Churches and families are in a place that is unique to this time. Parents have never gone attended or had little church encounters prior to having children. Parents’ knowledge base of tradition, Bible Stories, and faith/spiritual practices make it hard to be their children’s main teacher, because they are in the learning process themselves. Some parents have ideas from church encounters or encounters with Christians that have left them with a “bad” taste. Family’s time restrictions and obligations can make it hard for a family to attend learning and worshipping beyond Sunday morning.
I have developed a few home kits to make a bridge between church and family life with the goal of helping the family to move faith, worship, and formation out of the Sunday morning box.
At the parish I serve, we provide these kits as a gift to our families and then watch as evangelism, formation, and spiritual growth happen. Families have been bringing in new families to share in our experience. Parents are getting more involved and children are excited. Most importantly, God is becoming a part of their home vocabulary in a fun way.
Any parish can put together their own kits. For the Summer, I have put together:
(Click on the kit to learn more).
I will cover more in future blogs about other ways to bridge Sunday mornings and home.