Family Life

Ideas for Getting Your Family Involved in Dinner Time

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These days, it seems that everyone is always on the go and distracted during meal times. Dinner is certainly no exception. Even if the entire family is at home during dinner time, each person can be off doing their own thing. Maybe your spouse is noshing in front of the computer, and the kids are eating a quick meal in front of the TV in the den. You might start to wonder how you can gather everyone up together so that everyone can be involved at dinner time. Here are some ideas for getting your entire family involved in dinner.

Cook a Great Meal

Instead of the usual pre-cooked meal for dinner, take the time to cook a great meal that is fresh and healthy. Plan meals ahead of time, create a grocery list and buy all the ingredients you’ll need. Opt for meals that are healthy and satisfying. If you’re short on time, you might want to consider ordering a meal delivery service like Blue Apron or Green Chef. These meal kits come with pre-measured ingredients and easy-to-follow recipes that make getting a homecooked meal on the table in under an hour a reality. Plus, many offer family plans at a lower cost per serving. Check out reviews and meal delivery comparisons at Boxed Mealz.

You may also want to have a theme set for dinner for every day of the week. For example, make an Italian style meal on Mondays, a great chicken meal on Tuesdays and so forth. Ask everyone in the family what they prefer. No doubt, each person has a specific favorite kind of food that they would love to eat every week.

Be Consistent

Consistency is key when it comes to engaging your family at dinner time. Be sure to set a specific time for dinner and let everyone know when to be at the table. If you don’t do this, it can result in family members grabbing something on the way home or snacking at the wrong times and spoiling their appetite by the time dinner rolls around. You can even place a meal menu on the refrigerator so that everyone knows what kind of meal to expect.

Forget the Electronics

Dinner is a time when everyone should forget about their smartphones, leave the TV off and get off the computer or tablet. Everything is digital these days, which means this can be a tricky one. However, one way you can all enjoy dinner together as a family is to leave the phones in another room, turn them off or even hand them in. Not only will everyone enjoy each other’s company, but it can even make dinner that much more delicious when you savor it because you won’t be distracted by text messages and emails. Try these tricks for getting your family unplugged at dinner.

Engage in Conversation

Start up the conversation when you sit down to dinner. Talk about your day and ask each other member of the family how their days went. Dinner time is the time for quality time and catching up with a great conversation. Even if something is bothering someone, it’s good to get everything out when the whole family is together. Here are some great topics to get the conversation started.

Have Fun

You can really get the whole family together for dinner time when you make it fun. That will make it a time to which everyone looks forward. Play music in the background, but keep it low enough that you can hear each other during dinner conversation. You might even want to consider games during dinner, such as Geography or Guess the Animal, which are particularly great if you have young children.

These are a few great ideas for involving the whole family at dinner. You will be pleasantly surprised once you try them.

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Youth Ministry

7 Fast Facts About Atlanta’s 2018 Passion Conference (And Why You Should Go)

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Life is tough for Christian youth. In this modern, digital world, it seems like it would be easier to stay connected to our faith, especially given the number of awesome spiritual apps that are out here these days (i.e. the Bible App and She Reads Truth). Yet, technology seems to overwhelm us with distractions. From the constant pinging of our phones delivering text messages, to Facebook feeds and Instagram posts, our world is simply saturated with information and media reflecting a world that seems hopelessly lost.

Phone constantly in hand, I find myself consistently getting drawn into digital media and distracted from the truth of the gospel. Last month’s Passion Conference in Atlanta, GA provided a great opportunity for me to reset and refocus my priority on my faith. After Christmas break, I headed back to school a bit early to meet up with three of my roommates. The four of us made the two-hour to drive to Atlanta to experience our first Passion Conference.

For three amazing days, we got to hear the truth of the gospel, worship with fellow believers, and hear from inspiring speakers. We returned to campus ready to tackle the semester and live out the gospel. If you missed out on this year’s conference, here are 7 fast facts about Passion and why you should consider going in 2018:

1. Calling All People 18 to 25-Years-Old!

This conference is basically about bringing the youth–specifically the collegiate generation–together in a unified front, lifting up and celebrating the powerful influence of Christ Jesus. During the conference, you’ll have the opportunity to meet with other like-minded young people and swap stories about how you have been transformed by Christ.

2. Motivators in Christ

In addition to your Team Leader, you get to listen to some of the most prolific Christian speakers who are on fire for God. Pastor Louie Giglio, John Piper, Beth Moore and Francis Chan are just few of the innovators that spoke at the 2017 conference. Next year’s conference is sure to have equally passionate gospel leaders!

3. Join a World-Wide Community

Your attendance will make you part of the global Passion Conference family that has touched the lives of 20 million students over the past 20 years.

4. Compassion International

Help to sponsor some of the 1,000,000,000 children around the earth who suffer from impoverished conditions through Compassion International, an affiliate organization of Choice Ministries and the Passion Conference. Your sponsorship will aid children in El Salvador, Rwanda and Tanzania.

Chris Tomlin and other well-know artists lead students in worship at the Passion Conference.

Chris Tomlin and other well-know artists lead students in worship at the Passion Conference.

5. Music, Music, Music!

Come and get your praise and worship on by singing, dancing and praying along with The Passion Band, Matt Redman, Hillsong United, Chris Tomlin and more!

6. Too Old? Volunteer as a Door Holder

Even though the conference is geared towards an 18 to 25-year-old demographic, what if you are 27 years old and still want to be involved? You can become a Door Holder! Door Holders are volunteers who help the Teams run the operations of the program.

7. Join The Largest Party on the Planet!

Who says that Christian gatherings are boring? This party has tons of activities to do and it gets you fired up for Jesus! The 2018 conference is scheduled to take place January 1-3 at the Philips Arena in Atlanta. Tickets are already on sale for just $119 so buy your ticket today!

The Passion Conference will be one of those experiences that you will talk about for many years to come. It will fuel your heart and rejuvenate your spirit to live a more light-filled life in a world full of negativity. Thanks to Cheap Atlanta Movers for supporting this post about Passion. This Atlanta-area moving company prides itself on delivering affordable, reliable moves with exceptional customer service!

 

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Church Attendance

Effective Online Marketing Tips To Reach The Next Generation

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Millennials, those currently aged 19 to 35, recently overtook Baby Boomers as the largest generation in the U.S. According to Christianity Today, the more than 75 million Millennials in this country may be the “largest generational mission field” in the last century, as only an estimated 10% of this generation are born-again Christians. That leaves approximately 68 million Millennials who are not Christians and a huge opportunity for churches across the country to reach this lost demographic. Millennials may be best known for their prolific use of technology, since they did in fact grow up during the rise of the internet, and many were the early adopters of the social media movement. So it makes sense that this lost generation might turn first to the internet when searching for spiritual answers or looking for a place to try out religion. The key to reaching this generation might be inviting them to engage with the church first over the internet, before inviting them to sit in the pews. Your church’s web presence can be a great tool to connect with those who are seeking, but who are too intimidated or fearful of just showing up for Sunday service.

In order to get eyes on your church’s site, people have to be able to find you online. Search engine optimization refers to the process of boosting organic traffic to your site by ensuring you show up in search engine results. From some of the country’s best SEOs, here are some great strategies for getting your church’s site seen:

1. Build a Website

If you don’t have a website, this is obviously an essential first step. While you can pay design companies boatloads for a custom site solution, there are plenty of platforms available that allow users to easily create their own site with little technical expertise such as Weebly, Wix, and Squarespace (see here for comparisons). These sites usually come with a built-in domain, such as your-church-domain.squarespace.com, but allow you to pay extra to upgrade to a vanity URL, so your site can simply be found at your-church-domain.com. Before contracting with an outside firm or trying to set up the site yourself, reach out to the congregation for assistance. Chances are there’s at least one church member who has some expertise in web design and would be happy to help.

2. Relevant Content

Content is a critical component of any on-page SEO strategy, and you’ll want to start by making sure you have the basics covered. Search engines crawl the content on your site to determine what your site is about, and consequently, what it should rank for. If you don’t have content that describes your church, then Google won’t know how to rank you. At a minimum your site should include the following:

  • About section: Perfect place to include church history, denomination affiliation and church beliefs
  • Locations: Consider embedding a map of your location(s) so it’s easy for users to find your church
  • Contact: Include a contact form, email address, and phone number so people can get in touch
  • Resources: Include links to sermons and other useful resources.
  • Programs: Provide users about specific programs and ministries your church offers for various age groups.

In addition to the above, it’s also a good idea to keep fresh content in the form of a blog. The blog can cover anything from additional sermon thoughts to announcing the theme for this year’s VBS. Consider posting links to your blog through social media channels (see section below) to keep users engaged and attract the attention of non-members who may be interested.

3. Claim Your Google My Business Listing

The vast majority of internet users turn to Google as their primary search engine, which is particularly true of the Millennial generation. If users are searching for a local church, they’ll probably open a web browser and search the location and “church”. For example, when looking for churches in Charlotte, they may type “Charlotte churches” or “bible church Charlotte”. Normally, Google will return what’s referred to as the map pack at the top of search results. This is the Google map that plots various businesses based upon the user’s search. To ensure that you’re in the local map results, you’ll need to claim your Google My Business Listing. Per Google, here are the basic steps you can follow to claim your listing.

 4. Use Social for Outreach

For a generation that’s obsessed with posting selfies and status updates, one of the best ways you can reach out and connect is through social media. Some of the best social media platforms for churches (and most popular among Millennials) are Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. You can use these platforms as a medium to share blog content and announce church events. Make sure you add a link from your site to your official social media pages so people can find you on social! To easily syndicate content across social media channels by using a free service called If This Then That.

5. Utilize Free Resources for More Optimization Tips

Most SEO firms charge substantial amounts (think in excess of $5K per month) for their services. Unless your church has a huge marketing budget, hiring a professional probably isn’t an option. However, there are plenty of resources that can help you further develop an SEO strategy. Here are some favorite links for both on-page and off-page SEO recommendations:

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