For example, take the young mom who picks her children up from VBS a few minutes late. How tempting it can be to reiterate the correct pick up times. But doing so could easily erect a roadblock—particularly if we take an impatient tone. A minor inconvenience for us could morph into a comment that further tears down the morale of a discouraged, harried parent.  

 As I work with young families in our Christian preschool, I am constantly reminded that for many, this is their first experience with the church. In whatever program we serve, we need to remind each other that we get to be the hands and feet of Jesus as we greet and welcome new and returning families to the family of God.

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Used with permission grant #063010 © 2010 CTA, Inc. No duplication of this article is allowed without the express written consent of CTA, PO Box 1205, Fenton, MO 63026. www.CTAinc.com.

Honoring members in this way is a good idea. But how could you step the value up from merely good to great, maximizing the assimilation value and encouraging true Christian fellowship?

 Here are four ideas:

1.  Get a group of friendly and established members to introduce people to one another. 
2. Provide name tags. Just because you know everyone doesn’t mean long-term members know newcomers or vice versa.  
3. Put sheets of ice breaker questions at each table. Include silly or serious questions. Ask people to name their favorite _______ (fill in the blank). Have everyone describe their best Easter/graduation/Mother’s Day of all time. Open ended questions like these can get everyone sharing in a way that feels safe and fun.  
4. Provide pencils and note cards and encourage everyone sitting at each table to exchange  prayer requests for the upcoming week. If they share phone numbers or E-mail addresses so they can stay in touch. Encourage them to contact each other at least once before next Sunday.

 Do you want to help worshipers break the every Sunday “hit and run” habit? Proactively leverage spring events to deepen relationships!

God's Love is So Big it's Amazing Children's Valentines Book

Did you know that February 14 falls on Sunday in 2010? Have you considered ways you might “seize the day” for the children’s ministries in your church? Maybe you’ve been thinking about it, but aren’t quite sure what to do. Or perhaps you find yourself knee-deep in the planning process.

In either case, you may want to consider the new materials CTA has developed for children across a wide age range. Consider these two options:

• Host a Valentine’s Day party for kids in Sunday school and encourage them to bring their friends on this special day.
• Offer a three- or four-hour “parents day out” on Sunday afternoon and encourage both church members and community families to bring their children.

No time to plan a party? CTA offers a free planning guide. It includes tons of ideas for games, food, activities, projects, and everything else you need to make your event a success. The guide is so complete that you might consider giving it to a small team of volunteers and letting them run with it.

In addition, you may find one or more of these free devotions helpful in your planning. They will help keep everything Christ-centered.

Plus, if you need publicity, check out these free, downloadable tools (invitations, flyers, and postcards for follow-up).

If you’re looking for inexpensive reminders of God’s love, reminders that carry an age-appropriate Valentine’s theme, CTA has developed many new products just in time for February 14. Check them out!

1. Use the addresses in your guest book from the last two or three months to create a mailing list and announce plans for summer Sunday school and VBS. Send a postcard or e-mail that lets people know what age levels are welcome, what the theme will be, and whether or not there is any cost involved.
2. Many churches have started charging a small fee for VBS. Could you spark people’s interest by offering them an amount off the fee when they bring a friend? There might be someone, or even a few someones, in your congregation who would be willing to pay the difference if it would spark attendance. For example, you might create a coupon that gives $1 off if two friends sign up together. Or make a coupon that members can give to friends offering 50% off the regular VBS enrollment fee.

At our church we had more visitors than usual for Easter worship. We especially noticed a lot of families with young children. What happened at your church? Did you have more visitors than usual, as well? Did you hear any thought-provoking comments from your visitors? As you look back on your preparations for Easter, is there anything you’d do differently for next year? Click on “Comments” to let us know.

Most likely, you now have a visitor book with several names and addresses filled in by visitors on Easter Sunday. Here are some ideas for keeping in touch with them:

• Phone, E-mail, or visit them during the next two weeks to thank them for visiting and ask if they have any questions about your church or needs your church can help with. If you can’t get a visiting team together, send them a postcard. Here’s one you can use for free.  (Note that it has two pages to download–front and back; depending on your connection time, this may take a minute or two.)
•  Compile your visitors list into a mailing list and use it for publicizing VBS and special summer Sunday school events. CTA has a free GLOW (God Lights Our Way) postcard invitation you can print up and mail to them.  It’s generic enough to work for any summer Sunday school or VBS program. (Again, download times will vary.)
• Save your contact list for fall and use it again to let people know when fall programs will be starting up or to invite them to your fall festival.

Here at CTA, we’re always interested in what’s going on at your church. Let us know what’s keeping you busy and how you’re staying in touch with visitors!