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Home/Children & Family/Birthday Chalking: A Ministry of Connection
A message on a driveway in chalk, "Happy Birthday Miller! Love Your Grace Family"

Birthday Chalking: A Ministry of Connection

During the pandemic, one of the challenges for every congregation has been keeping people connected. With periods of online-only worship, lack of potlucks and dinners and even small groups, maintaining and growing relationships has been made challenging.

Attending to Morale

In the early days of the pandemic, I realized that part of my role as priest would be to monitor the “morale” of the church. Spiritual and emotional health is tied directly to morale. I challenged our Vestry and leadership to be mindful of this as well.  We sought to find opportunities to celebrate the impact of the church on people’s lives and to share moments of “grace” through our eNews and in our worship.

A Creative Way to Celebrate Birthdays

One day, one of our members pointed out to me that we had stopped doing the birthday blessings in church when we stopped in-person worship.  “We need to find a way to celebrate birthdays!” she said.  I could think of no better way to raise morale during the pandemic.  “What should we do?” I asked.  She thought about it and came back to me a day later and said, “Let’s get a team together to chalk people’s driveways on their birthday!”  Thus, our Birthday Chalking Ministry began.

Each month I share a google spreadsheet with names, birthdays, and addresses, and people sign up to chalk the driveway of the person celebrating a birthday.  The reaction was wonderful: People would wake up to this surprise and post on social media, thanking their church family for remembering them on their birthday. This ministry brought much joy and raised the spirits of our church family. Being remembered and celebrated, especially in times of isolation, is an important way to incarnate the love of Christ in our communities. 

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February 23, 2022 By Tim Baer (he/him/his) Leave a Comment

Filed Under: Children & Family, Intergenerational, Ministry Leadership, Welcoming & Evangelism, Youth Ministry Tagged With: birthday, celebrate, chalk, chalking, connection, intergenerational

About Tim Baer (he/him/his)

Fr. Tim is a 2011 graduate of VTS and is the founding priest of Grace Church - Episcopal in Yukon, Oklahoma. He is passionate about helping people find a place of belonging and introducing new people to the beauty of the sacramental liturgical tradition. Grace Church is one of the fastest growing churches in the country and over 85% are new to the Episcopal Church.

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