A Mother’s Day church service is a good chance for your church to show that it cares for the moms in your midst. It can even play a part in mending strained relationships and in getting those in need of Christ to attend your service and see what a grace-filled, cross-centered, kingdom-focused church community is all about.
You have to get people to come, though. And while your church may be able to afford radio campaigns, billboards, free brunch and other budget-busters, there is one idea that costs little or no money and has proven (at our church, Sojourn) to be a useful, well enjoyed gift to moms in our community: free family photos.
Have you scheduled a family portrait sitting lately? They are often expensive, and inconvenient for all involved. Why not tell your family, “Just come to church with me, and we can get a free portrait made before or after the service”?
How To Offer Family Photos At Mother’s Day Worship Service:
You don’t need to hire an outside photographer if you use volunteers. This is especially easy if you cultivate the value of servanthood in your church, and you develop a Church Photography Ministry. But even if you haven’t done so until now, you’ve probably got at least one or two good photographers in your midst. Encourage them to use their gifts. It amazes me that many people don’t even know they can use the talents and desires God has given them in service to him, beyond the usual church volunteer opportunities like children’s ministry, greeters, communion servers or parking attendants (all valuable roles, to be sure).
If your photographer takes portraits for a living, let her offer her business card to families after taking their free photo at the church. This could be a way for her to cultivate future clients — just make sure she doesn’t give a “hard sell” for her services. Something like “Here’s my card, if you ever need more portraits or want to get photos with a variety of backgrounds, techniques, etc.”
How To Get The Free Portraits To Your Church Attendees:
If your church budget allows, you could have all photos printed, then get volunteers or church staff to fit them into cardboard frames and mail them to each family. If you’re on a tighter budget — or perhaps even if your church is a young group of heavy social media users, upload them to an internet photo service that will allow you to email, embed or upload them to websites and Facebook.
We’ve used Yogile.com at Sojourn (for our church 10th Anniversary Party). This may work especially well if you have multiple volunteer photographers. They don’t have to set up an account or jump through any hoops. You set up a church account, create an album with a title like:
Community Church Mother’s Day Portraits, 2012
and then have your photographers upload photos to that album. From there, each photo is easily shareable to social media and websites, and printable as well.
At Sojourn Church we’ve also uploaded Mother’s Day photos to our church Flickr account, and then shared some of the photos on our blogs. Whatever you do, make sure you take each family’s relevant information so you can get the photos to them: whether physical address, email or Facebook URL.
When we talk about Mother’s Day, we always say:
- Invite your mom
- Invite your kids
- Invite your grandma, your aunt, your nanny, your grandchildren
- Invite someone who has been like a mother to you
- Invite someone who has been like a child to you
- Invite someone who needs a family
Many of them will come if only you ask — especially if you say you’d like to have their picture taken with you.
Mother’s Day may be a national holiday rather than part of the Christian liturgical year, but God ordained and blessed motherhood from the beginning. Don’t miss the chance to honor mothers and to make them feel welcome, whether they are already believers or not.
- All photos here by Tom Branch at Sojourn J-Town, except photo #3 taken by Michael Winters at Sojourn Midtown
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