If you are like the majority of children's ministries, you are struggling to help parents get their priorities in order.
I know I am. I have lots of families who only attend church once a month or so. The big question is how can I persuade them to be more consistent in their attendance?
I have seen some success by using the following strategies. Here are 5 ways to help parents get their priorities in the right order.
Milestones emphasis.
Milestones are big events in the life of a family. Here are 5 that I emphasize:
- Parent and Child Dedication
- Bible Presentation (going into 1st grade)
- Starting Point salvation class
- Baptism for Kids class
- Elementary Graduation
In each of these classes, we talk about having our priorities in the right order. We have seen really good fruit in the Parent and Child Dedication class. I have found if we can catch the parents when they are young, we can help them get their priorities in order before their child gets in the flow of elementary life.
Each of the these milestones are available at this link.
Your teaching.
When you are invited to teach parents, share a message / teaching about being faithful to God's house and keeping your priorities in order.
We have a MomCo group in our ministry. We have around 11 moms in the program. I will be speaking to them in a few weeks. I will use this time to encourage them to have their priorities in the right order.
Ask your Pastor to talk about keeping your priorities in the right order.
It can have a big impact when your pastor talks about priorities in his messages. Keep him in the loop about how faithful families are or are not.
Show parents the stats.
A child that only comes to church once a month will be Biblically ignorant. They are missing 75% of the lessons. A child that only comes to church twice a month will struggle as well. They are missing 50% of the lessons. Don't be surprised when these kids grow up and drop out of church. These kind of attendance patterns leaves kids with a shallow faith.
Sharing these stats with parents can be a wake-up call for many of them.
Get the parents and their children involved in serving.
Who are the most faithful families in your church? It is the families who are serving. When families are serving, they show up. Emphasizing serving will help parents get their priorities in the right order.
Here is a bonus tip. This is a great visual illustration you can show parents.
Have parents draw a circle.
Have parents draw a small circle in the middle of the circles...like the hub on a bicycle wheel.
Have parents draw spokes from the hub to the outer edge of the big circle.
On the spokes, have parents write down some of their families' priorities. They may write things like trips together, holidays, church, meals together, etc. You might even have some parents who write down Jesus on one of the spokes.
Take them to Matthew 6:33.
"Seek first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added unto you."
Explain to parents that Jesus doesn't want to just be a part of their life, He wants to be the very center of their life. The top priority in their home.
Have them write "Jesus" in the middle of the hub at the center of wheel.
Explain that Jesus wants to control every single part of their life. He wants to lead every aspect of their life.
Explain that when you put Jesus in first place in your life, everything else falls in place.
As we do this, we will see parents begin to "get it."
The only hope for the next generation is to have good, parental examples of what it means to follow Jesus first and foremost.
What an opportunity we have to be that example.
