I’m excited to add the first two downloadable cards from my most recent book, Heartfelt Ministering: Tools to Help You Minister in a Newer, Holier Way.
To download them, just right-click (control-click on a Mac) and save a copy to print.
Ministering Just Became Doable!
I used to have a friend who was a single mother. She often told me, “all I could do was get through the door of obedience today.” What she meant was that she was so tired after work and caring for children, that often her obedience amounted to reading a single verse of scripture or saying a quick prayer before falling, exhausted, into bed. She knew her reality didn’t match her expectations. But she made an effort, and that effort, in her words, was enough to get her “through the door of obedience.”
If your ministering efforts so far have barely gotten you through the door of obedience, now is your chance to do better.
“No need to count calories this Thanksgiving, just your blessings.”
If you’re ready for something just a little more strenuous, try one of these ideas for using the “count calories” card:
- Use the card as an invitation to your ministering family to join you at your Thanksgiving table. Just write a note on the back to let them know the date, the time, and the place.
- Attach a card to a bag with chips and salsa that he can enjoy during the big Thanksgiving game.
- Use the card as an invitation to your families to join you in a progressive leaf-raking party and tell them you are supplying the donuts and hot chocolate.
- Drop the note off the day before Thanksgiving along with a pie or a bag of your favorite dinner rolls.
- Pencil in an invitation on the back of the card inviting your ministering family to join you for the first annual Neighborhood Turkey Bowl Touch Football Game.
“Gratitude is Measured by the Nature of our Actions”
Crabbe, George. Crabbe’s English Synomes. New York: Grosset and Dunlap via arrangement with Harper and Brothers: 1917, 671.
- Write a note of gratitude the back of the “Thankfulness is measured…” card and slip it to someone you minister to while you are at church on Sunday.
- Give the card to someone you minister to and challenge them to write a note of gratitude to someone who has blessed them. Provide an envelope and a stamp as well.
- Download and print miniature versions of the “Thankfulness” card and supply a handful of them to your ministering family. Each family member can write something they are grateful for on the back then hang them on a “Thankful Tree” made from a tree branch supported in a vase of gravel, popcorn, or dry pasta noodles.
If you minister to someone less-active who doesn’t want a monthly visit:
- Attach the “count calories” card to your favorite calorie-laden treat with the recipe included on the back.
- Attach the “count calories” card to a Thanksgiving loaf of sweet bread with some fruit preserves that you deliver the day prior to Thanksgiving.
Do you minister to men? This still works for you:
- Hand your ministering brother his favorite candy bar at church with the “Blessings” card wrapped around to replace the wrapper. Let him know that you count HIM as one of your blessings.
- Include a gift card for your favorite fast food joint and tell him you are so grateful for him, you decided to buy him lunch.
- Include a bag with everything he needs to make seven-layer dip for everyone to enjoy while they watch the football game. In fact, invite him and his family over to watch the game with you.
- Invite him to use the long Thanksgiving break to find time to give each of his own children Father’s blessings.
If you minister with a Young Woman or Young Man:
November is the perfect time to gather a few family stories around the dinner table. Use an app such as “Memories” which uploads your recorded story directly to FamilySearch.
- This is a great month to include them in a lighthearted way. Help them start to ponder what they are grateful for, and how they’ll interact with your ministering families using a theme of gratitude.
- Have your youth start a group text string where each of you share a list of 3 things you are grateful for each week (or even every night if your ministering families will tolerate that much interaction).
- Have your youth show ministering brothers or sisters how to download a gratitude journal app to their phones.
- Do any of your ministering families need some yard work or yard winterizing done? This is a great month to clean out rain gutters or rake leaves for your ministering family.
- Since it’s National Family Stories month, have your youth partner demonstrate how to download and use the “Memories” app from FamilySearch. Once the app is installed, you can record stories around the table during Thanksgiving dinner and post them directly to Grandma’s FamilySearch Memories page.
- Help your family identify several family photos they want to preserve for posterity. Your youth helper can help get them scanned or digitized at the Family History Center.
Next Ordinance
- Is there anyone among those you visit (including their children) who will be receiving their “next ordinance” this month? Baptism, ordination, marriage, baby blessing? How can you help make that event memorable or important?
How can you minister in a “group?”
- Invite all of your ministering sisters to join you for a get-together to make a Thanksgiving or Christmas wreath.
- How about getting together for a piecrust making demonstration? Make pies in advance and freeze them to use on Thanksgiving.
- November 1st is National Men Make Dinner Day – Invite your ministering families over for dinner and put the men in the kitchen to make dinner together while the women chat.
Are you working with older church members?
- November is National Family Stories Month. Gift a copy of a Story journal so they can start writing down their own stories for posterity.
- Will they be eating Thanksgiving dinner alone? Can you invite them to join your family for a meal this month?
- Take a close look at the yard. Is there something you can do to help winterize the yard or house?
