Couples Cookie Exchange is a Great Way to Connect Families By Melinda Shunk Children’s Ministry Coordinator
not forcing it but letting the Holy Spirit work within a ministry opportunity you help create.
onnecting parents with each other is vital to sustaining a children’s ministry that does NOT revolve around the children’s minister! A way to accomplish that as the Children’s Minister is to have caring get-to-know-you kind of conversations with each parent in the hallway, out for coffee, during a new birth visit, or after worship. You use the knowledge they share with you to help them connect with other members in your church when you have events like the Couples Cookie Exchange.
How it works:
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You must remember that you cannot be and should not be parents only tied to the church. Sure, they should know you, but you can’t possibly “be there” for each person. You need to connect and equip them to be that for each other. Preferably
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1. Setting the date for the first Sunday or Monday evening after Thanksgiving increases attendance. It is before parties happen, gets people's attention while they have time to make cookies, and stocks everyone who attends with their first round of Christmas Cookies. 2. The first time, you may need to do personal invites to couples. Don’t just lay it out there in a bulletin announcement. Over time it will become an expected tradition, but for the first exchange, people may need a personal invite. 3. Hold it at the church and offer childcare. If your program is really big, you may want to have two Couples Cookie Exchanges
ARKANSAS UNITED METHODIST
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