52.4.Him Part One: Pre-Planning

So the planning for 52.4.Him has begun. One of my goals for this is to blog the experience so others with a similar desire will know where to start.

GETTING STARTED
1. First, I made 2 lists of ideas (weekly and monthly). These lists will grow, but this is a start! Be sure to send me your ideas!  Be sure to include your kids in these lists. My children delighted in helping come up with ideas, then they take ownership in the project.  **Not all ideas will be appropriate for all ages. Know your kids and be sure to ask about limitations on the age of children you bring.

                                      Family Ministry Ideas:

WEEKLY IDEAS	MONTHLY IDEAS
Cards for nursing home residents	Find a local struggling church or church plant that could use some help (drama/music/face painting/games/crafts are all great ways for your kids to help)
Collecting food for the food pantry	Visit a children’s home (monthly game night/pizza/BBQ)
Collecting clothes for the clothes closet	Visiting families who have visited your church
Cards for sick relatives	Visiting shut in members of your church
Cards/contact for friends and those we have met on mission trips	Serving at the food pantry
Giving toys to those in need	Serving at the clothes closet
Bringing a meal to a family who might need it (just had a baby/sick/going through a difficult time)	Serving at a soup kitchen
Blessing Bags	Serving at a shelter
Baking cookies to bring to a fire station/police station/nurses at the hospital/homeless shelter/ other non profit	Serving at a crisis pregnancy center
	Neighbor outreach (outside movie night)
	Helping at a local VBS
	Serving at any local non profit (collecting resources/organizing supplies/cleaning) Ask how you can help!
	Cleaning up a house or yard for someone unable to do it.

2. I made a list of local organizations to contact. 
         Florida Baptist Children's Home fortmyers.fl@FBCHomes.org
         LifelineFamily Center  lifeline4moms2B@lifelinefamily.org
         ECHO  http://www.echonet.org/
         Local church (I contacted our missions pastor and children's director to get started.)

I am just in this stage now, I sent an email along the lines of this:

My family are members of ___________church. We as a family have been challenged to be more involved in serving in our community. I was wondering if you had some ideas of how families with young children  can partner with you, how we can serve you and those you minister to.  We are open to any and all ideas and very much look forward to partnering with you in some way.

Next steps are Step 3: Planning, where we actually begin to put some ideas on the calendar! and Step 4: Preparing your children. So excited!