United Methodist pastors move around every few years in a system of itinerancy. As a staff member, I’ve witnessed my share of senior pastor transitions. In fact, we are in the midst of a change at my current church. While changing pastors is all very normal if you know the United Methodist system, children, youth …
United Methodist pastors move around every few years in a system of itinerancy. As a staff member, I’ve witnessed my share of senior pastor transitions. In fact, we are in the midst of a change at my current church. While changing pastors is all very normal if you know the United Methodist system, children, youth …
With travel and camp, our summer attendance tends to be rather sporadic. We need lessons that stand alone, invite us outside, and offer meaningful opportunities for reflection about God. Sound familiar? I’d been pondering how we could offer a multi-age class focused on justice and compassion starting in June. As grace would have it, several …
When I was a teenager, we lived on a lake, deep in the country. On summer nights I would retreat to our small dock, lie on my back and look up at the stars, marveling at the unimaginable prospect of infinity. I felt a sense of dizziness, others might call it awe, when confronted with …
“I don’t know the Bible well enough” is he most common hesitation I hear when I invite adults to lead our faith formation classes. Many people are curious, yet not confident, about the Bible. Every Sunday I look forward to hearing people’s questions. Just this past week, one kindergartner asked, “Is it fiction or nonfiction?’ …
As we end the year, I’d like to express my deep gratitude to all the readers of this bog. . I look forward to more faith forming adventures in 2017! Grace and peace, -Christine November was a difficult month for the youth I know. In the weeks before and after the election, I spoke with the …
Given the tragic news stories of ongoing war and of 40,000 civilians who are trapped in Aleppo, I decided to re-share a prayer and learning activity I created for a multi-church youth event last February. In this activity, each participant follows a path, learning about the crisis, viewing striking images, stopping to pray, and leaving the paper …
On sharing stories with Kenda Creasy Dean, learning a TON about innovation, and a free tool for starting Bible discussions with youth.
Having been a part of several congregations where children were in worship on Communion Sunday, I wanted to share a note of encouragement this week. Check the end of the post for a couple of ideas for having children create art for Christ’s table. Dear Mom of Young Children, I had known you all of five minutes …
Play dough in the sanctuary!
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, …
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!
This is the second of a two posts with suggestions for helping your child write their statement of faith at the end of confirmation. I’ve seen several examples of instructions for writing statements of faith. In general, I find them to be either too wordy (with dozens of suggested statements using complex words) or too … Continue reading
Originally posted on Bless Each One:
“Mom/Dad, I am not sure about this whole confirmation thing.” Turns out I may not be the first parent to have heard this phrase. If your son or daughter utters these words, don’t panic; here are five tips to open up conversation that I can neither confirm nor deny…
I went looking for an Ash Wednesday coloring page and couldn’t find one I liked, so I created my own. You are welcome to download and print this one. (It was drawn on 9×12 paper, so shrink it to 93% to print on 8.5 x 11). The abstract fire at the bottom isn’t quite what I … Continue reading
In Matthew chapter 6 and Luke chapter 11, Jesus instructs the disciples on how to pray what we now call the Lord’s Prayer. This is considered the model for how we all should pray. In this prayer we affirm who God is, ask for forgiveness, request what we need for daily living, and pray for … Continue reading
I’m especially looking forward to Holy Communion this Sunday. I look forward to admitting that as hard as I am trying, it isn’t enough to make much of dent in the suffering of the world. As much I as I hate to admit it, the truth is that I cause real suffering and pain, too. … Continue reading
This has been the busiest month ever on this blog! I am grateful not only for the opportunity to share things I have created, but also to be able to have conversations and collaborate with Christian Educators around the country. Today I have 8 parachute games for learning about the Bible up on Building Faith. … Continue reading
Here are three children’s messages I have used that tell the story and invite children to engage with worship on Easter Sunday. Continue reading
