Educational designs with intergenerational groups in mind
John Roberto is a well-known voice in the area of faith formation.
His book and initiative, Faith Formation 2020 has touched the lives of many. He has inspired churches to think beyond their current membership to those who may not even be aware of what they might be hungering for spiritually. Continue reading
Bright Threads Ministries…weaving people of all abilities into the fabric of congregations
Are there people with disabilities in our congregations? If we have two families with children with disabilities there are at least twenty more nearby without a church home. If there is one adult with a disability in worship on Sunday there are at least forty more in the surrounding neighborhoods. Continue reading
GenOn Ministries’ (formerly known as The LOGOS Ministry) fifty year history has produced many excellent resources and training events to equip church leaders in developing young disciples. GenOn provides resources to lay a firm foundation for faith formation which includes an intentional evaluation and planning tool as well as curriculum for ordered, cumulative learning. GenOn’s primary training event, the LOGOS Encounter, emphasizes three key practices in effective ministry (The theology and practice of Christian Relationships, a Balanced Ministry approach to spiritually nurture the whole person, and a scriptural, prayerful Process of Call to identify volunteers to serve). Many free resources or samples of resources are available on GenOn Ministries’ website: Continue reading
These days, one of the most popular ways to connect with others via social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat) is by sharing meaningful photos. The Church has caught onto this trend with themed photo challenges. One of the most widely-known challenges is from the United Methodist Church’s rethinkchurch.org. With the rise in photo-sharing popularity, other organizations, denominations, and even individual congregations have created their own “photo challenges” for Lent and Advent. Each challenge usually assigns a word and Scripture passage to a day in the season, and tasks the participant with seeking out an image that fits the word. When shared, participants are encouraged to use the hashtags provided by the facilitating organization. When a participant clicks the hashtag (e.g. #pictureLent, #Lent2015), all hash-tagged posts appear together. Continue reading
From time to time in these postings, I’m hoping we can take a step back and explore new models for educational ministry. This is one of those days. Several years ago, I was privileged to hear the attached paper presented at the Religious Education Association’s annual meeting. I hear a lot of academic papers presented, but this particular one has stayed with me and sparked creative ways of thinking of our process of Christian education and the roles that we play in guiding others in faith. Continue reading
Love comes in many forms. So on this Valentine’s Day I decided to focus on those who may be difficult to love through the means of one of my favorite illustrated books for the child in all of us. Continue reading
This is a post of collected resources around the web for the season of Lent. Our Tuesday post with Tori Smit’s Family Devotion Guide for Lent was really popular, so thought you might enjoy some of these other ideas. Continue reading
Today I wanted to talk about a teaching model that my home church, Oakhurst Presbyterian Church in Decatur, Georgia is using for all youth and adult classes this month. The RED (Race, Ethnicity, and Diversity) group of this multicultural congregation created a series of storytelling panels around the topic of schooling (something that both age groups share). Each week of this month a different mixed race panel of congregation members will talk about what school was like when they were growing up in the South. Continue reading
hope4ce 