Safe Home Sunday: a once-a-year kit for your church

Why one Sunday a year

Most parents already know they should do something about the internet at home. What they lack is a nudge, a plan and someone to help. A single Sunday gives all three: the pulpit names it without shame, the lobby makes it easy, and the whole church does it together, so no family feels singled out.

It also gives your church something to come back to every year. Families who skipped it last year will be ready this year, and new families hear it in their first months with you.

Choosing the Sunday

• The Sunday before school starts is the best fit for most churches. Kids are getting new devices and new schedules, and parents are already thinking about routines.
• The Sunday after Christmas works well too. That's when the new phones, tablets and game consoles come out of their boxes.
• Avoid Easter, Mother's Day and other high-attendance Sundays with their own focus. You want regulars and their kids' devices, not a full house of first-time guests.

The timeline

Four weeks before

• Put the date on the calendar and tell your children's and youth leaders.
• Set up your church's own Wi‑Fi filter if you haven't yet, so you can say "we've done this here first." See how to filter your church's Wi‑Fi.
• Ask two or three volunteers to run the setup table. Anyone comfortable with a phone will do. Send them the volunteer notes below.

Two weeks before

• Read the announcement from the pulpit (script below), and put it in the bulletin and your email.
• Post the social post from your share kit.

The week of

• Print the take-home inserts from your share kit, one per family, plus a few dozen spares.
• Put the screen slide into your pre-service loop.
• Remind volunteers of their time and place.

The Sunday

• Slide before the service. A one-line reminder in the welcome.
• The sermon (outline below), or a ten-minute talk inside your normal series if a full sermon doesn't fit.
• The setup table after the service, for about 30 minutes.

That week

• Send the follow-up email (text below) with your church's link, for everyone who didn't stop at the table.

The announcement (two Sundays before)

Read it in about 30 seconds:

"On [date] we're having Safe Home Sunday. We'll open God's Word on what it means to guard our homes, and after the service there'll be a table in the lobby where you can filter your home Wi‑Fi in about five minutes. Bring your phone and your Wi‑Fi password. It's free, and if you can't stay, there's a QR code in the bulletin you can use at home."

The sermon

A full outline with Scripture, illustrations and a closing prayer is on its own page: Safe Home Sunday sermon outline. It runs 25 to 30 minutes and works for any congregation, whether or not many families have young children.

The setup table

What to bring

• A table near the main exit, a sign that says Make your home Wi‑Fi safer: 5 minutes, and your church's poster from the share kit.
• The take-home inserts with your church's QR code.
• Two or three volunteers, each with their own phone, already signed in to a test account so they can show what the dashboard looks like.
• A charger or two. Someone's phone is always at 3%.

What volunteers do

1. Greet parents and ask, "Do you know your home Wi‑Fi router's name, or do you have the app for it?" Most people use the app from their internet company, or an eero, Deco or Nest app.
2. Have them scan the QR code on the insert. It opens your church's own page, then a free account in under a minute.
3. If they have their router app with them, walk through the DNS step together. Our router guides cover eero, TP-Link Deco, Google Nest and internet company boxes.
4. If they don't, that's fine. Their account is ready, and the dashboard walks them through it at home. Hand them an insert and thank them.

What volunteers don't do

• Don't ask what anyone's kids have seen or done. This table is about the house, not about anyone's story.
• Don't take anyone's phone out of their hands. Point and explain.
• If a parent shares something heavy, listen, thank them, and quietly connect them with a pastor.

Questions parents ask at the table

• "Will it slow down my internet?" No. It changes where the house looks up web addresses, nothing else.
• "What does it block?" Adult sites, gambling and scams by default. Parents can turn on games, social media and more, child by child.
• "Does it work on my kid's phone away from home?" The home Wi‑Fi step covers everything in the house. The dashboard then shows how to protect each child's phone on mobile data too.
• "Does the church see what we do?" No. The church only sees how many families joined through its link. Never names, never activity.

The follow-up email

Send it on Monday or Tuesday:

Subject: Safe Home Sunday, for everyone who couldn't stay

Thank you for being with us on Sunday. If you didn't get to the table in the lobby, you can still set up the same filter at home in about five minutes, free: [your church's link]. It blocks adult sites, gambling and scams on every device on your Wi‑Fi, with bedtimes and a short weekly email if you want them. Reply to this email if you'd like a hand.

Your church's link, the slide, the poster, the inserts and ready-to-send messages are all in your share kit once your church has an account.

Doing it again next year

Keep a note of how many families signed up (your dashboard counts them) and who volunteered. Next year, ask one of this year's families to share for a minute on what changed at home. Nothing persuades parents like another parent.