Grandparenting Ministry - Engage, Equip & Encourage!

Does your church have a grandparenting ministry? I'm not talking about ministry to grandparents - often known as a senior saint's ministry (although many of us grandparents would say we are not old enough for this group, yet!) - but rather a ministry which engages, equips and encourages grandparents to be focused and active in passing on a heritage of faith to their grandchildren.

If you are like most churches, your answer is likely, "No". Churches have ministry for families and ministry for senior saints, but the group in-between, grandparents - particularly young, new grandparents of children who are birth through elementary or middle school age, this group is often left to themselves to figure out what they will do. Some grandparents are active in passing on a heritage of faith to their grandchildren; I have a friend who puts on her "Grandma's bootcamp" each summer for a week at her home. They swim, make crafts, play games, have guest speakers . . . it is really quite something and this Summer they had five girls get saved!

Other grandparents look at it all like their "job" is "over" because they raised their children and now they can sit back and enjoy retirement. However; our job is not over. If we have grandchildren we have a definite job to do in passing on a heritage of faith to our sweet grandchildren.

Many are in-between - they just do not know what they should do or how to go about doing it. For this group and the others, we in the church have a job to do, too! We need to engage them - help them understand why their job is not over and how they have the responsibility and great joy in passing a heritage of faith. We need to equip them - provide resources which they can use to pass on a heritage of faith - one such resource is Science, the Bible & Fun which will be available shortly! This resource has 52 weeks of activities and Bible lessons for grandparents to use in passing on a heritage of faith to their grandchildren. And encourage them - provide classes, small groups, set aside time in already established classes for grandparents to share what they are doing, share prayer requests and encourage one another to stay the course and pass on a heritage of faith!

So, if you are like many churches and do not have a grandparenting ministry . . . now is the time to do this and engage, equip and encourage the grandparents in your church!