Father’s Day is coming up! It is a special day to honor dad and communicate appreciation to the many men in our church congregations who are fathers and grandfathers. Church services on this Sunday can affirm this theme of fatherhood but can also accidently drive men away from church and from God. Here are some tips based on what our teams has learned over twenty-five years on what to include and what not to include in a Father’s Day Service.
1. Communicate gratitude and thankfulness for dads and to dads. The culture marginalizes fatherhood in many and various ways. Fathers are often seen as optional and not important. Father’s Day should celebrate fatherhood and God’s Design for the family.
2. Be careful about challenging the men. Please save the exhortation to dads for an upcoming men’s gathering or men’s conference when the context is different and a man’s wife and kids are not sitting next to them. Men will receive it better when it is only men in the audience.
3. Be careful about instructing the men. Ephesians 6:4 and Colossians 3:21 are not texts for a Father’s Day sermon. Please save those texts for the men’s conference or a men’s training when men will better receive the biblical instruction that they truly need.
4. Consider a sermon NOT on fathering. It may be best to invest 5-10 minutes communicating gratitude to dads and have your sermon on a topic outside of fathering. Consider staying with your present sermon series.
5. Tell a personal story. Share a positive story about your own dad or a dad you may know. Not a ‘super dad’ story that will convict men but a story of provision and protection and love. The result of the story celebrates the dads who actually attended church with family that morning.
6. Give a gift. Thank the men with a gift. It can be anything from a book or a card or a gift certificate. Join a man’s family and thank Dad with something tangible.
Our team is eager to assist you as you build godly men and building godly fathers and grandfathers is a big part of that. We have virtual trainings each Tuesday night this June at 8 PM that will equip the dads of your church. We also have a fatherhood series during the month of June on the Iron Sharpens Iron Blog http://www.IronSharpensIron.blog
Please reach out to me at brian.doyle@IronSharpensIron.net