Ministering to Soldiers and Their Families

Right now 3,250 members of the MN Army National Guard and an additional 2,000 active military personnel from Minnesota serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. Their deployment was recently extended for four more months. Most will have been gone from home for 22 months when they return in August. Their families, which include more than 7,000 children, are exhausted emotionally and physically.

Churches can show Christ’s love by treating the families of a soldier serving in combat as you would any family in crisis. Many of the skills learned in ministering to families who have been through a significant crisis apply to a military family during a combat deployment. A gentle ministry of presence that let’s the family know that the church wants to walk with them through the long days and nights of separation will mean a tremendous amount to those families.

Implementation in Your Church:

The Minnesota Family Council and the Greater Minnesota Association of Evangelicals strongly encourage you and your church to get involved in this essential ministry. If you are not a pastor you could volunteer to head this ministry up in your church. If you cannot do that then try to find someone who will. Most importantly, provide this information to your pastor and encourage them to start it up in your church. Your pastor might know someone who would love to head this important ministry.

Your church does not have to do everything on the suggestion list below, but we encourage you to show the love of Christ by doing something. The military families in your community need to know that your church wants to help them and how to take advantage of that help . Therefore it is important for the church to promote that you are providing the following services for the needs of the military families in Minnesota. These are some ways you could let people know about the new ministry:

• Advertise in the local paper.
• Send a press release to your local paper about your activities.
• Put up flyers in the grocery stores, libraries, local gas stations, community centers, and other community areas.
• Put it on your church’s websites.
• Send an e-mail notification to your church members.
• Put in your bulletins.
• Announce it from the pulpit.
• Provide Public Service Announcements to local radio or cable television programs.
• Signage inside and outside your church facility.
• Let the Minnesota Family Council know that you will be participating. We will pass that information on to the Minnesota National Guard and post the information on our website.

If you start up this ministry or already have a ministry to military families in your church please let the Minnesota Family Council know that you are participating and what activities you are doing, by completing the form on our website or by contacting Caryl by e-mail at caryl@mfc.org or by phone at 612-789-8811.

Here are some ideas of things that churches can do to reach out in a practical and concrete way to show Christ’s love to the military families in your community:

• PRAY for military personnel and their families openly and often in your church services…this is war…and it is brutal not just for those deployed but for their families as well.
• Especially remember to ask families that are affected in your church for prayer requests.
• Specific prayer needs of the military families in your church.
• For the political and military leaders that they would have wisdom in their execution of the war.
• For safety and protection of the soldiers in harm’s way.
• For the families and friends of those with loved ones who have sacrificed life or limb.
• For soldiers that have sacrificed injury.
• Start up a prayer team to pray specifically for military personnel and their families.
• Reach out to the deployed soldier:
• There is nothing like getting regular mail or e-mail from home.
• Mail the bulletin weekly.
• Let them know about sermons or messages available on your website for listening or download.
• Regular notes and care packages taking turns among:
• Rotate among Sunday school classes.
• Men’s groups.
• Women’s groups.
• Other groups.
• When pastor sends a handwritten note, it is like fresh water in the desert, literally.
• Find the military families in your community...the grandparents, the parents, the spouses, children, brothers, sisters…and ask them what you can do for them and then do it. Follow through is absolutely essential.
• Offer a 'Parents day out'...and provide high quality childcare for the parent/guardian of a soldier's children so they can get a sanity break. Offer this weekly and you'll be their heroes.
• Offer assistance to families:
• Yard work.(summer is here)
• Home and vehicle repair (if you have qualified people willing to help).
• Meal preparation.
• Other needs that they may require that members of the congregation are capable of doing.
• Invitation to Sunday school with transportation provided if needed.
• Unite with other churches… Fathers Day and Independence Day are coming…who will make those days special or more bearable for our military families?
• Additional ideas available at First Lady Mary Pawlenty’s Military Family Initiative.
• Above all...THANK families for their sacrifice and service. Military families are purchasing our freedom. We give medals to soldiers but their families are often forgotten.
• Come up with some way to honor families for their sacrifice.
• Be alert for signs of distress:
  • Seek to find out issue and/or concern.
• Assist where possible.
• Add to prayer lists.

Other Long-term Needs:

• Encourage health care provider in your town to accepts TRICARE insurance if the do not already do so…that is the insurance the military gives them and 60% of medical care providers in MN refuse to accept it.
• They need licensed, qualified Marriage and Family Therapists to help their families while they are gone to war and help their marriages/families when they return. Advertise counseling help for military families if you can provide it.
• They need programs for their children:
• They are traumatized by war, and are often alienated from their peers because their needs are not understood by other kids or other families.
• After school programs provide transportation if needed.
• Fun activities with an adult or family.
• Day camp.
• Summer camp.
• Prepare for the troops to return
• Learn about the Beyond the Yellow Ribbon Program
• As the troops return consider:
• Marriage retreats.
• Family retreats.
• Retreats for combat vets.
• For additional resources go to our website under Ministering to Soldiers and Their Families
• Look for additional ideas at First Lady Mary Pawlenty’s website on Military and Family Care initiative.