4 Socially Distanced Family Ministry Fall Events

Every season has its pluses and minuses. However, the Fall season is special. There is a newness and structure that isn’t there in other seasons of the year. After the summer months, there is a return to normalcy, even if there is a pandemic or some other crisis going on in the world. With the Fall season, there also comes an exciting few months where there is excitement and energy around it. School year activities, Halloween/All Saints Eve, Thanksgiving and Christmas make for a very exciting and activity centric time that your ministry and Church can put on.

But, in a changing world, what can be done? What can you do when you have to spread out and socially distance? What happens when you have to wear masks and over sanitize just to protect others? The good news is that even with all the changes happening now and in the future, you can be very creative with Fall events in a very socially distanced world. Here are 4.

Movie Night (Outdoor or Indoor). Ideally this would be best if you could do this outside where you can really space out, but even if you have a multipurpose room this would be a great event to do for the whole family. You can make popcorn and give away candy. There are also a variety of family friendly movies (here is a list). This event has a lot of potential to bring people of all ages together for a fun fall event together.

Pumpkin Decoration (or Carving). Each Church or ministry can choose to do this however works is best for them, but the idea is to get people together to decorate or carve pumpkins together. You can do this outside or inside. Also, to help with keeping everyone distanced, you can recommend people bring their own pumpkins while you offer cider and other treats for people to enjoy.

Operation Christmas Child Box Collection. Every year Operation Christmas Child serves children around the world with Christmas presents and Churches and ministry support this. You can provide shoe boxes for families and give them a list to fill it with or you can have families supply their own shoe box. Even during a pandemic this is still a great opportunity for families to work together and put together a box or boxes to drop them off. Its a great way to continue to encourage service.

Christmas Caroling. This could be done in a variety of ways but probably best in smaller neighborhood groups. You can organize them in these groups and go around singing from house to house in a very socially distanced way. It is a great way to spread joy, hope and love at a time when people are so discouraged. Spreading Christmas joy is a great family fall event.

Fall events are wonderful opportunities for Churches to engage and encourage families. Even when the world has to be ultra careful in going out and interacting with others, there are a variety of events Churches and ministries can do. Here are just four that definitely need to be thought and planned out more. However, they are doable and the reality is that these are great opportunities to engage people in your Church and in your community so that, even in a pandemic world, people can begin to experience Christ, maybe for the first time.

What do you think? What socially distanced fall events are you looking at doing? Share your experiences below or on social media using #ymsidekick as you share. 

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