If your church is like mine, our families are all over the map during this season. Some have fully returned to church and to all the programming we offer. Some are still watching online. Some are cautiously coming back. Some are out of the church habit altogether. We live in a very divided time in our country where strong feelings abound. How can we best support families in such a unique season?
- Be intentional about connecting. As I debriefed the quarantine season with several other ministry leaders, we all agreed that the period of “stay-at-home” reminded us how essential personal contact and one-on-one ministry truly is. As our normal church activities begin to resume, we must fight the busy to maintain that priority. Print a list of all of the families who attend your church. Go through it carefully, noting who you haven’t seen and who you haven’t had contact with recently. Make a plan with your ministry leaders to reach out. Do you have parents who are also teachers? Consider a special encouragement for them during this trying time for educators. Do you have families who have experienced illness or loss? How can you show Jesus’s love? Create a system so that your families are routinely contacted, whether they have returned to your church services or not. Keep a running list of prayer needs. Look for ministry needs and connect them with people that can help. You can only discover these needs by consistently connecting.
- Be gracious in understanding families’ positions.…
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