The often-missed ministry opportunities of
Mother's Day - and what to do
about them (Part 1/2)
Yvon Prehn*
Mother’s Day Sunday is
the third highest day for attendance in churches in North America. Though most
churches know this and work hard to make it a special Sunday, many miss
significant evangelism and spiritual growth opportunities for that day—because
of the day’s exclusive focus on mothers.
Please don’t
misunderstand me. I’m not saying churches shouldn’t honor mothers on Mother’s
Day. They should; it is an important time to praise mothers and to thank God for
them. What I’m recommending is that churches not make mothers their exclusive
focus, but that they take advantage of the additional ministry opportunities
made possible that day because of mothers. These are primarily in two areas and
they are:
1. The unchurched
child and/or spouse outreach opportunity
2. The opportunity to
challenge for spiritual parenting
Let’s look at these two ministry opportunities in more
detail:
The unchurched child and/or spouse outreach
opportunity: The reason that churches are so full on Mother’s Day
is not because it is the only time of year mothers come to church. Most of the
mothers at the church are regular attendees. The reason so many people come to
church on Mother’s day is the unchurched people in the lives of many
mothers rarely, if ever, come to church, but they will come on this day to make
mom happy.
This is a great evangelistic opportunity for your church.
Following are some ideas on how to make the most of it:
Acknowledge the visitors who came today to please an
earthly parent and affirm it was a commendable thing to do. Follow that
commendation with a lesson/sermon about how they have a heavenly parent who is
longing for them come home in faith even more than their mom wanted them to come
to church.
Be honest that one of the greatest pains in a mother’s
heart is that her child does not know Jesus. To be apart in life is hard even as
a normal part of life as child grows up, but to contemplate an eternity
without those you love—one Sunday in church won’t make up for it.
In
addition to the times of conviction, have fun also with visitors and make them
comfortable in church—schedule a “Welcome to Our House Brunch for Moms and
Adult Children” or an “Visit Your Parent’s Sunday School Class Open House” and
do a sort of spoof on Open House days at school.
Schedule a very upbeat, outreach oriented Ministry Fair
for that day so visitors can experience and explore what your church does on a
regular basis. For example, many single adults (the unchurched adult children
who come to church only on Mother’s Day) often don’t have any idea that many
churches have fantastic single adult ministry programs. A table with literature,
food, and fun people might be just the thing to get them to attend on a regular
basis.
Challenge visiting adult children to make this Mother’s
Day the most memorable one ever for their mom by giving her the gift of
faith in Jesus—the one Mother’s Day gift that will give her joy forever.
Be sure you have a clear gospel presentation in your
bulletin and as a handout to take home. If you don’t have them, check out the
American Tract Society web site for some excellent ones. [To be
concluded]