May the children be well fed and rested, their brains ready to learn, their hearts filled with hugs, their backpacks brimming with school supplies and healthy lunches. May they have a hand to hold as they walk to school or to the corner for the bus. May their teachers be eager, excited, compensated well and …
I’ve been thinking about easy, fun ways to encourage prayer this summer. One of our favorite family activities is a backyard campfire with S’mores. Using that inspiration, I came up with a very simple prayer format using each ingredient found in a S’more: Click here for a .pdf version: S’more prayer card First Graham Cracker: Start by …
How is your spring and summer planning going? I’m playing a bit of catch up here, but getting some things lined up. Here is quick list of Easter, Pentecost and summer faith formation resources from this blog and others that I am using as we plan: Faith Formation for Younger Students: For Easter Sundays we’ll be …
Good morning, friends! Today, I have a lesson that uses scripture, images and social media posted on Building Faith. One of the challenges in doing this activity where multi-age groups paired scripture with pictures was finding enough images. Fortunately, Brian and I have a large collection of original photographs. I thought it would be fun to share …
On Monday, we had a faith formation open house at church. This event was on Facebook. Post cards and a small gift were handed out to all families who attended Christmas Eve. Information was available in our bulletin, in our newsletter and on our website. Despite being well advertised, we had no visitors. And yet, …
As 2016 approaches, Bless Each One will undergo some construction. I am in the process of developing more user friendly site, where past information can be accessed easily and by season. With a new theme and a new address (hopefully!) , I pray that this online space continues to be inspiring and encouraging. The blog …
This is the most visited post at Bless Each One. I hope you enjoy this quick & fun craft. What a great way to keep a highlighter handy to mark scripture passages!
Play dough in the sanctuary! Continue reading
Some thoughts on what it is like to pray for children and youth in the first weeks at a new church. Continue reading
The NY Times recently published a provocative article about the perceived college admissions advantage in volunteering internationally. After leading and co-leading a variety of different mission trips, you would have to make a very convincing argument for me to plan an international work week. Not because I don’t like travelling (I love it), but because I’ve … Continue reading
Transitions happen for a variety of reasons. Whether you are headed to a new position or leaving a current one, this checklist will help to ensure that the children’s and/or youth ministry continues when staff changes. Having recently left a position at one church and begun at another, I’ve spent the summer contemplating what is … Continue reading
Being between positions at two different churches this month has given me new perspective on leadership styles. I have always worked (sometimes more successfully than others) to have the ministry of children and youth be a ministry shared among the congregation. I have never wanted to create a personality or staff led culture. Fellow Christian educators … Continue reading
I found it was difficult to find a copyright free back to school image, so I created my own. Feel free to download, use, modify and adapt the image below for your use. While photo creds would be great, they are not required. Enjoy! While you are here, be sure to check out these previous back to … Continue reading
Twice this week thick, paper phone books have been thrown onto my driveway, just as they have arrived each year of my life. For the last 10 years I have been chucking them straight into recycling. I find them irritating, irrelevant and a complete waste of paper. I have no way of opting out. I … Continue reading
