Children's Ministry
About
Designed to build young disciples in their faith, Children’s Ministry provides a safe and welcoming atmosphere in which children can learn the stories of our faith, build friendships, wonder about the words and symbols in worship, learn spiritual practices such as prayer and meditation, and grow as full members of the Body of Christ.
Resources
Great Reads
- Rituals for Home and Parish by Jack J. Rathschmidt and Gaynell Cronin
- The Prayer Book Guide to Christian Education by Sharon Ely Pearson.
- Will Our Children Have Faith by John H. Westerhoff
- Faith at Home by Wendy Claire Barrie
- Best VBS Workbook Ever by Lisa Brown
- Reimagining Faith Formation for the 21st Century by John Roberto (and others by him)
- Children’s Spirituality by Rebecca Nye
Adult and Educator Resources
- FORMAÂ an excellent resource page from network of those involved in formation across the Episcopal Church. You can find the Christian Formation Tool Box there. Become a member and attend the annual conference!
- Rows of Sharon features many helpful tools created by Sharon Ely Pearson, author and well known guru of all things Christian Formational, such as a Curriculum Overview Chart
- Faith Formation Learning Exchange for educators with research and formation resources
- The Text This Week – site features a wide variety of ecumenical resources for study and liturgy based on the 3-year Revised Common Lectionary* cycle
- Building Faith tool for evaluating curriculum
- To Dance with God by Gertrud Mueller Nelson
Curricula
- Episcopal Diocese of TexasÂ
- Lesson Plans that Work is published by the Episcopal Church
- Godly Play offers curriculum, resources, training, and home lessons
- Weaving God’s Promises has easy to understand and prepare lesson plans for children ages 3 to 11, and youth ages 12 to 14.
- Catechesis of the Good Shepherd (developed by Sofia Cavalletti) curriculum
Children's Books
- Psalms for Young Children by Marie-Helene Deval
- When God was a Little Girl by David R. Weiss
- The Three Questions by Jon J. Muth (anything by him is great)
- Adam and Eve’s First Sunset by Sandy Eisenberg Sasso
- Four Feet, Two Sandals by Karen Lynn Williams & Khadra Mohammed
- The Day When God Made Church – A Child’s Book About Pentecost by Rebekah McLeod Hutto
- Eve and Her Sisters – Women of the Old Testament by Malcah Zeldis
- Images of God for Young Children by Marie Helene Delval
- Old Turtle stories by Douglas Wood
- The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister
- God’s Dream by Desmond Tutu
Church and Home Learning
- Faith At Home – a collection of lectionary-based readings and reflections
- Building Faith offers lots of ways of families to practice faith at home!
- Messy Church has fun ways of being church for families
- Forward Movement’s Daily Devo: Devotions for Families
- Faith Formation Journeys – weekly devotions, faith & home connection
- Keys for Kids is a daily devotional for children found at Sermons 4 Kids
- Illustrated Ministry for Families offers at-home resources
- Milestone Ministries provides a faith milestone as a marker along life’s journey
- Worshipping with Children – This lectionary-based blog
Recommended Bibles
- The Jesus Storybook Bible – younger elementary age (on Amazon)
- Spark Story Bible – shorter stories, pre-school up to third grade (www.wearesparkhouse.org)
- The Lion Children’s Bible by Pat Alexander for older elementary age children (on Amazon)
- Children of God Storybook Bible by Archbishop Desmond Tutu is good for everyone! (on Amazon)
Other Ways to Engage
- Faithguides offer an assortment of fun and interactive products in printed form
- Think Orange has non-denominational curriculum for preschool-youth
- Building Faith Brick by Brick: An Imaginative Way to Explore the Bible by Emily Slichter Given and Emily Given
- Sunday Paper and Sunday Paper Junior are lectionary based whimsical, scriptural cartoons
Specific to Stewardship
- Abundant Life Garden Project helps children learn to care for creation and each other
- Moonjar helps families build dreams by learning to spend, save and share
