When I was the Christian Education Director of a church I looked for different ways to express thanks to our ministry workers. One way I did that was to add a small blurb to the bulletin. I ran each one for two weeks in a row in the event the worker missed seeing it the first week. I included a little information about the work they did, perhaps the sacrifice it entailed, so others had a better understanding of why they too should be grateful for these servants.
Thank You Idea Examples
I came across a file with some of these bulletin thank-you notes and thought I would share them with you. If you do something similar, you would need to personalize the remarks to your situation.
A Special Thank-You for our Nursery Workers: Each week, for the entire duration of our morning worship service, we have a nursery for babies from birth to two years of age. Once a month some of our people willingly miss an entire service to care for these little ones. A special thank-you goes to . . .
We’re Glad for Children’s Church Workers: Children have a hard time sitting still. And, they learn differently than adults. Consequently, during the sermon, we dismiss children from three years of age thru grade 2 for classes on their own age-level. Thank-you to those who faithfully teach these children every month on a given Sunday: . . .
A Special Thank-You for Our Sunday School Teachers: From 9:15 to 10:15 every Sunday morning we have a special teaching time with classes for all ages. This requires people to teach who are willing to invest time into preparation. We praise God for the following such people: . . .
We Need Those Wednesday Night Children & Youth Workers: Every Wednesday night while the adults meet for prayer, our children and youth have their own groups which are a little less structured and more fun-filled than a Sunday School class yet very instructional and prayerfully impacting. Thank-you to those who are part of a regular monthly or in some cases bi-monthly schedule with the children: . . . . And to all of you who fill in the gaps . . ., we couldn’t do it without you!
Don’t use bulletins anymore? What about a church newsletter? Maybe a bulletin board? If I was a Director of Christian Education today with all the online social networks, I am sure I would probably use that venue too.
For More Ideas to Encourage: Dealing with Discouragement & Disillusionment in Bible Teaching Resources
Don’t forget the ushers (or stewards part of the world dependant) – I was head usher for my church for over a decade and in that time I think the pastor publically thanked us once.
And then only because I’d badgered him about giving our guys some recognition – so we got the thanks but it was turned into a joke by starting the thanks off with “Stuart nagged me to say thanks you”. WOW – my guys were hard workers and I always thanked them. Did lunches, gave them gifts and just always, always said thank you after every bit of service they did.
You are ever so right, Stuart. Everyone, no matter what kind of ministry they do, should be thanked. My examples in the post were just for those in ministry I was responsible to oversee. I’m sorry to read of the way your pastor did thank you that one time. It is good for the members of the Body to realize all the work that does go on behind the scenes and not for the purpose of puffing up those who do it. Rather, people need to understand how valued everyone is, how everyone’s contribution truly does matter. Ushering and other types of service-oriented ministry are what I call nuts and bolts type of ministry, holding the more upfront types of ministry together. If we could just picture what it would be like without their service, we just might say thank you a bit more.