Loving the Families You Serve

February is a month where we celebrate love!

While it has been commercialized & commodified, here at Equip Family, we are reclaiming love for the month of February.

We want to focus on how to love the families that we serve in the month of February.

How can we show families that they’re significant, that they are loved by God and loved by us?

There are so many ways! But over the course of February, we’ll be focusing on just four of them:

• Let them know you care!
• Let them know you hear them.
• Let them know they are important!
• Let them know they have a role to play.

Today, let’s talk about the first –

How can you let families know you care?

If you want your church & your ministry to be well-attended, embraced & committed to by families, they need to know you care about them.

Families everywhere are busy.

Families have social groups, clubs, and all sorts of activities vying for their attention.

What should set the church apart is not the amazing programs they offer – but the way we genuinely love and care for families.

So here are some practical ways you can let families know you care right now, this week:

• Greet families warmly: Ensure that your ushers and greeters make a special effort to welcome young families into your church service. Enlist people in your congregation to remember the names of kids, slip into rows before the service starts to ask parents how they’re doing, or to shoot a knowing smile when a child starts crying for more Goldfish or fruit snacks. Even if it’s hard to get to church, it makes all the difference when someone intentionally takes the time to let you know they are happy you are present. 
  
• Take an interest in their lives: The next time you see parents – on Sunday or midweek – take an opportunity to talk to them! At check-in or drop-off, take a minute to say “Hi!” to parents & ask them one intentional question – like “How was your week?” or “What are you doing tonight while the kids are here?” or “Where do you work again?”
  
• Use little treats to show families you care: If you’re part of a smaller church, get to know some of the favourite treats (or coffee orders!) of kids and parents. On special occasions – like birthdays or the first day of school – or even for no reason at all, drop off the treats with a note and a smile. Use this cute Pick-Me-Up Tag to accompany it!
  
• Work to create services that are inclusive of families. We talk about that a ton in our previous blog posts like this one on welcoming families & this one to encourage family discipleship. If you’re looking for even more practical ways to do that, check out the Family Guide to Worship.

All month, we’ll be talking about ways to love families well.

If you want practical ways to GROW the family ministry in your church, make sure to check out our Creative Ideas for Family Ministry Course: