Has the Christmas season torn you and your family apart? Are you ALWAYS at church during December wondering what your family is doing to celebrate Christmas without you?
Perhaps it’s time to consider a Family Fellowship for your next Christmas celebration. Vicki Hulsey, Childhood Education Specialist for the Tennessee Baptist Convention shares these guidelines for a fantastic family fun night:
- Be intentional. Decide on a purpose and stick to it.
- Place dates on the church calendar. Choose the same night of the month, i.e. First Friday, Fifth Sunday. Having a consistent time helps families avoid allowing other activities to creep in.
- Choose a theme. Choose a theme that allows families to participate together.
- Budget wisely. Plan activities that can be done for less than five dollars per family, or better yet, FREE.
- Spread the fun. Allow families to lead families by recruiting families to take the lead in planning a Family Fun Night.
- Include all families. Make room for all types of families including singles, empty nesters and senior adults.
- Be creative. Be creative with your theme and your budget. Excellent resources from LifeWay include: 100 Action Games That Really Work, Vols. 1 & 2 and the Giant Game Floor Mat.
- Communicate, communicate, communicate. Communicate your purpose, theme, date and time.
- Plan a family devotional. Provide learning activities to help family members read and talk about God’s Word together. ParentLife magazine might be an excellent resource for this.
- Evaluate. Use evaluation tools with families and with those responsible for planning the event.
Bottom Line: Churches need to discover ways to reconnect families by helping them grow closer together and closer to God. One way to do that is by offering family-friendly events in which family members learn, worship, serve, and laugh together.
What kind of Family Friendly Fellowships have you used?