5 Tried-and-True Events for Families

Children’s ministry outreach ideas help spread the Gospel and make people aware of your church programs. Encourage families at your church to reach out and share God’s love in your community with these 5 outreach ideas.

Want to connect with families in your church and reach out to families in your community? Both are possible when you use children’s ministry outreach ideas and events.

5 Family-Friendly Children’s Ministry Outreach Ideas

We asked kidmin leaders to share their favorite and most creative children’s ministry outreach ideas. Adapt one (or more) of these at your church!

1. Random Act of (Keep Coming Back) Kindness

We do Random Acts of Kindness events that last several weeks. I distribute envelopes weekly to each family with an act of kindness inside for them to do together. Throughout the week, families send me photos of them doing the activity to post on Facebook and Instagram. We set up a hashtag so every time a family completes one “RAK,” they can tag it.

Each week’s envelope is labeled “Secret RAK Mission.” Inside is a card outlining the mission, a list of any items families may need to complete it, and several RAK cards describing what our church families are doing and why. We also include invitations for recipients to join us at church services. Some of the RAK missions our families have done:

• Make cookies and deliver them to a neighbor or friend.
• Put a sealed bag of uncooked microwave popcorn in a resealable bag and tape it to a Redbox or something similar.
• Make a card for someone who’s ill, lonely, or confined to home.
• Tape coins to gumball machines and candy dispensers as a fun surprise for someone to find.

Each week, families are excited to get their secret mission. I get lots of texts and photos from our families showing their efforts, and some families without kids have requested cards so they could participate in the secret missions each week, too.

Bethany Hardy 
Lafayette, Indiana

2. Box of (Boomerang) Blessings

To keep families in our church engaged and forming relationships, we do Boxes of Blessings where we deliver boxes packed with food and lots of love to other families in need. This project provides a common goal for our families over an extended period of time. For six weeks prior to the actual “boxing” event, we collect food. Each week, we ask families to collect and bring specific items. We always include kid-friendly food, coloring books, and crayons. Once the church-wide collection is complete, we have families come together to make cards for each box and assemble the boxes.

We partner with a local food pantry to select the families who’ll receive the boxes. Our families personally deliver the Boxes of Blessings, from one family—and our church family—to another.

Sarah Trosen 
Marshalltown, Iowa