all families in 1970 had 2 parents and kids under 18.  In 2001, the number of these families was 1/3 of all families.
- Single parent families have almost doubled since 1970.
- 78% of parents (but only 50% of youth) think their church has strong preaching.
- 81% of parents (but only 58% of youth) think that worship is inspiring and beneficial.
- A survey has shown the 76% of children (5-16) want to spend more time with parents.
- Only 20% of parents say the church helps them to learn how to nurture the faith of their children.

NOTE: when converting the notes to web form, the bullets were converted to ? marks.