Becoming a Family friendly church in Baby steps

WANTED TO SHARE SOME THINGS THAT MIGHT BE HELPFUL TO YOUR CHURCH TOO.

 

First, the leadership has to recognize that the church has to be family friendly. Most of our churches are great in welcoming people as they come through the doors,

But I’m talking about a welcome they can see and feel. What do people see when they enter your doors? Is it kid friendly?

Are your entrance hall colors inviting or gloomy and dusty? What are you saying to people as they look over your information table

with outdated and faded brochures from 3 years ago? If you don’t have a Nursery or children’s ministry

Are there packets for the kids?

If you do have a nursery, are the toys clean and inviting to toddlers? Or do the toys look questionable? Broken and faded.

Are the blankets and plush toys stained? Are there diapers and wipes available?

Families will know they are welcomed, when you Show that you are trying to make their time at church the best experience they could have.

It’s like preparing for a special house guest.

Ask a parent what needs to be in the Nursery? How can you make their time at church easier for them and their baby?

If it’s truly a blessing to you that they are at your church, Then show it by what you have available for them.

 

When I arrived at Caliente Community UMC, there were about 7 kids from 4 mos. to 12 years old, mixed in the crowd of adults.

The church had nothing for children. At The second service I did, we had 2 new families visit, Checking out the new pastor.

And they were both BIG Families.  So we needed to do something ASAP to keep these families. First, I visited both of these families. And I asked them,

What do we need to do, to make it possible for you to keep coming to church?

I listened to their comments, and went back to the leadership. We discussed the needs of the 2 new families, and the needs of our existing families.

And I reminded them how much first impressions can either keep or lose a family.

How could we become a Family friendly church?

 

Caliente Community realized they needed to do something in attracting new families, But they weren’t sure how to go about. Their kids had grown up and moved away.

And Like in many of our churches, the leadership is mostly boomers. They had “put their time in” back when their kids were small. Let’s face it, were not as young as we used to be.

So What could they do to keep these new families, and bring more?

We had good positive conversations. Concerns came up and a lot of good ideas were suggested..

 

The KEY, was taking baby steps. Making something happen ASAP, with what we had. AND to do something we could handle.

We needed to make an attempt to show these families we wanted them to stay. As a Pastor, it is critical to encourage and support your leadership in these areas.

And I didn’t expect them to do it alone. We were in this together. They needed the support and the resources.

Since I was in children’s Ministry for 20 years, and I’m a creative Pastor, I was able to help them in this area.

But If you’re not familiar in these areas, Talk to your families at your church. Have them come to your church

and walk through the building with you and the leadership. Listen to their basic concerns.

This is a great place to begin with. And if you don’t have any young families, invite a young family (or even some friends)

to come and just walk through your church with you. LISTEN, LISEN, LISTEN. You will find it very educational

in HOW families look at your church. Just hearing their thoughts on how your church looks inviting or not to them will be very helpful to you.

 

Remember the KEY to this is BABY STEPS. YOU CAN DO SOMETHING NOW. Every little change does make  a difference.

People will notice. And let the church know that you are trying to make your church Family Friendly.

 

The leadership at Caliente was very excited to make some kind of change. And after I made some suggestions

in things we could do immediately, a couple of the men left the meeting and returned with the pew they had

put in the cry room. I was amazed at the willingness to act on this. By removing the pew, there was now

enough room now to make the cry room into a nursery. And by the following Sunday, we had a Nursery at CCUMC.

 

The next Sunday, the 2 families were so surprised about having a nursery made just for them, they wanted

to make this their church. The church members were delighted to see them at church and encouraged the

new families. We made a point in letting these families know that we wanted to be family friendly and that

we would be changing things to make CCUMC a place for them to belong to.

In the next 3 weeks, we turned a small (unused classroom) into a playroom for the kids during fellowship time.

And in the following month We decided to start a second service especially for families. We have now had this

service for 7 months. And we are revisiting this. What can we do better for these families that are coming?

Is this service providing the best opportunity for them to experience God’s love and presence in our church community?

We are finding out the pros and cons of where we are at. And now we are in the process of taking more baby steps to keep our momentum.

Keep reevaluating your progress. We learn things as we go. And sometimes the things you try, don’t always work.

Don’t give up, learn what you can from those experiences.

 

The books we are reading for the Small church revitalization project through our Conference have been very helpful

to help the Leadership understand and come to the realization that change needs to happen.

 

Blessings,

Pastor Teresa Adams 

www.calienteumc.com

GO TO OUR WEBSITE and click on the PASTOR TERESA tab on the opening page.

I have a link to my personal web site that has many pictures of the things I've done in churches that may be helpful to you.