At Grace Community Church we are a portable church. We rent 2 schools for our Sunday environments and we rent a local church on Wednesday nights for our student ministry. We live the portable idea every week. Sometimes we love it and sometimes we hate it. One thing we try to never do is allow our facility to limit our ministry possibilities. When God gives an idea we know He will make a way. I went to a great session today on how to do family ministry events even when you don’t own your facility. Buildings don’t do ministry, people do. In the portable church world we simply have to think outside the box. Here are some things we are doing at GCC and some ideas that I heard at the breakout today at the Orange Conference. Here are some ideas…
- Host a Preschool FX on Sunday mornings or after church at a local park.
- Have a Parade day in a neighborhood.
- Host a Live nativity at a park in December.
- At GCC we are renting out a skating rink for a skate night for families.
- Use a projector and screen and host a Movie night
- Host a easter event…call it something crazy like an eggstavaganza!
- Take your Preschool families to a local pumpkin patch during the week.
- Have Serve days at schools for parents and kids to serve together
- Have a Familt Experience for the community in a theatre or local park.
- Glow in the dark Easter egg hunt on Saturday night of Easter for the community!
- Karaoke night for families / dinner and dance!!
- Mother – daughter tea / Father daughter dance at a rented facility
- Have a Battle of the bands for teens with bands.
- Use the facility you rent to have a family experience after your last church service once a month.
- Chalk up the town / one street free chalk lots of art and yes get permission!
Ok, there ya go. Never let your facility determine how you serve families. Find a way, have fun, and go for it!