Planning a Thanksgiving meal for bus riders when you have ample space, volunteers and time is a cinch. What if you don’t have those kinds of resources but still want to minister to the kids and families in your community this Thanksgiving? Have a Thanksgiving feast—bus ministry style! It takes a bit of planning but it’s a bus ministry promotion that will rev up the evangelists in your church. Prepare now to have everything ready for your holiday meal.
Since you won’t be using a facility, the bus can become a dining room or you could send the boxes home with kids. The week before you plan to offer the bus ministry feast, send home flyers so kids and parents will know that a meal will be available. It may be a good idea to plan to have 10 to 20 percent more than you normally would. (People do tend to show up for food freebies!) Here’s what you’ll need for this delicious bus ministry promotion:
- Foam or cardboard lunch boxes
- Chicken legs or turkey legs
- Rolls
- Tater logs
- Small oranges or apples
- Small corn on the cob
- Napkins
Cover each seat with a plastic tablecloth in Thanksgiving colors like green, red or orange. You should a music CD playing softly in the background to set the mood. Traditional songs like, “We Gather Together” or “Bless the Lord,” are good tunes to play. Begin your Thanksgiving feast with a prayer and for fun, you could dress up like a pilgrim or a Native American.
While kids enjoy their Thanksgiving feast, share examples of thankfulness in the Bible. For example you could share the story of the ten lepers (Luke 17), Moses (Exodus 14;15), Jesus’ mother Mary (Luke 1; 2). After the story, start a thankful testimony chain! Tell the bus kids why you are thankful to God then invite them to do the same. Say, “I am so thankful for spending time with my family. What are you thankful for? Who wants to share first?”
Children will love this outreach so much that they will look forward to Thanksgiving with you each year!
Read more from Monica by visiting her blog at Tools for Kids Church.