Mother’s Day is just around the corner and you want to honor moms at church on that day. That’s a good idea. Mother’s Day is one of the most attended church services in the year.
Before you read about a few ideas, think about this though.
- There is no one size fits all idea. One program that could be good for your church might not work well elsewhere.
- More and more churches aren’t planning special Sundays, like Mother’s or Father’s day, as they believe it’s impossible to satisfy all!
- Moms want their kids to come to church with them on that day. So when planning your service, think about the other people in the crowd.
- Whatever you plan, make sure worshipping God is still the center of your service.
- If you do decide to honor moms, honor moms only. As weird as it may sound, not all women are moms. Yet, many choose to honor women, which is great, but not all of them are moms.
- Whatever you do, some people may get offended! “Moms only should get flowers”, some may be reminded of their miscarriage, or their singleness, and the list goes on.
Still, here are ideas on how to be a blessing to moms on that Sunday, in no specific order of importance!
- The classic video of kids saying why they love their moms is always a good one. You get to laugh, cry, cringe, wonder, and be grateful all at the same time. If you can’t film your own children from church, you can find one on YouTube, buy one. These videos always work because (most) kids will naturally say what they think.
- Have a wall where people can write on it why they love their moms. It could be a built wall or even directly on a church wall…that may want to repaint later. Give people sharpies and let the creativity, honesty, and authenticity flow.
- Have you thought of simply giving moms a “Thank You” note? Simplicity is sometimes the best gift. Kids and adults alike so often forget to just say thank you. You can either leave a space to fill out where people can write in it or note something you desire as a church.
- Many churches have the senior pastor’s wife preach on that Sunday. Spice it up by asking the youth leader’s wife to speak or any leader’s spouse. It will give an opportunity to hear someone different. The caveat is always this: make sure the message is applicable to all. After all, about 50% of your church are women, which maybe 33% are mothers. In a church of 100 adults, this means about 17 people are moms.
- In the same vein, perhaps you would want to remind everyone in your church how mothers changed the world in Scripture. Think Eve who raised up Able, as well as Cain and Seth. Non-perfect kids. Sara, mother of Isaac. Mary, mother of Jesus, and Elizabeth, mother ofJohn the Baptizer. Evidently, if you desire to preach about a woman in the Bible, there are a great number of them.
- Gifts are never overused! From flowers to mugs and everything in between, it is appreciated. If you can match that gift with the sermon of the day, even better!
- In the video category, regular moms giving a testimony of faith, endurance, prayer, unconditional love, or any specific quality or character trait you want to put forward will hit the mark. If you choose to do a live interview, make sure you rehearse with the mom(s) and give them the questions you will be seeking answers for. Not everyone is comfortable on stage…or worse, they get at ease and it becomes a never-ending story.
- I know tons of moms who kept a craft for years that was prepared with love and intent in the children’s ministry environment. Not all kids are created equal in the giftedness area of craftsmanship. I flunked crafts class in kindergarten. When God was passing out those spiritual gifts, I must have been hiding somewhere. Sorry, I digress. If you can get your children’s ministry team on it, have them plan something that fits with either the decor of the church, preaching theme.
- Have a couple of kids share a cute poem with the assembly. Choose an extrovert kid (that would’ve been me! With no crafts).
- Have the youth team challenge the students to a “love mom week” and post about it on Instagram, Facebook, or Snapchat. Winner gets a prize!
- If moms from your church are like any other mom in the Western Hemisphere, they don’t have enough good pictures of the family. Or even nice pix of them with their kids. Help them out on this day. You will be honoring every mom if you set up a nice photo booth where moms can ask their kids to strike the pose…or bribe them into the frame…or coerce them. You can leave that part to moms.
- Having a photographer take professional photos is very honoring and will make this Sunday eventful and memorable.
- One last thing to honor mothers this year. How about praying for them? I mean, is there anything better than knowing your whole church is praying for you. Not just a 50 word-prayer, have mothers come in front, lay hands on them. Have the not so young mothers (you can’t say older mothers without the risk of dying quickly and not so swiftly) pray for younger ones. There is something in prayer that transcends what you say. And maybe, just maybe, it would be the best-honoring touch you could give any mother. Intercede with them for their long-lost child, that the prodigal may come back.
