Grandparents as Co-Disciplers: Leveraging September for Family Ministry

Grandparents Day happens every September (this year it’s September 13), but it doesn’t have to be one Sunday where you hand out flowers and call it done. If you treat it as just a single moment instead of a doorway, you’re leaving the biggest untapped discipleship resource in your church sitting in the pews.

Grandparents aren’t a nice bonus to family ministry. For a lot of your kids, they’re one of the most consistent faith influences outside your ministry. They often have more margin than busy parents. They have decades of stories about God’s faithfulness that no curriculum could ever recreate. They babysit, pick kids up from school, come to ball games, spend weekends together, and pray faithfully behind the scenes. Parents are often shaping faith in the everyday rhythms. Grandparents have the unique opportunity to reinforce those rhythms with perspective, encouragement, and stories of God’s faithfulness. They’re already investing in the next generation. Our job is simply to help them do it with even greater purpose.

So let’s actually use September to strengthen our family ministry strategy by calling on and calling in the grandparents. Here’s how:

1. Start collecting stories now. Pull a few kids aside over the next couple weeks and record them (phone video is fine) talking about their grandparent. What do they make? What do they always say? Play the clips during your service on Grandparents Day. Nothing gets a room emotional faster than a seven-year-old saying “my grandma prays for me every single day.”
2. Pair them off. Not every kid in your ministry has a grandparent nearby, and not every older adult in your church has grandkids close by either, so let’s pair them up. A once-a-month lunch or a standing “wave hi in the hallway” is enough to start. You could even set up a special prayer buddies ministry between the two age groups.
3. Help them tell their story. Grandparents have lived through prayers answered, seasons of waiting, and moments where God showed up in unforgettable ways. Encourage them to share those stories with their grandkids. Faith becomes more tangible when kids hear how God has been faithful to someone they know and love.
4. Change your language. One of the easiest ways to include grandparents costs absolutely nothing. Instead of saying, “Parents, don’t forget…” try saying, “Parents and grandparents…” or “Families and caregivers…” or simply “Grown-ups…” That small shift communicates that they’re an important part of your ministry too.
5. Invite them into your ministry moments. Make it clear that grandparents are welcome at Bible presentations, kindergarten kickoffs, baptisms, family events, and other milestones. Sometimes all it takes is saying, “Parents and grandparents are invited.” That simple wording tells them they have a place in the faith journey, too.

Family ministry was never meant to rest on parents’ shoulders alone (it’s a partnership between the church and the home!). When we intentionally equip grandparents, we’re giving families another trusted voice pointing kids toward Jesus throughout the week.

So let Grandparents Day be part of an intentional strategy for involving one of the most faithful groups in your church.