Alissa Ellett, Author at Illustrated Ministry

5 Wildly Effective Ways to Connect with Families Not Regularly at Church

One of our amazing readers wrote to us wanting to connect with families who aren’t regularly at church. We hear you! This can be a tough thing. Read on for our five wildly effective ways to stay connected.

Do you have even more ideas to share? Tell us in the comments below!

Why You Need to Connect with Families

There are so many reasons why families may not be at church regularly. As a ministry leader, it may be easy to assume it’s because they don’t like something you’re doing. However, this is most likely not the case.

Families may not be attending church regularly because…

Parents are working long hours or traveling a lot for their job.
Families are navigating co-parenting and children living in two homes.
Children have scheduling conflicts with their extra-curricular activities.
Parents feel unsure while contemplating their own theology and religious affiliation.
New babies are throwing off their mornings and/or evenings.
Homework is keeping kids home.
Families feel disconnected from the community because they aren’t there often. So, they attend even less.

Keep in mind how busy families are and remember that context. Packed schedules and complex dynamics make it difficult to say yes, even to the things we really want to be doing in our lives.

Connect with Families Purposefully

So, what’s your role given that some of this may be true? You need to be doing two main things: connecting to the families and connecting the families to the community.

And here’s the cool thing. The families who aren’t at church regularly are going to feel more a part of the church. But, so are the families who are there regularly. Everyone will feel the improvement when these efforts are made.

How can you do this effectively? Read on for a few ideas we hope will help in both of these efforts!

Connect with Families Even When Apart

Stay in touch.

Families who aren’t present regularly can feel forgotten. So, be sure to connect with families regularly even if they aren’t at church. Send a text checking in. Be sure they’re on the email blast. Send birthday and holiday cards to them. Invite them personally to special events.

Vary contact.

If families are hearing from you in only one way, it can feel contrived. They may feel like there’s a list they’re on (which is probably true, but still…) and they’re only getting contacted because of that.

So, vary in your contact with them. Text, email, snail mail are all great options. Also, vary the person who contacts them. Share this responsibility across several people. For example, perhaps the pastor sends an email checking in. Then the ministry director sends the email blast and sets up a lunch date. And the Sunday school teacher comments on their social media posts. And a friend of the family invites them to a special upcoming event.

Post consistently.

If your church doesn’t have an online presence, that needs to change. It just does. Too many of our churches don’t have a person heading up digital communications. If your church is one of them, just create a profile for your ministry to connect with families.

Your families are online all the time. It’s an easy way to connect to all of them with little effort.

Learn how to use social media to communicate with your families. And post 1-3 times a day.

Communicate service opportunities.

Most families aren’t finding ways to serve others. And this is a value for so many parents, especially in their children’s development. However, it can be hard to know where to look for opportunities. So, connect with families around service.

For this reason, events where families can serve together and make a difference tend to be well-attended. This is great news for everyone. It connects the congregation and the congregation to the community.

Share education resources.

Parents very often have little to no idea how to do spiritual formation with their children. As a result, if families aren’t at church, the kids aren’t learning about their faith.

So, share resources with them. Send them a new book to read together each month. Send a weekly email with the Sunday School topic and discussion questions for them to use at home.

We Want to Hear From You!

Do you have more ideas to share with the IM community? We’d love to hear from you! In the comments below tell us how you connect with families who aren’t regularly at church.

5 Low-Prep Small Group Games Perfect for Sunday School

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Get your creative juices flowing with these five low-prep ideas for small group games that are absolutely perfect for Sunday School.

Fun group games that kids actually enjoy playing and aren’t crazy to prep for are hard to come by. We hope this list is helpful as you work to create the best Sunday School ever!

What group games are you playing your your kids during Sunday School? We’d love to hear in the comments section below!

A Cold Wind Blows

This game is a great precursor for any lesson having to do with the Holy Spirit, a wind or storm motif, and beyond.

Similar to musical chairs or “Have you ever”, in Sunday School have the group sit on chairs in a circle. Gather one fewer chairs than there are people, leaving one person standing in the middle of the circle.

The person in the middle begins a sentence with the words “A cold wind blows…” and then describes an attribute that refers to one or more players.

For example:

“A cold wind blows for anyone who is wearing red, has blonde hair, and plays basketball.”

Anyone sitting who fits in this category has to jump up and quickly find a new vacant chair. The person who was in the middle is also looking to sit in a vacant a chair, and whomever is left standing without a chair becomes the new person in the middle.

The game continues for as long as people are enjoying playing.

Blind Draw

This is one of the group games that’s a great precursor to any Sunday School lesson that has to do with communication, language, scripture translation and beyond.

Have the children pair up. Each pair should sit back-to-back so they cannot see each other.

Give one member of the pair a picture, object or a scene. They must then describe this to their partner.

The other partner draws what they hear their partner describing to them.

Make it more challenging by not allowing them to use words that are too obvious. For example, the picture may be of a chicken but the person is not allowed to use the word “chicken, bird, hen.”

You can either give everyone the same picture or have a few different options.

Depending on the picture, you will need to allow 10-15 minutes. Once time is up, share the pictures – you will find there are some very funny interpretations!

Secret Questions

This is a great used with any lesson having to do with getting to know God, the disciples getting to know Jesus, questions about the faith, and much more.

On the back of some Post-it Notes, i.e.: the sticky side, write some good get-to-know you questions. Make sure you write at least as many questions as there are people – you can double up with the questions if there’s a lot of people in your group.

Stick them all on a whiteboard or wall so people cannot see the question on the back. Each person then has to come up, pick a post it note and answer the question on the back.

Make the questions simple enough that the kids won’t struggle too much to think of an answer or be embarrassed to answer.

Once done, they select someone else in the group to choose and answer the next question.

Human Knot

This is a great addition to a discussion about the Holy Spirit’s role as an “untangler” or what you all may be called to help untangle in your community. It’s also one of those group games about communication, patience, perseverance, etc.

Everyone stands in a close circle – puts both hands out – and randomly grabs hold of someone else’s hand, creating a massive knot!

Without letting go of hands, the group should try to untangle itself.

Toothpaste Challenge

This game is a fantastic demonstration for a Sunday School lesson on the power of our words and actions and, therefore, why we need to use them wisely.

For this game, you need a few tubes of toothpaste. Depending on the size of your group, have each student work alone or create pairs or groups.

Ask the kids to take all the toothpaste out of the tube as quick as possible into a bowl.

Then ask them to put the toothpaste back inside the tube. Obviously, this is more difficult, and probably impossible to do.

There are lots of bible verses to apply to this, e.g. James 1:26, Proverbs 15:1 or 21:23, Ephesians 4:31-32.

Group Games FTW

Group games in Sunday school help to focus and engage the kids. Additionally, they create connection to the content you’re teaching. We hope this list is helpful to you!

And don’t forget to share your ideas with us in the comments below!

Inspire Your Kids to Give Back with a Summer Service Project

Alissa Ellett 1 Comment

Send these easy summer service project ideas to your ministry families to invite gratitude and compassion into their homes and hearts.

Service is a expression of our lives that teaches us valuable lessons! To name a few, we learn to appreciate what we have. And we learn the complexity of the world. Furthermore, we learn to practice empathy. However, summer can be a challenging time to continue this kind of expression and learning.

Summer brings about travel, rest, amazing memories and family time. It can also be a season when service trips are taken. But what if there are kids who aren’t going on that trip? Or what if your church isn’t taking such a trip?

How are you inviting kids to serve in a summer service project? We’d love to hear in the comments section!

Summer Service Project Ideas

Ideas for Younger Kids

Clear out your child’s bookshelves. Donate books they’ve outgrown but are in good condition. Give books to the church library or nursery, the public library, a homeless shelter, thrift store or a family in need.
Make a silly video to send to an elderly or ill relative. You may be surprised to know what a major impact this can have. I’ve gotten calls and messages in response to doing this saying how much it helped raise a person’s spirits during a trying time. Plus, it’s easy and quick!

Ideas for Older Kids

Volunteer at a local animal shelter. Spend a few hours working to serve animals. There are lots of different tasks older kids can do including feeding animals, walking dogs and cleaning cages.
Donate time to babysit. Young couples often don’t get date nights because getting a sitter costs money they don’t have. So, encourage your child to volunteer to babysit for someone you may know in this situation.
Help a younger sibling clean their room. A younger sibling will appreciate the assistance. And it creates opportunity for the older one to be a leader.

Scripture About Service

Consider posting a favorite Bible verse as you explore a summer service project helps your kids see it regularly. The bathroom mirror is a great spot, in the car or at the dining table.

1 Peter 4.10: Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.

Romans 12.1: Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice…

Romans 12.10: Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.

Romans 12.13: Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

Mark 12.30: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

We hope these ideas are helpful in encouraging your kids to take part in a summer service project this summer. Enjoy serving with them. The more they see their caregivers offering themselves as a living sacrifice, the more they will participate.

And don’t forget! We want to know how you’ll be working with your kids to inspire generosity and compassion in your kids lives this summer. So, share in the comments section!

Alissa Ellett