Speaker 0 00:00:00 Well, back to school, time is here and it is an important time for your church to reach more families. In this episode, we give you 11 ideas that your church will love. We hope this conversation helps you reach more people and grow. This is the reach right podcast. You're listening to the reach, right podcast, the show dedicated to helping pastors and church leaders reach people the right way, hosted by me, Thomas Costello, and with me as always as my co-host Ian Hyatt, we're here to help your church see more visitors and grow, Speaker 2 00:00:45 Ready to get ready to get Speaker 0 00:00:51 Well. Hey guys, welcome to the reach Wright podcast, episode number 110. I am your host Thomas Costello. And with me as always is my co-host Speaker 3 00:00:59 He and Hyatt. Hey Thomas. Speaker 0 00:01:01 Hey man. It's uh, back to school time and that's the theme of our conversation today. My kids are already back at school. Get this Hawaii kids, go back to school on August 2nd. That's the, they would go back here. Speaker 3 00:01:13 So I'm jealous. I'm jealous Speaker 0 00:01:15 Me too. It's like, yes, back to school. Let's do it. We're uh, we were stoked about it. So, uh, but this is a big time for churches as you. And I know this is, uh, one of the times that people do tend to be looking for churches and some of the larger attendance weeks, um, are kind of leading into that, especially in that post labor day time, that first few weeks of September, uh, there's always been like that campaign for the national back to church Sunday and all those things there. Yeah. So I think it's an important time that, uh, churches kind of take a look at some of the things that they can be doing to reach families, especially, but reach more people in their community. Uh, and this is a great time to launch into that. Uh, so exactly agreed. Speaker 3 00:01:56 Yeah. You know, people get kind of a normal schedule back. As we know, attendance typically fluctuates over the summer. There's vacations mm-hmm <affirmative> and all sorts of other things going on and, and, uh, and people are getting back in sync and, uh, and you know, thinking more about getting their schedule and church back, not like church, I shouldn't say back into the equation, but maybe full time back into the equation. Speaker 0 00:02:20 Yeah. So we know how it is. I mean, vacations and, you know, we're, we still have, uh, I dunno, we're hearing all the time, people going down with COVID and all that stuff and oh gosh, God willing as school gets back in that, it'll be kind of a, a, a waning in that. Uh, but I, I think that there everybody is looking for some normalcy, you know, that there's a reason why I did those fist pumps. It's like, yes, bring back routine, bring back schedule. And I think people in general want that. And I think church, uh, is a part of that for many families out there. They want to have that routine of Sundays and, uh, youth ministry happening at normal intervals and all those things happen there. So today we have 11 different ideas that churches can run with to take advantage and kind of engage families specifically in this back to school season. Speaker 0 00:03:08 I think your churches are, if you apply one of these, I think it would actually go a pretty long way, but there's many ideas here. So take as many as you want run with them. I think it's gonna be a really good conversation for us today. So the first one is host a family worship service. So in this back to school season, kind of leading up to that, whether it's before labor day or after labor day, I would say even for churches that are, that are in areas that have school that starts earlier like hours here in August. Yeah. I think you probably want to target that right after labor day time. That week after labor day specifically is a great time to do a lot of this here. Yeah. But hosting a family oriented worship service, I think that really goes a long way. Speaker 0 00:03:50 Even if your church, you know, you have, uh, youth ministries or kids ministries that happen. What if for just one Sunday? Yeah. You actually took some time to focus on families, maybe have all families together. I'm sure your children's ministry volunteers would love having a week to, to maybe take a week off from being in there. Yeah. But, uh, be able to, to do that and, uh, highlight, uh, some of the things that are happening in kids' ministry. Yeah. That kind of stuff there. I think a family Sunday, Sunday is a really great idea and a great way to kick off the year. Speaker 3 00:04:20 Yeah. I agree. And, and you know, a lot of churches, uh, I think for good reason now in our modern, uh, church era, you know, they se they separate kids, students, and all of that. Mm-hmm <affirmative> allow the parents in there, but when you all come together like that, it could produce some more momentum, excitement for those things. So that's good. Next one would be to simply highlight your student and kids' ministry. So of course, uh, you know, back to school, getting back into the swing of things sometimes, you know, because you have a regular operating kids and student ministry, I hope most churches do. At least I hope I hope your church does. Whoever's listening to us out there. It could be missed to, to obviously highlight this, make sure you're making announcements, video promos for events to come with within these ministries. Key thing to not forget. Speaker 0 00:05:06 Well, that's a good one and I'll get the next one here. I think the next, uh, important thing is pray over your students and your educators at this time of year. I think that's really a valuable thing to be doing there. Yeah. Uh, so, uh, here's, here's kind of the, the idea. I think a lot of times we, we pray in general for our kids and those things, but I think this is a really important time to take a special time in your service to pray for if you're the kind of church that lays hands on people. Yeah. Do that too. But, but pray over people. I think especially educators, there are so many teachers, uh, in our, in our churches. Uh, and I think it's just so Speaker 3 00:05:43 Challenging Speaker 0 00:05:43 Yeah. To, to do that. Yeah. To be able to pray over them and to, uh, to pray over our students and actually take five minutes to really honor them and have them stand up and, and celebrate them. And on top of that, just be praying over them. I think that's a good thing to do. Speaker 3 00:05:57 We, we do this at my church. We, we call it a back to school blessing. Um, and actually we, we have, you know, um, educators stand, we have, we have actually, the students come in from each, uh, grade level. Um, and they kind of go up there, uh, different leaders within each ministry and they pray over whether or not it's high school kids, a middle school representative, the kids actually put on, uh, kind of a special worship thing. Yeah. We do it up at our church. So that that's been our thing is our back to school blessing, but we make it a point to pray over all of the students and the teachers and people, um, involved in education. Yeah. Speaker 0 00:06:36 That's good. Good. Speaker 3 00:06:37 Yeah. Excellent. Next, next one. To be kick off a new sermon series, it's a new, it's a new season. So new series is often, you know, good coming out of a summer series. And a lot of churches do a summer series. We're in one right now at my church and it's a new season, right. So you're back in swing, let's get something fresh for parents, families to focus on, uh, whether or not that is, uh, like family oriented, uh, you know, type of, uh, of a series or something along those lines. Um, you know, there's a lot of different ideas out there for that. Speaker 0 00:07:09 Yep. Uh, I, I think it's just a good time to do that. I think that week after labor day is a great weekend, uh, to launch into a new series. Now I've always been kind of that preach through a book of the Bible, kind of a, uh, church leader. And that's what, what I would do. And we would always start one that second week of September, cuz it's a good way to just kind of ramp up and you have a, a launch pad to go with that there, a lot of people are just coming back in that time, but I love your idea of especially doing something that is, is kids focused or family focused. Uh, I think that's really a great idea with that. So, uh, next one is have a party. Um, we're all about celebrating. I preached just this last weekend through the story of the lost son the week before I was preaching through the lost coin and the lost sheep and one common factor in all three of those parables is throwing parties. Speaker 0 00:07:58 Uh, they all throw parties and that's something that I believe God loves to do is to throw parties and to celebrate and so great reason for churches to do it too. Especially at back to school time, I think just do something to make it special, something that might entice someone to invite friends, family, uh, and bring them into church, but having some kind of a party with giveaways or food, just to celebrate the end of the summer, the start of something that's a, a new season and something that has like, again, more of that schedule in their lives, it is caused to celebrate. Speaker 3 00:08:29 Yeah. Yeah, that's good. I'll get the next one. Uh, maybe a back to school outreach. So, um, you know, may, there's a lot of, you know, schools that could use a blessing and, and a church to get outside the walls and, uh, maybe it's, uh, and not just a, you know, added a church per se, but you know, maybe it's a backpack school supply giveaway. Mm. Um, you know, to families in need during that time. Um, you know, those types of resources. But, and I think that's a, a neat thing because, you know, obviously parents are focused on getting their kids back into the swing of things. If, if, um, folks are struggling out there financially, if your church is the one out there in, in the, uh, community that, uh, is being a, uh, a light and providing for needs, then that's a great thing. So there's different, different creative, uh, things to do. But you know, this is a good one to, to definitely focus on. Speaker 0 00:09:20 Yeah, no love the idea. I think it, outreach is really a, a great time to do it. You gotta remember that there's a, there's probably kids in your community that maybe, um, don't have everything they need to be successful students and anything your church can do to help kids in that situation or families in that situation. Yeah. I think it says a lot about who you are as a church there. So great idea with that. Absolutely. Uh, next one, I love this one and something we've done at our church is adopting a school for the year now. I've, uh, I'm at a church where we meet at, um, we have met at least in the past at a high school. Uh, so it's kind of a no brainer, which school we're gonna adopt each and every year we adopt the same school, but there is so much power in being able to be a church that is connected with a school. Speaker 0 00:10:04 And so kind of just having it in your mind that this is a, a, a school that we have adopted. This is one that we feel responsible for. We're praying for them all the time. We're caring about the things that they care about, the needs that they have there. Um, one thing that our church does is, uh, twice a year, we do like a big catered lunch for all of the teachers there at the school. And it costs us something it's not cheap to do something like that. But yeah, man, it makes a huge impact that these teachers, uh, they're getting a nice lunch and it's no cost to them and they're a member who's giving it to them and, and that they cared about them. So we found this to be a hugely successful opportunity is being able to adopt and kind of lay claim to being a blessing to our school that we're at, but really any school. So if you're in a, a neighborhood or a community where there are multiple schools, yeah. Pray about which one it is this year. Maybe it's gonna be a different school each year. Uh, but if you're like a lot of our audience, there's a school or maybe one elementary, middle and high school in your community, right. Yeah. Just perfectly consider how you can be doing that and how you can be a blessing to them. Speaker 3 00:11:04 No, that's great. And think about the relationships that can be formed there too, that came to mind, you know, just that, uh, you know, these teachers, you're there serving them, connecting with them. And a lot of teachers have kids too, that they may want to get involved at your church and, uh, so on, so good inroads can happen there. So next one would be kind of similar to the one I shared before help, you know, supply foster and adopted children with school supplies. This one might seem a little kind of, um, I don't know, out there a little bit, but we've seen that there's been a huge trend over the last few years of just people adopting and fostering kids. Mm-hmm <affirmative>, which is great. Uh, there's so many unselfish families out there. I, I know so many, um, just friends that have are, are in this boat and they can use help. Speaker 3 00:11:49 They can, they can use it's, it's not a, it's a rewarding thing, but it's a, a challenging thing for these families. So how can you come alongside and help them with school supplies, maybe it's kids drop off and pick up, um, you know, most I've seen most families that adopt and foster, they have, you know, their own, not always, but they have their own kids and then they have the kid that they foster and that's a lot of dropping off and picking up and different ages and all of that. So maybe you can help organize something like that for them. Yeah. Speaker 0 00:12:20 So often foster kids and adopted kids in many cases have special needs and some of those situations too. And so I know so many, uh, faithful followers of Jesus that, uh, that do foster children and the sacrifice that they make is enormous to do something like that. So yeah, anything we do to be a blessing to them at this back to school time, that's huge. I would say so big time, next one I'll hit is that, and this is something that maybe is kind of one we don't think of, but maybe starting some kind of a homeschool meetup. I think the homeschool, uh, with the pandemic and things that happened, it really shot up in its, uh, in the number of people that are doing it there. So homeschool meetups, I think can be a really good tool for a church. So, uh, chances are any size church out there that you have families in your church, uh, that do homeschool. Speaker 0 00:13:08 And whether you're a church that promotes that and really encourages people to do it, or you're a church that doesn't, I think that there are people that are homeschooling their kids, uh, having a meetup that kind of kicks off at this time. I know, uh, homeschooling moms, especially that that is a big burden to be full time. Mom and everything has to happen there and to be a teacher as well for your kids. Uh, there are a lot of things that people can GA gain by doing it together, uh, and having that kind of camaraderie and relationship there. So things you, you could do some things to foster that and yeah. Do something that really is a blessing to homeschooling parents. Speaker 3 00:13:42 Yeah, absolutely. I think we found out during the pandemic when everyone was shut down and not in school, that we would not be good homeschoolers, just, just personally. So I commend any, I commend any parents that are good at it. So we Speaker 0 00:13:53 Took a stab at it. We, we did homeschooling, uh, at the beginning of the pandemic because my, uh, my, he was in third grade at the time. Yeah. Uh, and, uh, his, he had a, he had zoom classes. We had that for a whole year. Yeah. Uh, during the beginning of the pandemic and here here's what was crazy. His teacher, he was actually in second grade when it started, but his third grade teacher, uh, every single one, hi, his camera was like this the entire time. That was that. That's how it went. If you were listening only, I'm just showing the top of my head. Yeah. Uh, that's what he was doing. Uh, that's what his teacher, he was a older man. I, God bless him and we love him there, but we had to pull our kids out and homeschool him, uh, for a year, at least. And in that time we learned that we weren't great at it as well. So that's not our thing. Speaker 3 00:14:37 Good on, on about that. Well, the next one is, uh, uh, launch fall youth groups. Um, you know, this comes to mind for me. Uh, my, I have a son who's going into sixth grade and I have a daughter who's going into ninth grade. So two different, you know, uh, uh, times of school and, uh, you know, I want them involved in church, you know, I'm already dreading, oh my goodness. You know, the things my son's gonna hear and see, and they're in public schools here. And, uh, and so, you know, my daughter's going into high school, you know, that you have a high school age daughter. So I'm like, we want them close to the Lord. So, and I, I say that it's good to do it anyway, cuz not just for the spiritual needs of kids, but it's a natural time to do it. You know, they're outta summer, they're back into their routine. Mm-hmm <affirmative> so now you can actually get groups going. It's funny, my daughter, who's going into ninth grade, as I mentioned, was a part of a summer group that just, it folded and fizzled out in the summer because just all of the ups and downs and no one would come and they'd have, they'd have eight, eight, you know, kids one week and then none on the next. And so falls just a little bit better time. I think our church learned about that. So Speaker 0 00:15:46 I feel for everybody in our, our youth pastors in our audience, it's hard, man. You guys got a hard job there, but I think it's a great time to be really putting all of your efforts into that week after labor day. Uh, really going all in kids are back in school routine is there and yeah, it gets better. Well, I'll just say that it gets better with that. Speaker 3 00:16:03 So, absolutely. Speaker 0 00:16:04 Uh, last thing is handout family devotional kits. Um, this is a great time to remind parents that while they have teachers at school and pastors at church, they are still the primary teachers and pastors of their own children. Uh, so anything we can do to remind them and help them and give them the tools to successfully raise great God honoring Christ, loving adults to turn them into that. I think that goes a long way. So absolutely giving them tools to do that. There are lots of resources out there, whether it be from right now, media or orange or whatever it would be. There's lots of curriculum ideas that you can give away. Um, if you, even, if you, you don't have to pay a lot of money for them, you could create your own as well. But giving resources, especially at this time of year, when people are saying, okay, we're gonna get some routine and some schedule in our life, they want to kind of have the tools at that time. You Speaker 3 00:17:00 Can actually set aside one day a week in a, not be all like this. Yeah. So you Speaker 0 00:17:04 Can set a and you can, this is actually when patterns are formed, right? So if we want families maybe doing devotions together or doing devotions, making that part of their lives, this is a great time to kick that off because school is starting and it's five days a week and it's the same thing every morning and uh, baking in devotions there. Yeah. I think that's a great time to do it. So really doing a, a push to, to give people the tools they need to be successful disciplers of their kids. Absolutely. I think that really is important right now. Speaker 3 00:17:34 Absolutely. That's good stuff. Speaker 0 00:17:36 Awesome. Anything else to add as we close up? Speaker 3 00:17:39 No, I think, uh, hopefully these 11 things have been encouraging and like we said, at the beginning, if there's only one thing that you choose do it well, go all out. Yeah. Uh, I, I think, you know, I think too, I would add, um, as we are, even though, you know, we COVID is still there and all of that, but as we are back into kind of a normal routine, I know we've experienced working with churches over the last six months. Things are moral normal-ish. And I think that based on that, look at this fall, season this back to school season as a time to really capitalize on that and try to get things in sync would maybe be the word to use, uh, with your ministry efforts. So, Speaker 0 00:18:19 Yep. That's it good stuff. So hopefully this has been helpful to you guys. If it has been, let us know in the comments rate, review, subscribe, like do all those things. Thank you guys so much for being a part of our reach. Right? Family hope. This is gonna be a great school year for your students. Yeah. And for your church, God bless you guys and have a great week. Speaker 3 00:18:38 See you. Speaker 0 00:18:41 Thanks for listening to the reach right podcast. We hope this episode will help you reach people the right way. Looking for more resources for your church. Check us out online at reach, write studios.com. If this episode has been helpful to you, it would mean the world to us. If you would rate, review and subscribe on iTunes for wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks again for listening. And we'll see you next week. Speaker 2 00:19:08 Get ready to get Speaker 1 00:19:16 You.