Veteran Appreciation Ideas

for Memorial Day, Veteran’s Day, or Any Day

12 Ideas for Honoring Veterans:

1. List the names of all Veterans, by branch of service, in the bulletin,.giving the dates of their service, awards, and the war in which they participated.
2. Ask Veterans to bring memorabilia to the Church.set up tables in the fellowship room displaying the memorabilia. (The congregations that have done this have found it to be very meaningful.)
3. Ask the Veterans to stand, by branch of service, at the Worship service (use a Sunday evening service, if they don’t want to mix it with worship on Sunday morning)
4. Ask Veterans to wear their uniforms, or a potion of their uniforms. Or you could create a display of uniforms.
5. Invite a local color guard to attend in full dress to perform before and after your worship service.
6. One congregation that participated in this program had the choir sing each service hymn,.at which time the members of that branch of service stood. This is always very meaningful.
7. Provide a fellowship dinner after the worship service with emphasis on recognizing the veterans. You may wish to invite the Veterans to tell a highlight from their military service, or something they appreciate about America as a result of their service.
8. The pastor could focus the devotion on attributes of a Godly nation, or the importance of serving our nation.
9. Local church is blessed by serving Veterans at their local VA hospital.
10. Publish a history of the origins of Memorial Day or Veteran’s Day in your church bulletin.
11. Have a good soloist sing a patriotic hymn to close the service.
12. One church asked for photographs of all of their veterans, living and deceased, to be turned into the church office. They scanned the photos and made a DVD that they show before and after their morning worship service nearest Veterans’ Day. They also show the DVD to their shut-ins and widows of veterans during their November visitation.

The above suggestions have been used by various PCA congregations and, in each case, they have found it to be a meaningful time. If you have additional ideas or suggestions, please email them to ChaplainMinistries@pcanet.org, and will add them to this list.

Thank you for your heart for our Veterans and Chaplain Ministries.