Summer is the perfect time to offer something special to families to have fun, to make new friends, and to have some sticky church memories. We invited every little girl who had completed kindergarten through completed 5th grade to bring their mother, grandmother, significant woman in their lives for some paint and praise. Here’s what we did.

Promotion in bulletin and through social media: All little girls (completed K5-5th grade) are invited to bring their Mom to share in some paint and praise.
Thursday, July 18, 7-8:30pm
This is not a drop-off event, but a shared big girl/little girl event in Oaks Hall. Register today at ….

A fabulous elementary school art teacher of 40+ years prepared the space with an amazing team of teachers and dear youth. We prepared trail mix and fruit water of lemon and oranges. Mrs. Glover guided our gals to use brushes and paints like professionals. We prayed, we hummed, we followed along, and some decided to do something a little different.

Mrs. Glover shared testimony of her relationship with her mother who is now in Heaven and her daughter who is serving in the mission field in Asia having just graduated from college. She spoke of her teaching past students who were in the room as well as how much she enjoys teaching worship art to our 4th & 5th graders in Sunday school every other month (awesome plug to come back for Sunday school!)

The supplies were an investment as we will indeed do this again. I thought of doing the pizza-box-converted-into-an-easel trick, but I had four other special happenings that week and I knew my limitations.  Here is our supply list beyond the light refreshments, wet-wipes, paper towels, cups of water, and such:
Easels
Brushes
Canvases  (11X14)
Paints

We listened to praise music in the background thanks to a long-play YouTube channel coming through the room speakers. We charged $5 per person and registered everyone online.  This gives me data to use in promoting other events during the school year like encouraging parents to ‘step up to the plate’ on Promotion Sunday to make Christian education a family priority. One mom asked if we could do this around the holidays. Another posted about it on her well-known weekly blog. Many a little girl spent time with her mom away from laundry, away from other distractions, and we didn’t really see any cell phones until the end to take pictures of their masterpieces together.

Last month we offered a Big Guy-Little Guy Nerf Games with a total of 22 big guys and 23 little guys. Close to 50% were boys who had only attended Vacation Bible School and/or Recreation Ministry. The Paint & Praise Party had 25 little girls and 24 moms. Close to 30% were little girls who had only attended Vacation Bible School and/or Recreation Ministry. We could have made this a church-wide endeavor, but the little girls would have been lost. The goal was to let the girls spend some time with their moms while meeting and growing in relationship with other mom-girl teams. That’s how tribes are built. Summer is the perfect time.

“Whatever your goal is for the summer, be intentional with it.” Becky Kiser, from Sacred Holidays: Less Chaos, More Jesus, pg. 88