In the next week or two, do you want to jump-start your fall Sunday school classes? Send volunteers back into the fray with a smile in their hearts? Encourage your pastor? Or all three?
Read on! This month’s tips are designed to spark your excitement for the ministry God has prepared in advance for you to do (Ephesians 2:10).
Planning to Plan the Ministry
- If you usually invite leaders to a ministry planning retreat in Fall, think about ways to shake things up a bit this year. Meet in a new location or choose a new venue. Ask a member’s permission to use his family’s lakeshore cabin or condo. Swap facilities with the church down the block. Use a hotel meeting room instead of the local retreat center or vice versa. Often, a new setting will spark new thinking.
- Sure, you have lots to accomplish at your planning retreat. But sometimes doing less gets more accomplished. Break up your sessions with simple stretching exercises to get creative juices flowing. (Use an Internet search engine and key in “stretches for relaxation.”) Provide time for team building. (Use an Internet search engine and key in “team building at retreats.”) Don’t forget to punctuate the day with prayer and praise.
- Give copies of the retreat schedule to family members of those who attend the retreat and to those who have volunteered to pray for leaders and those who attend. Encourage the prayer partners to intercede throughout the retreat process, asking Jesus to use each activity to strengthen the ministry your church conducts.
- Look through CTA’s free Shaped to Serve retreat and use all the ideas that will work for your team.
Appreciate Your Volunteers
- Phone your volunteers at random times each month—a few each week—simply to say thanks for sharing their time and talents. If no one answers, leave a message. (Family members will be glad to hear how much you appreciate Dad’s effort, Sister’s giftedness.)
- Keep a supply of LifeSaver candies in your office. When a volunteer comes to your aid at a time of urgent need (or any time, really) hand them a package with a note that reads: Thanks! You are a real life saver!
- Shoot photos of volunteers as they serve. From time to time, send a thank-you note and include an inspiring, funny, or heartwarming photo of the person you’re thanking.
Thank Your Pastor(s)
- Begin now to collect photos of events, ministries, and people who play a part—large or small—in the life of your church. Use them to create a “Thank You for Serving” photo album, or create a DVD from the pictures. Plan to give the completed project to your pastor as part of a Pastor Appreciation celebration in October or as you observe a significant anniversary (for example, five years of service at your church).
- Plant a tree, bush, or flowers in honor of your pastor. Or get volunteers together to donate a day of landscaping in your pastor’s yard as Fall approaches.
- Think about your pastor’s interests (cooking, golfing, woodworking, biking). Collect money to sponsor a private lesson or special gear related to that interest.
- Begin to assemble a Pastor Appreciation packet for each church family unit. In each, include a postcard that can be used to send a personal note of appreciation to pastor; a prayer bracelet or a sticker to be used as a reminder to pray daily for your pastor and the church; an envelope to share a monetary gift or restaurant/department store gift card; and an invitation, reminding everyone of the date and time for this year’s Pastor Appreciation event.
Plunge Headlong into Sunday School
- Shop party or discount stores for ’09 graduation party invitations. By fall, they’ll likely be quite inexpensive. Send them to all the children of your church, inviting them to attend “graduation/move-up/rally-day” events at your church. Use crepe paper streamers, helium balloons, confetti, and perhaps even cotton candy or snow cones to celebrate the start of a new year of learning. While Christians never graduate from learning more about Jesus, encourage everyone to thank him for new opportunities to grow in grace together with learners in God’s forever family.
