For new parents and young families, today’s world is busier than ever—from trying to keep up with social commitments to enrolling their little ones in the right classes (even from birth!)—it can feel like an impossible task to engage and connect with young families in your ministry.

It’s true that while we are more connected than ever due to social media and technology, in some ways, we are more disconnected than before. Creating deep, meaningful relationships can be challenging when everyone communicates through their phone; and it’s something that everyone—even your crazy-busy young parents—craves.

With that in mind, what can you do as an ministry leader to connect with young families and new parents?

Give them immediate value

Technology has made us more impatient than ever—in fact, a recent surveyfound that more than half of millennials admit they are more impatient than they were five years ago. Gone are the days to call a meeting of young parents for them to mingle.

Instead, if you are hosting a gathering of your young families, make it valuable for them—give them something that they can immediately take away and apply to their lives today. Host a classthat helps them build faith with their little ones or offer a parent-and-me class to read faith books together.

Build relationships

Despite how it appears, millennials preferface-to-face interaction over digital communication in most situations. As such, connecting with young families goes a lot further if you are able to interact with them on a personal level.

Take the time to get to know them when you see them at church, or when they drop their little ones at the nursery. It can be challenging—after all, those are your busiest moments—but extending an in-person greeting builds a relationship that creates lasting connections. 

Create a passive connection

Because young families are so connected to their worlds via social media, email, and well, their phone in general, creating a passive connection with them in addition to a face-to-face relationship can help extend that relationship beyond when you see them in church.

However, as noted in our first point: make sure you are giving them immediate value. Try sending them an automated monthly e-newsletterthat shares specific faith and developmental milestones to create that connection and demonstrate your care for them and their little ones.

Interested in learning more about connecting with young families? See how our Frolic Family resources complement your existing ministry activities!