• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Building Faith

Building Faith

A Ministry of Virginia Theological Seminary

  • HOME
  • ABOUT US
    • Who We Are
    • Our Writers
    • FAQs
    • Contact Us
    • Subscribe
  • ARTICLES
    • ARTICLES BY TOPIC
    • MOST RECENT ARTICLES
  • WEBINARS
  • RESOURCES
    • Choosing Curriculum
    • Vacation Bible School
    • Signs of Life
    • Meeting Jesus in the Gospel of John
    • 5 Marks of Love
    • Growing a Rule of Life
    • It’s Time To…
    • #AdventWord
  • Show Search
Hide Search
Home/Children & Family/Church Visitor Welcome Bags for Children

Church Visitor Welcome Bags for Children

“The response has been positive from the children, the parents, and my current leaders who had wanted a way to make a first time seem just a little bit special.”

Offering Newcomers a Warm Welcome

Churches known for a warm welcome have an established routine for the adults who visit. These introductions to your church are generally a way for leadership to share information: a small gift, some basic information about the church and its offerings, and a hearty handshake.

However, even the most welcoming churches can forget that children would like to be welcomed and greeted in a similar manner. For many families, if the children are unhappy at a church, the parents will think twice about returning. As neighborhoods no longer determine which congregation to attended, families these days will drive right past your church to find one where they all feel welcomed.

Implementing a Complete Family Welcome

In trying to address how to better welcome families, I conducted a small survey of the churches near me known for their welcoming attitudes – even those in different denominations and with differing theology. The most successful at welcoming went out of their way to make sure children received as big a welcome, if not bigger, as their parents.

At our church, we’ve started some new tools for welcoming. One was a “getting to know you card” – a short registration card that asked for the child’s name, address, date of birth, allergies, grade and school, and parent name. We respond to each registration with a  handwritten “We are glad you came” card addressed to the child and sent by postal mail the following week.

Visitor Welcome Bags, for Children!

We then created a welcome bag. Our grownups receive a bag that contains welcoming items that most kids would categorize as “boring!” Our kids’ welcome bag tries to keep the boring – and the cost – down to a manageable level.

We ordered personalized pencils with the name of our children’s ministry, as well as green plastic cups to place in the bags. The cups are printed with our contact information on one side. We include some small toys (currently a kaleidoscope and a stretchy guy), a few pieces of candy, and a box of crayons with our ministry’s name and contact information on a printed label. We designed a separate rack card that includes all of our offerings for children’s ministry and include it for caregivers. Our welcome materials fit in a white lunch sack on which we stick our label.

Any child who visits is handed one of these bags on their first day at Advent. The response has been positive from children and parents. In addition, church leadership, who had been looking for a way to make a child’s first visit seem just a little bit special, think these welcome bags hit the mark!

Balancing Welcome with Sensitivity

Our next step is to welcome our first time children by name without singling them out. Some churches use “it’s my first time!” stickers, which work well for younger children but not for older elementary. After exploring what other churches do and reading church blogs, as well as paying attention to what non-church groups do to welcome children, we are developing even more welcoming ways.

We have a “Welcome” board where classroom teachers and other leaders write the first names of the new children in their groups that day, so that at pick up their family see that they were welcomed, acknowledged, and appreciated. We are also working on developing greeting stations specifically in our faith formation spaces, where families can be welcomed, fill out necessary information, and be personally walked to the classroom and introduced to the leaders.

The fine line, of course, is to welcome families without making them feel overwhelmed. We do not want them to feel we are desperate for guests! By developing welcoming strategies for children ahead of time, churches demonstrate that they fully expect people to visit (even if they are rare). More importantly, welcome bags and strategies show that the congregation is delighted that all members of a visiting family have attended. Our pastor often says in his welcome to visitors “We’ve been expecting you” – and with these actions, we show that we have been preparing that welcome.

We know what great things faith through the church community can bring to children and families. Let’s make sure we are ready to share those great things!


Print PDF

April 24, 2017 By Anne Shelton Leave a Comment

Filed Under: Children & Family, Welcoming & Evangelism Tagged With: children, families, newcomers, welcoming

About Anne Shelton

Anne Shelton has been active in Children's ministry for over 30 years. She is a curriculum writer for InsideOut Camp Curriculum, and has written for Sparkhouse publishing as well as served as a Director of Children's Ministry for a large South Carolina UMC church. She also has served on Conference level activities and has volunteered in many churches large and small. Anne’s own experiences of mothering three boys, as a Navy spouse, and a special education teacher inspire and inform her ministry.. She currently lives in Jamestown, KY.

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • RSS

Subscribe to Building Faith

You’ll get new articles, plus free weekly updates in your inbox.

We respect your privacy. View our privacy policy here.

Search our site

Search by Topic

New Articles

God’s Pride: Creating a sense of belonging in one Episcopal Church

The Church of St. Matthew and St. Timothy’s (SMST) is an outreach- and community-focused …

Continue Reading about God’s Pride: Creating a sense of belonging in one Episcopal Church

Webinar: Just Faith Formation: Liberative Practices for Faith Communities with Justice at the Center

Join us on Thursday, April 22nd at 3:00 Eastern Time for this webinar! Can’t make it on April …

Continue Reading about Webinar: Just Faith Formation: Liberative Practices for Faith Communities with Justice at the Center

Gifts of a Digital Confirmation Class: Embracing a Family-Based Model

When the Building Faith team heard about how one parish was reimagining Confirmation during this …

Continue Reading about Gifts of a Digital Confirmation Class: Embracing a Family-Based Model

Footer

Keep In Touch

  • Email
  • Facebook

Upcoming Webinars

Eventbrite Registration

Building Faith

Lifelong Learning, Virginia Theological Seminary
3737 Seminary Rd.
Alexandria, VA 22304

Copyright © 2021 · Building Faith · A Ministry of Virginia Theological Seminary

Design by Blue+Pine Creative, Inc.

Subscribe to Building Faith

Get Articles and Resources by Email

Privacy Policy