As the back-to-school frenzy ebbs and families are settling into some routines, it’s a great time for a fun fall community outreach idea. One that guides kids and their family members to connect with others in friendly ways and cheer one another on.

Good news—we have an idea for you! It’s a relationship-building throwback to a time before we lived so digitally. (Anyone remember receiving handwritten letters once upon a time?) Use this idea as is or adapt it for your ministry context to spread encouragement within your church and well beyond.

“So encourage one another and build each other up, just as you are already doing” (1 Thessalonians 5:11).

Fall Outreach Idea: Uplifting Letters

Start a pen pal program with kids from another country.

What to Do:

1. Find a church or school in another country that can partner with you in a pen pal program. You might reach out to missionaries from your church or a nearby mission organization to make connections.
2. Pair up kids from your church with kids from your partner organization. Or assign one family to each child so they can write letters at home.
3. Host a festive letter-writing time to kick off the program. Tell kids and families to make sure their letters ask good get-to-know-you questions to start building a friendship with their pen pals.

Invite everyone to consider what questions they’d like to be asked so someone could get to know them. And remind your letter writers to begin their note with encouraging words!

Skill Building

This program helps kids practice encouragement, but it’s also a great opportunity to instill some skills in your kids! They’ll discover how to write and address letters, and they’ll learn about kids in another country.

Pen pals by mail may seem old-fashioned, but it’s a very personal form of communication that might hold some pleasant surprises for kids this fall and throughout the year. After all, we’ve all witnessed that as time passes, many “retro” things make a fresh comeback.

Keep This Fall Community Outreach Idea Going

Pen pal programs have a tendency to wane over the course of a year or so. You can set aside time monthly during kids programming to give kids the opportunity to write to their pen pals. Or send a monthly reminder to families to write their letters.

This idea comes from the all-new Team Family™ Book 2. Team Family’s year-round guides give you a variety of seasonal activities and events—including more outreach ideas—that can easily be plugged into your family ministry plan. You get to pick and choose! 

Plus! The seasonal Team Family PowerPaks are filled with a variety of engaging, faith-building activities for families to do at home—they can do it all or select what works for them.