Creative Ways to Reach Out to Parents

As a KIDMIN Leader, you know the importance of parents discussing with children the concepts they have learned at church. You also know that handing out take-home papers and sheets with discussion questions usually wont workunless the paper airplane that the child made somehow flies into the parents hands. Here are some tech-savy ways to get this information to your parents:

1. Send out mass text messages.

Statistics say that something like 98% of people will read a text message. Use a service such as clubtexting.com, mobomix.com, or eztexting.com to create groups to send mass text messages to. They each have certain fees, but in the end it just may be worth it. Imagine thisyou bring your child to a new church where you have to fill out your information at the check-in point to drop him or her off. After service, you pick your child up and within 10 minutes you receive a text message telling you what your child learned that day and giving you some ideas on how to discuss it with him or her even further. Impressive.

2. Create a blog with discussion questions.

You like blogs. Your parents would like them too. Create a blog with parenting tips and ideas, but also post this weeks discussion questions on there. You can give them the direct link or to be even more tech-savy, put a QR code in Sundays bulletin or post it on the wall outside of the classroom door. A QR code is kind of like a barcode, but it can be scanned with a smart phone and link people directly to whatever you would like, including your blog post with discussion questions.

3. Make an audio CD.

Im a firm believer that KIDMIN Leaders should work ahead. Plan out your Kids Church services for 2 or 3 months in advance. If you use curriculum, it has already done that for you. Take a few minutes before the beginning of a month or series and create audio tracks (no more than 5 minutes) for your parents to listen to on their way to lunch after the service. On these tracks you may include a brief summary of the days lesson, discussion questions, and some announcements for your ministry. Burn that months or series tracks on to 1 CD and place a label with your logo and a date on it. Hand it out for that month to every parent and encourage them to listen to it when they get in the car each Sunday.

4. Create a podcast.

Another option would be to take your audio tracks and make a podcast out of them for your parents. You could link to them with a QR code or simply tell parents what to search in the iTunes store to find you and subscribe. You can find instructions on how to make a podcast here.

5. Use Facebook and Twitter.

Create a Facebook page/group or Twitter profile for your childrens ministry. You can use apps, such as HootSuite to schedule a future post to both of them. Pre-program your Twitter and Facebook account to post discussion questions about 10 minutes after your service ends. This way parents will receive the information when it is fresh on their minds and you will impress them with your timeliness. You can also include a link to your podcast and blog, mentioned above.

 

Communication is key in working with families. If something you are doing isnt working, find another way to accomplish it. Can you come up with any more creative ideas to get your message out? Post them to the comments below.