Many churches offer “come & go events” in spring. Lots of them! Easter breakfast. Mother’s Day teas and Father’s Day donut gatherings after services. Graduation and Confirmation receptions. Sunday school staff meet & greets.
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:
- Get a group of friendly and established members to introduce people to one another.
- Provide name tags. Just because you know everyone doesn’t mean long-term members know newcomers or vice versa.
- 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.
- 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!