While preparing to inspire YOU at our upcoming GROW conferences in Illinois and B.C. we've been getting inspired by some other folks who are passionate about reaching kids and connecting with their families. One of the exciting sessions we'll be offering at GROW is called Family Matters, a workshop designed to help you discover new ways to partner with families. Why is that so important? According to Kurt Bruner and Dr. John Trent of the Strong Families Innovations Alliance:

• Less than 10% of kids whose parents go to church talk about faith issues with their parents, other than at an occasional mealtime prayer.
• Parents are often deep into the busy, distracting, minivan years of parenting during that crucial faith transfer window in their kids’ lives.

Scary, huh? But it’s no real surprise if you’re involved in children’s ministry. It’s hard to get families involved, and those of us who are still in the minivan years understand why!

But it can be done! Read on for three simple ways to strengthen family ties both now and during the summer months.

1. Guess What! Family Magazines. These are a great family resource whether you use the Kid Connection curriculum or not. In addition to games, jokes, Bible stories, and fun activities, each magazine features a family worship page, a parenting page, and a family calendar with activities that are both do-able and designed to get families talking about faith with their kids. (And the cool thing is that if faith is unfamiliar to families, they can still use it.)

One thing we know for sure when it comes to “take-homes”: unless you educate parents/caregivers about how awesome the magazine is, it’s probably going to end up on the minivan floor. (Uh-huh, curriculum writers know all about it, we have minivans too.) Check out the three practical ideas below and choose the one that will best help you get parents excited about the magazine and about faith talking at home:

• Mail it. I know, I know, stamps cost money. But think about what you do when a great magazine arrives in the mail. Yup, you save it and you read it. If Junior’s parent gets a Guess What! magazine in the mail, chances are the parent will flip through it first and value it like they would a subscription. 
• If stamps aren’t in your budget, hand the magazine personally to parents and when you do, say something like this: “Here’s the latest copy of the Family Magazine. Check out the parenting column—it’s a great one about peer pressure” or “Here’s the new copy of the Guess What! magazine—Junior’s homework is to hang the calendar on the fridge and read someone today’s story.” Get families excited by sharing your excitement!
• Put a note or a Post-it on the cover that says something like this: “Check out page 12 for something you can do after you eat together!” or “Super-easy recipe on page 5!” Attract some attention to what’s inside the magazines if you opt to put them directly in church mailboxes.

2. Question of the week. (This is an especially great way to keep families engaged in faith-talking during the summer months.) Give families one question to ask each other at home. Again, the way you present it to them is important. If your families read your emails, send them a weekly question that way. Or put it on a recipe card and hand it out or otherwise make it available each week at church. Consider having your preteens tuck the recipe cards under everyone’s windshield wipers during church and encourage people to pull them out and talk about them on the drive home! (You’ll even get your seniors and college-age kids faith-talking that way!) Some great faith-talking questions:

• “If Jesus called and said he was coming to visit you for an afternoon, what would you do with him?”
• “If you could be anyone in the Bible, who would you be and why?”
• “When/where is your favorite time/place to pray?”

(Visit the online store at www.youthandfamilyinstitute.org for a great “Faith Talk with Children” resource packet you can purchase.)    

3. Flat Pastor. Do your families disappear during the summer? Keep in touch with those who go away (and those who stay put) by giving them each a journal and a large cut-out laminated picture of the pastor or their small group leader or you! (Yes, you’ll look like a paper doll.) School-age kids who’ve read the “Flat Stanley” series by Jeff Brown and Scott Nash will be all over this one.  The idea is that the paper person (we’ll call her “Flat Karen”) does life with the family during the summer months and they create journal entries about what they did with her and/or take photos of the family and Flat Karen at the beach, in the campground, at the amusement park etc. It’s hard to forget about your church family when a “member” joins you all summer, plus it’s a great way to reconnect in the fall.

Finally, here’s something to strengthen you! Tuck one or all three of these books into your summer reading bag. They’ll remind you of the significance of your ministry and will help you focus your vision for the future.

• Helping Our Children Grow in Faith, by Robert J. Keeley. Baker Books, 2008. (Hear Bob speak at our GROW conferences this fall!) 
• Transforming Children into Spiritual Champions by George Barna. Regal Books, 2003
• Faith Begins at Home by Mark Holmen. Regal Books, 2005

Keep connecting!

Karen DeBoer
Editor, Kid Connection

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