Hi, my name is Michelle Anthony and welcome to Family Ministry Conversations. Today’s topic is creatively involving our parents in our ministries.

Think about it. We all want parents to join in on our ministries. It’s the topic of the era, if you will, having parents in there and getting down and dirty with us. And helping their kids see their minister alongside of us. Also, taking responsibility for the spiritual nurture in their homes.

Are we investing the same kind of creativity that we put into our retreats, our day camps, or our VBS’s into engaging parents?

So how do we do it?

I think what happens is we make some attempts. We give a shout out, or we call for a parent meeting, or some kind of parent involvement, and we get shot down. And I think we get discouraged.

But think about it. Are we investing the same kind of creativity that we put into our retreats, our day camps, or our VBS’s into engaging parents? Or even just on a Sunday morning or Wednesday night? Are we applying that type of creativity to engaging our parents?

I think not.

I think we go back to the same well, and we get the same results. But we still just do the same things rather than sitting down and thinking, “How do we get creative about this?”

We can’t make the assumption that parents don’t want to get involved, but perhaps our appeal is not very appealing.

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Getting Creative

I recently met a church that had initiated a program called Dads on Deck. And these dads come, and they basically just add an extra layer of security, safety if you will, for the morning services.

They’re back at the doors making sure nobody comes in or leaves who isn’t supposed to. And guess what? These dads are now involved in their children’s ministry.

They are finding community with other dads and feeling like they are part of the church. These dads are listening to what we’re teaching, and they’re growing spiritually alongside of their kids.

Now, that’s a creative way to get involved. They even do some community activities outside of church.

Wow, I think that we need to apply that kind of creativity. It doesn’t have to be elaborate—what that church did is pretty simple. But it gave them purpose and meaning.

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What Are Some Other Ways?

What are other ways that we can creatively engage parents in our church? Let’s not just do the same old blanket call-in and think that they’re going to miraculously find time in their schedule that’s already being vied for by so many other entities.

Let’s find ways that we can engage them. Because a recent survey by George Barna and the Barna Institute said that kids are more likely to walk with Jesus and to remain in their faith for the long haul into their adult years if they see one or more of their parents actively engaged in serving in their area of ministry.

Which means they didn’t want to just know that their parents were serving somewhere in the church. If they saw their parents serving in their ministry, this made it more likely that their kids would remain in the faith into their adult years.

Wow, this alone has captured my heart for wanting to get down and get creative with how to engage parents in my ministry.

You know other ministry leaders—let’s start this conversation. What are you doing that works? What are you doing that gets parents in the classroom, that gets parents in your programs, that gets parents serving alongside with their children so that we can go from childhood beliefs to lifetime faith?