Written by Deb del Villar, Director of Communications
In our earlier blog post, we shared why, when, and how churches could celebrate Grandparents Day in September. In this blog, we share how to use Legacy Coalition’s free Grandparents Day Kit to fulfill your goals to celebrate, honor, and challenge the grandparents in your church.
While the resources are ready each year in August, they can be used throughout the year or whenever it best fits into your church’s calendar. Many Christian schools and homeschool communities use these resources as well.
Additional ideas will be shared at the end of the post for churches that might be host churches for the Legacy Grandparenting Summit. These free resources are great ways to promote and publicize your event. There is even a ‘join me’ invite card that can be printed and handed out to grandparents.
The free, downloadable church resources in the kit are a combination of items to use during church services, on your church social media pages, and to give or use with grandparents. Be sure to check the rich variety, choosing those that fit your needs and desires.
Celebrate Grandparents
Social Media Content
The Grandparents Day Kit includes several ready-to-post templates that can be used on Facebook or Instagram. They are also customizable.
Consider adding a caption with a verse like Deuteronomy 4:9 or a quote about grandparents like “Grandparents are a delightful blend of laughter, caring deeds, wonderful stories, and love.” Another example is “Grandfathers are just antique little boys.”
Your social media posts could be serious like “Having fun with your grandkids is great! But that’s not the best part of grandparenting. The best part is having the amazing privilege of passing the baton of faith.”
You can also look online for a wide variety of quotes, so pick and choose the ones you like. Have fun, be creative, and post for the entire week leading up to Grandparents Day.
PowerPoint Slide Templates
Our Grandparents Day Kit also includes PowerPoint slide templates. There is a cover slide, two section header slides, and two types of content slides. Additionally, there is a promotional slide for Summit26.
The slides are customizable for your text, along with suggestions of content. Fun examples could be Grandparent Trivia, or “How well do you know the grandparents in the Bible?” Fill in the slides with a trivia question, allow people time to read and respond, then share the answer or provide it in the next slide.
You could also include funny sayings from your church grandchildren or even a video of them telling what their grandparents mean to them. This would take some preparation and coordination from your children’s department, so work ahead on this.
Gifts
Recognition is wonderful, but another great way to celebrate grandparents is to give them a small gift.
The Grandparents Day Kit includes a free, two-sided prayer bookmark available in two options. Choose from a light blue or a white background with a prayer and 2 Corinthians 5:19b printed on it. Each color choice also comes with or without a spot to hole punch and place a ribbon.
The second side is editable, so you can place information like dates of future grandparenting events at your church. Many churches print them on cardstock and laminate them. This makes for a great, inexpensive gift to let your grandparents know how much you appreciate them.
Legacy Coalition also has a beautifully designed Grandparenting Bookmark you can purchase in packs of 25.
Honor Grandparents
Banner
Why not display an outdoor banner from the Grandparents Day Kit the week leading up to Grandparents Day?! It is designed without a date to make it usable each year. The banner is a standard size that can easily be printed through a vendor such as Vistaprint or FastSigns.
Coloring Pages
Our kit also includes printable coloring pages designed to be made into a Grandparents Day card. Use them in children’s church or for young ones during adult services. Encourage the children to send or give them to their grandparents.
Time in a Church Service
Consider designating time in your service where the grandparents are recognized. Maybe have them stand up, have children pass out the bookmarks, and then pray over them. You could find out who has the most grandchildren or who is the newest grandparent. Think through ways to honor them.
For more ways to honor grandparents, see the download in the kit titled “Ways to Celebrate Grandparents in a Sunday service and Beyond.”
Challenge Grandparents
Intro Video
A great way to open the church service would be to show the 90-second video from the kit by Larry Fowler, Founder of Legacy Coalition. Larry introduces the ministry as well as challenges grandparents to their potential to impact generations as we fulfill our God given responsibility. He stresses that grandparents matter and our grandparenting is worthy of our time, attention, and resources.
Commitment Slide
One of the PowerPoint slides from the kit is a commitment slide. It could be used during the service in several ways. It could be part of the opening announcements, after the sermon if a grandparenting focus was preached, or at the end of the service. It states, “As members of this church body, we commit to.” A few of the statements are “Understand the value of grandparents in the body of Christ” and “Recognize that a grandparent’s life experiences mean they have incredible faith stories to share.” Check out the other two in the kit.
Devotional
Are you looking for a take-home or small group resource? There is a devotional in the kit titled, No Greater Influence, that speaks of getting grandparents’ hearts and minds focused on the real finish line – eternity. Three ways are shared to help grandparents intentionally influence their grandchildren.
Handouts
The Four Types of Christian Grandparents handout can be used together or handed out over five weeks. It can also be used as a bulletin insert. It covers the blocked, unequipped, cultural, and biblical grandparent. It’s a great resource to help gauge where an individual grandparent feels they most closely resemble.
Additional Resources
As you check out and celebrate Grandparents Day this year, maybe you wonder what your next step should be. Inside the Grandparents Day Kit, there is an interview with two pastors about the impact of the grandparenting ministry not only on their church but on the surrounding community. Be sure to check that out.
The kit also includes documents titled “Take Another Step: Grandparenting Ministry” and “Take Another Step: The Legacy Grandparenting Summit.” Both those documents will help you explore which step is the next right one for you.
Legacy Coalition seeks to equip churches for ministry. We offer a wide variety of webinars, a newsletter, podcasts, and blogs.
Using the Grandparents Day Kit to promote your host site for the Legacy Grandparenting Summit
Many of the items in our Grandparents Day Kit can be easily adapted for use in announcing that your Legacy Grandparenting Summit host site registration is open and available.
- Consider setting up a display and registration table in the church’s open area. Review the ideas in the kit for ways to celebrate. Pick ones that will draw attention to your announcement.
- Look at the social media files in the kit and fill out the blank templates with your information. Consider adding testimonials of grandparents who attended a prior Summit. Use the templates to inform your congregation of unique information for your site.
- Another idea is to estimate or find out ahead of time the number of grandchildren represented by grandparents in your church. This makes a powerful statement as to the number of lives that can be impacted for the Lord through intentional Christian grandparenting.
- The PowerPoint slides in the kit could be used for ongoing promotion to your congregation along with normal church announcements. One slide is for the live Legacy Grandparenting Summit, along with several others that could be customized for your host site. Even though they say Grandparents Day, churches celebrate this throughout the year.
- The printables in the kit can be spread out over several weeks, using them to build excitement for attending the Legacy Grandparenting Summit. The printable bookmark could be given out to those who sign up by a certain date.
- The outdoor banner in the kit does promote Grandparents Day, but it could be used to promote a registration event or class you hold. You could declare a different date, Grandparents Day celebration at your church, complete with snacks and a grandparents class or prayer time. At the end of the event, encourage all to register for the Legacy Grandparenting Summit. A devotional is included in the printables and covers the influence of grandparents. It would make a wonderful small group study.
- The coloring pages in the kit could be used in the children’s ministry department, then handed out to grandparents at the end of service with a Legacy Grandparenting Summit host site registration promotional piece attached.
- Consider having a display table set up periodically throughout your registration time. Look at the Legacy Coalition Resources Brochure, included in downloads, for ideas of what to display. These are also great to have on hand during the Legacy Grandparenting Summit.
Conclusion
No matter when your church decides to celebrate Grandparents Day, Legacy Coalition has resources for you to use. Get access to our free Grandparents Day Kit now!
Be creative, have fun, and keep your eye out for ways to help your grandparents grow in their biblical role so they can have a greater impact on their families.
Grandparenting Matters – because we want our grandkids in heaven with us!
