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Connecting with Families

 Ideas for connecting the children’s ministry at your corps with the children’s families and supporting parents in their role.

Children are part of families and while friends grow in their influence as children reach their teens, families are still the biggest influence on the life of a child. How do we support families as they develop the spiritual life of their children? How do we connect our children’s ministry with their families?

Here are some ideas to help you connect with and involve families in the fantastic ministry you do with their children:

  • When planning your ‘Corps Calendar’ for the year, include some events for the whole family – Family Services where families can worship together, Family Events (sports days, picnics etc).family camps, family mission trips, family picnics
  • Alternatively, explore ways of including families in events you are planning for children. For example if you are planning a camp, maybe make the last day a picnic day for whole families to enjoy the venue and arrange a couple of key leaders to be available to circulate among the families to get to know them.
  • Be sensitive to the needs of those children whose families aren’t able or don’t want to attend. Have a number of families on the lookout for children in this situation and be proactive about inviting them to join their family for the day.

  • SPLINK (Simply Linking your family spiritually) sends free emails  with creative ways of interacting with your children with family devotional starters and ideas for family time. Splinks can also help you use teachable moments to pass along spiritual truths and life lessons while making memories or just having fun together. Contact www.d6family.com/d6family for more information.
    Take the initiative in contacting families to let them know the topics and stories you are using with their children, this will make it easier for families to follow-up on the teaching you are doing. The easiest would be to send a letter at the beginning of each term to welcome the children to another term of children’s ministry and to let the families know what will be covered. Then you have only the welcome letters to new families as their children come along.   The Junior Soldier material has ‘Home & Beyond” segments to help take the conversation home.
  • Use resources to encourage families to worship, to explore, to learn and to serve together and share these with the families of your congregation.     
  • When you hold Family Services organize a bookstall with these resources, or promote parenting courses at that time.
  • Meet the parents of children in your group. If this is too big and overwhelming, start small by meeting parents of new children.
  • Be family friendly by keeping confidential information confidential.
  • Invite specialists to your corps to speak about parenting issues such as enjoying and understanding your children, discipline, drugs, etc. Invite parents from the church and community and use it as a pathway to relationship building.