--- title: How to nail Father’s Day at your church date: 2018-06-13T00:00:00+01:00 author: Eve Paterson canonical_url: "https://www.eauk.org/news-and-views/how-to-nail-fathers-day" section: Articles --- Great Commission is the Evangelical Alliance's evangelism and mission hub for stories that inspire and resources that equip us all to share Jesus. Share [](https://www.facebook.com/dialog/share?app_id=1769260916495219&href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.eauk.org%2Fnews-and-views%2Fhow-to-nail-fathers-day) [](https://x.com/intent/tweet?text=How%20to%20nail%20Father%E2%80%99s%20Day%20at%20your%20church&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.eauk.org%2Fnews-and-views%2Fhow-to-nail-fathers-day) [](https://www.facebook.com/dialog/send?app_id=1769260916495219&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.eauk.org%2Fnews-and-views%2Fhow-to-nail-fathers-day&link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.eauk.org%2Fnews-and-views%2Fhow-to-nail-fathers-day&display=popup) [](mailto:?subject=Shared%20from%20Evangelical%20Alliance&body=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.eauk.org%2Fnews-and-views%2Fhow-to-nail-fathers-day) The idea of celebrating Father’s Day in church is one that divides us. Is it an opportunity not to be missed? An irrelevance? A cause for celebration? Commercial exploitation? What are your views? Perhaps you think it’s fine as a secular tradition, but not for the church? Hopefully I can change your mind… I’ll get a few things straight first — some facts we can build on. **The modern Father’s Day was first celebrated in churches; it is not an invention of the greetings card industry.** Father’s Day has steadily grown in significance within our culture, and it is widely recognised and celebrated. To honour fatherhood is not at odds with anything in Christianity. Sponsored[](#) [ ![](data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%271%27%20height%3D%271%27%20style%3D%27background%3Atransparent%27%2F%3E) ](https://www.oakhill.ac.uk/admissions/open-days) I’ll introduce some opinions now. I believe **Father’s Day is an opportunity too good to let pass, and, as a church that belongs to a Father God, we should be at the forefront of the celebrations.** I believe we should use the day to encourage not just dads, but all father figures. I believe there is the potential to do far more than a five-minute slot in a Sunday morning service. And I believe that the day provides us with a fantastic opportunity for evangelism. Perhaps I can share a few ideas for how your church could seize this chance to reach out to dads and father figures on Father’s Day: **Make Father’s Day the theme of your whole service.** **Start with a bacon butty for everyone.** At the very least, people will get to church on time! **Don’t have a traditional half hour sermon**; split up the talky bits into a few smaller chunks. **Think through the words of the songs** and hymns you choose. Are they easily understood and comfortable for a man to sing? **Get people laughing.** Make sure the service is fun and full of joy. Enable people to see that Christians know how to party. **Celebrate father figures as well as biological fathers** and make the point that all men are fathers to all children. Why not use Joseph, Jesus’ earthly father, as an example? **Interview some dads and father figures** about which objects, beliefs and passions they would like to pass on to the next generation. **Be sensitive.** Acknowledge possible pain and hurts and offer support, but don’t avoid celebrating. **Talk about God, as a father,** and encourage people to consider their relationship with him. Why not construct the service with dads who are not Christians or churchgoers in mind and **invite all the men your church has connections with**? How about sending personal written invitations to dads on the edge of church and those who take part in your community activities? If, for whatever reason, a special Father’s Day service is not possible, perhaps you could hold a special event on another day for all men and children to attend together. Maybe a games evening, a curry night or a movie matinée. You could even use it to springboard into a regular [Who Let The Dads Out?](http://www.wholetthedadsout.org.uk) group. Who Let The Dads Out? has a vision to ​‘turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers’ (Malachi 4:6) and ​‘to make ready a people prepared for the Lord’ (Luke 1:17). **We hope you’ll join in with us this Father’s Day.** [ ![God Unborn: Joseph said yes](data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%271%27%20height%3D%271%27%20style%3D%27background%3Atransparent%27%2F%3E) ![Joseph said yes 2200 x 600 px 600 x 337 px](https://eauk.org/cdn-cgi/image/format=auto,quality=90,width=400,fit=cover/https://cdn.eauk.org/Untitled-2200-x-600-px-600-x-337-px.png) ](https://www.eauk.org/what-we-do/initiatives/both-lives/god-unborn/god-unborn-joseph-said-yes) [#### God Unborn: Joseph said yes ](https://www.eauk.org/what-we-do/initiatives/both-lives/god-unborn/god-unborn-joseph-said-yes) Lectio Divina devotional and video resource: Joseph said yes [ Find out more ](https://www.eauk.org/what-we-do/initiatives/both-lives/god-unborn/god-unborn-joseph-said-yes) [](https://www.eauk.org/what-we-do/initiatives/both-lives/god-unborn/god-unborn-joseph-said-yes) [ ![Faith and fatherhood in my blended family](data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%271%27%20height%3D%271%27%20style%3D%27background%3Atransparent%27%2F%3E) ![Coysh family](https://eauk.org/cdn-cgi/image/format=auto,quality=90,width=400,fit=cover/https://cdn.eauk.org/coysh-family.jpg) ](https://www.eauk.org/news-and-views/faith-and-fatherhood-in-my-blended-family) [#### Faith and fatherhood in my blended family ](https://www.eauk.org/news-and-views/faith-and-fatherhood-in-my-blended-family) This Father’s Day, Tim Coysh shares his desire to be an example of character and faith as a stepdad and dad [ ![Lisa Barr](data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%271%27%20height%3D%271%27%20style%3D%27background%3Atransparent%27%2F%3E) ](/author/lisa-curry) [ Lisa Barr ](/author/lisa-curry) 10 June 2025 [](https://www.eauk.org/news-and-views/faith-and-fatherhood-in-my-blended-family)