Meaningful Ways to Send off This Year’s Grads

Graduation season is upon us. Many of our senior high school students are getting ready to celebrate a significant milestone in their lives. With it often comes layers of transition anxiety, but also many completion moments that scream “Finally!”

So how do we as a supporting church community celebrate with them?

Here are a few ways I have seen churches do this well: 

• Each year, around the time the students prepare to move on (particularly the grade 12 students but could also include college graduations, and grade 8 graduations) a member of the congregation creates a video presentation showing photos of the respective students with text indicating where they are graduating from and where they are going next. This is usually shown during the offering. This video is always well received by the congregation and the students alike. 
• Other churches invite graduating students up front during a Sunday morning service and incorporate a special liturgy that celebrates this milestone. The re:Worship blog includes a huge list of graduation prayers, blessings, and litanies. I could also see the Sunday school students laying hands on these graduating seniors while someone offers a prayer, or parents or mentors saying a few words of blessing to each graduate.
• Give grads a meaningful memento by inviting the congregation to write encouraging messages in a Bible or another appropriate book for each graduate.

And of course, celebration cake after a service in the fellowship hall or gym is always a good thing!

What about you? How are you celebrating these milestones with your graduating seniors?