Faith Formation
As you probably know, since the staffing shift last year more Faith Formation ministry has been incorporated into my weekly work. Along with scheduling Time with Children volunteers in worship,1 and implementing childcare for small group gatherings and in the Narthex (thank you, Nursery Team!), I meet regularly with our Church School Coordinator, Josh Marchand, to talk about church school. Recently, in our bi-weekly meetings, they and I began considering the upcoming scripture passages and how Josh might make them a child-friendly exploration of a core faith value. You know this delights my Bible nerd self, and Josh relishes how the children soak in—not only how they are loved by God and this congregation—but learning to live faith values in their daily lives.
Church school is just one of the ministries that is in the midst of discovering new life in this new world of church we’re traversing. Over the last few years, the Hartford Institute has been examining how U.S. congregations have navigated the COVID-19 pandemic. In one report, “half of congregations said they felt the pandemic had caused major disruption to their educational programs. This includes Sunday School, VBS, church day camps and adult education. Smaller churches, those in the mainline tradition, and churches that did not quickly return to a modified in-person education program suffered more during the past two years.”2 All of this rings true of our congregation, and yet, because we value education and life-long faith formation, we never stopped trying new things.
As First Congregational Church continues to seek the Spirit’s way forward for us, Faith Formation remains a core value—for all ages. Like much in this new era, we don’t know what it may look like, but new things keep popping up for us to try. Josh is particularly excited about trying an Easter Egg Hunt in the Tot Lot following our 10am Easter worship! They know several of our families with young children will be out of town, but they’re moving forward with plans to see what happens—you never know who may be in our community just waiting to watch us hide Easter eggs and delight in God’s love of new life. Resurrection is coming!
Amen,
Sharon
1 Are you interested in leading a Time with Children? I’ll work with you on tips and support! Or, would you be willing to become the scheduler? You get to meet and chat with lovely people. Please contact me: sharon@fccb.net.
2 https://www.covidreligionresearch.org/about/
