Connecting your church and music play group communities


I thought I would write a few suggestions of things we have done to connect our music playgroup with our church community. There are so many terrific ideas out there, I would love to hear yours. Please add your comments so we can pool our ideas.

Ideas to blend your communities...

Invite people from church to help out in your music group. At the moment an older friend from church comes and helps me run our group. Cissie and I set up the instruments together, she writes name-tags and welcomes peoples and then holds babies and chats to parents. She is just a gem. 

It is terrific to have my friend at It's Music Time - for a lot of people in our area we are demystifying church and Christians. Having the wonderful Cissie there means that should they chose to come to church, there is someone else they know there. She is someone else who can pray for the people who attend our ministry by name and care for them. She meets them in the street or down at the shops and provides connections. Of course, if you're from a bigger church you may have a couple of people or a team that provides the type of connections and helps build your community. 

Run a Bible study or investigating Christianity group before or after It's Music Time - I have done this both ways, before and after. The big plus is that it is an easy invitation. People are already coming out for It's Music Time, so coming a little early or staying late is not so difficult. The downside is that it is a big morning for the little people. Nonetheless, make it easy for people to say yes!

• Have an It's Music Time performance at church or a church event - There is nothing like watching your little people perform to get parents, grandparents, family friends along to an event.

Give meals/welcome gifts to families in need - It's a great way to show support for families whether they've had a new baby or if they are in crisis by providing them with a meal. If you have the resources a meal roster is a great help. We use this one at church to co-ordinate meals: https://takethemameal.com/

• Ask the ministry staff to drop in - you never know when people would like to speak to a member of your ministry team. Having them drop in enhances their approachability and helps everybody connect. Sometimes we have had a Dad bring their child to It's Music Time and having one of the make members of staff pop in to say hello, makes them feel not so out of place with all the women who are usually there.

These are just some ideas to start you off. Post below - what do you do to connect your church and It's Music Time or playgroup communities?

Photo by Scott Webb from Pexels

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