My last post was about calling parents to take time to teach their children the faith, now lets call the Church.
Of course you already know that no matter what, you need to continue Word and Sacrament ministry. Don't. Ever. Stop. Word. And. Sacrament. Ministry! If you can go beyond the church service though, then do it. We need Sunday school and adult Bible study. We need devotions. We need VBS. We need you to teach and teach as much as you can. Or at least for you to put good strong resources in our direction.
Church, do a quick reminder to the parents that they need to teach their kids by both bringing them to church and by doing things at home (these should Both be done, one should not cancel out the other). Then start teaching those parents. Offer strong Bible studies. Go through books of the Bible. Go through the catechism (this gives them a good review and it will help them teach their children). Offer devotions online (my husband does this very well, here's a link https://dwallkenobi.wixsite.com/redeemerlutheran/devotions ). Teach about Church history. Read strong Christian authors like C.S. Lewis.
Have Sunday school that is strong. Really look over the curriculum before choosing it. Make sure it emphasizes Christ in every lesson (Here's a great curriculum that does so https://search.cph.org/search#w=Enduring%20Faith ). If it has crafts make sure they are related to the lesson. If your Sunday school is an hour don't turn snack time into 20 minutes of it. Do Bible lessons always emphasizing how the account points us to Christ. Do the catechism (don't just have this be part of confirmation, start early). Teach them about the Church year and why the colors on the altar change and what they mean. Teach them what's going on in the church service. Teach hymns in Sunday school, instead of "Happy all the time" and "I've got the joy down in my heart." Have take home materials that you put into the parents hands (I'm being literal right now, don't just give it to the kids, search out the parents and put it into their hands) and encourage the parents to do it with their kids (I would even recommend finding curriculums whereby everyone including the adults are learning the same stuff just at different age/grade levels so that they can talk about what they all learned, if you can't do this, still send home stuff for parents to talk about with their kids, the curriculum linked above actually does this).
Get rid of kids church if you have it (unless that's what you are calling kids Sunday school hour) and don't add it if you don't have it. Have kids in church with their parents. If you are in a situation where kids church can't be gotten rid of, have kids church be more church like, instead of puppet shows (I'm not against puppet shows, they just aren't church, keep them for VBS and special programs). Say the Creed, the Lord's prayer and the collect of the day. See if the pastor will do a shortened version of his sermon on a video for the kids to watch. Read one or more of the readings that adult church is reading. Get them acclimated to what church is actually like.
Offer resources. Have those short pamphlet like things in your building (the ones that talk about the Bible, the Church, current issues, etc). Have devotionals. Have theological magazines. Offer other things. Make sure people are made aware that they are available (make it part of your announcements). Put them in a place where people are sure to see them.
Get the congregation into Scripture daily. Have a Bible reading plan that you are encouraging the whole congregation to read together. Have the whole congregation learning Bible verses together (maybe learn a new one each month or something like that).
Get a Facebook page. Post any services or devotions you record. Post Bible verses. Post stuff from the catechism. Post articles about saints on their feast days. Post articles about the Bible, church history, the church service, the catechism, and things that parents can do with their children to help with faith building. Post hymns.
If you can do things like these, then do them. Your people need you to teach them and to encourage them to learn. Many churches are already doing a lot of this. For those of you who are not, I'm encouraging you to find a place to start if you are capable (I know some don't have the people/resources to do them). Keep doing Word and Sacrament (never, ever, stop), but also teach and teach strong. Don't be afraid to do it. You will sometimes make mistakes. Ask God's forgiveness (because we know that He forgives, He sent Jesus to die so we could be forgiven), and then get back up and teach again.
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