How are You Helping Grandparents Who Bring Grandchildren to Church?

Typically when you think about the adults who bring children to your church, you think of and picture the parents. And, for most of the children it is the parents who bring them to church. But not all. In most churches 10% to 25% of the people bringing the children to church are the grandparents. 

It is not the same for grandparents who bring their grandchildren to church as it is for parents - parents are able to tell their children they are going to church as a family; grandparents are not able to make their grandchildren go to church, because typically if the parents are allowing the grandparents to bring the children to church it is only IF the children want to go. Parents often have friends at church who are also parents with children the same ages. This means when parents bring the children to church, the children often already are friends with other children in their class; not necessarily the case when grandparents bring the children to church. This may leave the grandchildren feeling lonely and like they do not belong. Parents attend parenting classes at church; most churches do not offer any classes for grandparents on what it looks like to hand down confident faith.

These are just a few of the ways it is different for parents and grandparents when they are the ones who bring the children they love to church. One more large way grandparents are different is if they are the ones bringing their grandchildren to church, they typically are in a lot of pain. There is a reason they are the ones bringing their grandchildren to church and the reason is usually because their grown children are no longer walking with God. This causes a deep, deep pain. When the church does not step up to help these grandparents, they are truly missing the mark.

These grandparents truly need the church to be on-track when it comes to their Children's Ministry - and Youth Ministry as well. They need you to offer excellent ministry opportunities and to do so all year long. They need you to focus upon encouraging the "church kids" to befriend the children who are there because their grandparents brought them. They need you to notice when their grandchildren are not at church. They need you to do all you are able to do to make church a place these children want to be - because if they do not want to be there - they won't be there.

So, do you know how many grandparents in your church are bringing their grandchildren to church? What are you doing to help them; or are you actually making their "job" of handing down confident faith in a very painful situation much more difficult?