- This year, encourage the men in your choir to sing a special hymn of blessing at your Mother’s Day services. Choose an appropriate song and schedule practice sessions in March and April
- Order now from CTA to make sure you’ll receive the gifts you want to give on Mother’s Day. Perhaps children from your day care center, mid-week classes, or parish school could hand these gifts to moms after services on that special Sunday. Better yet, follow the lead of many churches and honor all the women in your congregation on Mother’s Day.
- Help little ones in your preschool or Sunday school make a keepsake card for Mom. Gather paper and paints, and help children paint the palm side of each hand. Then make handprints on the paper, positioning the hands so that index fingers touch, and thumbs curl a bit to touch each other. (The area between the two hands will form a heart shape.) Let children print their own names on the card, if they are able. Date the card and include this note:
I used my hands to make this card.
Look carefully to see
That hidden in between my hands
Is love to you from me!
- Don’t forget the moms who will not be able to join everyone at church on this special day. Make plans to deliver gifts or notes of encouragement to homebound moms and the mothers and grandmothers who now reside in nursing homes.
- Invite men and children to honor the women in your congregation with a special meal and entertainment the day before Mother’s Day. Host the event in your church fellowship hall or outside, if weather permits. Dads, other men, daughters, and sons can serve the meal and perform the cleanup duties. Afterward, a talent show, board games, or trivia night might be fun! Brainstorm ideas and plan now to make this a special event for all of the women in your congregation.
- Purchase a white T-shirt and fabric paints/markers to make a special gift for Mom. Place the prewashed shirt on a flat surface and insert a piece of cardboard between the two layers of fabric (in case the paint soaks through). Plan to make each child’s handprint on the shirt, using a different colored paint for each person. If there is an unborn baby in the family, create a baby’s footprint, too, by dipping the side of a child’s fist in the paint and adding five little toes with “pinkie” fingerprints. Be sure to label each print with the appropriate name and include the date, as well.
- In the weeks prior to Mother’s Day, consider ways your congregation can support local crisis pregnancy centers, abuse shelters, and other organizations that provide help to women in need. Perhaps cut simple white ribbons, loop them, and secure the loop with a heart sticker. Make the ribbons available for purchase at a nominal cost—to honor moms or as memorial tokens in thanksgiving for faithful moms in the past. By selling the ribbons for a dollar or two, you can cover your cost and also send a donation to moms who need your help.
- This is the perfect time to begin “Mentor Moms”—a pairing of experienced mothers with first-time moms and moms-to-be. Mentor Moms can support and care for the new mothers in your church in various ways. For instance, Mentor Moms could offer a listening ear, advice, prayer support, occasional babysitting, and more.
- Consider starting a congregational MOPS group (Mothers of Preschoolers). Check out the information online at www.mops.org to see if this group might be a blessing to your church and community.
- Teach your church’s children the following song, sung to the tune for “Jesus Loves the Little Children.” Have them sing it during or after the service on Mother’s Day:
Jesus loves all of the mothers,
All the mothers in the world.
Red and yellow, black and white,
They are precious in his sight.
Jesus loves all of the mothers in the world.
- Help elementary students in your Sunday school classes make Mother’s Day cards. Show children how to make a flower, heart, or other endearing shape by using their thumbprints. Simply press thumbs into washable ink pads and then press firmly onto card stock. Add the words: “Thumbody loves you, Mom” along with each child’s own signature. The gift cards can accompany a gift book or devotional book to affirm mothers in their role.
- During services on Mother’s Day, invite all mothers to stand, as you remind the congregation of the potential impact each woman has for Christ. If each mom influenced just one child for Jesus by taking that child to church, reading Bible stories, praying, and sharing her faith with that child, think of the impact in our homes, our community, and even our world. As a visible way to show support to the moms, ask the rest of the congregation to stand, and then invite everyone to join together to sing a praise chorus or one stanza of a hymn of praise that’s a favorite in your church.
- Need a last-minute idea for Mom’s special day? Use sidewalk chalk to print the word MOM on your sidewalk. When read upside down, the word will appear WOW. Let the word remind each mom that no matter how you look at it, she’s the greatest! Or let the children from your Sunday school classes use sidewalk chalk to decorate a section of the sidewalk in ways that thank and honor their moms. Be sure to plan time for moms to view the results!
- Single Parents—Consider starting a single-parents support group for congregation members and your community. Single parents are often overlooked during the Mother’s Day and Father’s Day celebrations, and this time of year can be especially difficult for people grieving the loss of a spouse due to death or divorce. If beginning a support group isn’t feasible for your congregation, perhaps single-parent members would be interested in a weekly, short-term Bible study that could offer encouragement and support to them in their unique challenges and needs.
- Honor the mothers of younger children on the Saturday before Mother’s Day by providing a one-time, free Mom’s Day Out. Invite youth, dads, and other volunteers from the congregation to baby-sit so that moms can have a few hours to rest, take in a movie, or simply walk in the park.
- Plan now for a day of pampering at your church where moms can drop by to receive a free manicure, a chair massage, or other special care from member volunteers. Consider taking your pampering “on the road” to older moms who are in care facilities or homebound.
- Invite congregation members to purchase or bring a homegrown flower to church on Mother’s Day. Place the flowers in a prominent place in your worship area in thanks to God for moms and other godly women who have positively affected lives for Christ.