At Home Christian Formation Resources for All Ages

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Hello Faith Formation Community,

Lent has certainly taken a different turn over the last weeks and days. As news of the COVID-19 outbreak has spread through our country, the Episcopal Church has joined with many others in the work of hoping to slow and reduce its spread. This has created quite a different scenario than many of imagined as we planned for Lent.

In conversation with our Campus Ministers at ECU and UNCW on Thursday, I reminded them and myself to focus on what we CAN do, not what we can't. We CAN still gather together, online. We CAN still worship together, either online or at an appointed time. We CAN still learn about and share our faith which each other in a variety of ways even though we are not gathered together physically in community.

I have put together a list of resources that I hope you will find helpful for you, your family, and your congregation. I am sure many you have already been looking, anticipating what seemed only a matter of time. If you have an idea or resource you think would be worth sharing with the broader diocese about facilitating formation at home, please do share it with me. Following this email, appropriate resources will be updated and kept on the diocesan website here .

As always, please do not hesitate to reach out if you have concerns or just need to talk something through.

God's Peace,

Emily Gowdy Canady

Program Officer for Youth, College Campus and Young Adult Ministries

Ideas for Virtual Formation

• Bedtime Stories and Prayers • The Parish of St. Matthew - The Episcopal Church in Pacific Palisades, C A has begun offering a bedtime story and prayers for children of all ages at 7 PM nightly. This is an easily replicable idea, utilizing FaceBook live. By creating an event on FaceBook you can easily invite parishioners to join. Encourage them to invite their friends.

• The Faith5 • Share, Read, Talk, Pray, Bless This model could easily be used via ZOOM or Google Hangouts for youth ministry or children's ministry, or any age, gathering online. This link provides an easy outline to follow and can be done once a week, or more often.

• Godly Play on YouTube • If you parish uses Godly Play as their curriculum, this is a great way to still engage with that curriculum. You can send the video link out of the story for your upcoming week ahead, and set a time to check in with children virtually.

• Bible Studies and Adult Formation Classes • These offerings do not have to end or take a break. Work with leaders to set up online options that work with those who had been participating in your congregations. Not everyone can meet online, ZOOM offers a call-in feature where people can join the group by phone.

Activities for At Home Formation

• Faith@Home - Offered by FORMA and Forward Movement is a lectionary based reading and reflection model. You can sign up for an email to come with the new reflection to share at home each week.

• Create a Lenten Prayer Space at Home - Though written for families with small children in mind, this idea is easily adaptable for all ages as people move Lenten prayers practices to home during this time.

• 10 Ways to Pray With Kids (really with all ages) - Posted by Illustrated Ministry , this post contains a wide variety of ways to pray inside your house including art, activity, and maybe outside in your yard, keeping safe social distance!

Worship at Home

• Worship at Home - Downloadable document by Mary Hawe of Going for Growth from the Church of England. It provides a worship service to use at home that is both familiar and adaptable, inclusive of all ages.

• Home Church: How My Awesome Kids Talked Us Into Worshipping In The Living Room - Though the post says its not a substitute for worshipping in community, during this time of COVID-19 it may be. Taking inspiration from this Building Faith post by Elizabeth Rees, have everyone in your home help create an order of service together.

• Prayers and Scriptures Curated by the Church of England - Click on the prayer and scripture bar and you will be taken to a well developed list of prayers (one is below) as well as scripture readings. Prayers and readings are appropriate for all ages.

Other Resources

• My Coronavirus Self-Care Plan - Developed by Susan Peek, MSW, a former Lay Professional in the Episcopal Church. It is designed for older elementary aged children through High School youth, but could be used with younger children with adult help.

• Coronavirus, Anxiety, Children And The Church - Ways to talk about the impact of COVID-19 with children as it pertains to their experiences at church. From what is happening now to how to transition back to worship when that is possible.