Episcopal Church Foundation Vestry Papers - for leading congregations

Deliberate points of welcome. That’s how Jamie Martin-Currie, the current head of St. Andrew’s Episcopal School in Houston, Texas, frames the task, highlighting not just traditional Sunday school classes but also the nursery, worship, and fellowship as areas where we can provide intentional hospitality to kids of all ages. Want to help children grow in a Christian community? Make sure to offer apple juice and let them know they are loved!

Christian formation doesn’t have to be serious. Sometimes the freer it is, the more it wins over hearts and minds to the love of God. Case in point: Summer camp for ’tweens and teens. As Spencer Hatcher observes, “The superpower of camp is to be able to take cheese balls, a half-empty bottle of tempera paint, a few strips of fabric, and a surprise rainy afternoon and turn it into a few hours of real encounter with Jesus.” What can your church do to connect more children to a Christ-centered camp near you? How might you help youth find or create their own Episcopal community?

Don’t wait for official opportunities: Offer yourself as a caring adult who has been formed and changed by faith. Talk with a teen, engage with a child, learn their names, ask about their interests, and share what it means to you to live in God's love. As Meredith Rogers writes, “It’s easy to think that someone else will be that trusted adult who will have a positive influence on a child. But that’s the bystander effect at play. You need to be that positive and caring adult. Not someone else – you.”

This article by Heidi Clark draws on her experiences of family worship at St. Timothy’s in Creve Coeur, Missouri, a service led by the parish's younger members. From “the carrying of sacred stuff, the writing of prayers, telling of stories, singing of songs . . . They lead, and we follow.” In the process, children become participants in the central acts of our faith and teachers to us all. In what meaningful ways can young children take an active role in your church?

Never underestimate the powerful draw of having an official responsibility, particularly for youth who might feel too old for Sunday school, too young for book groups and Bible studies. As Maria Teresa Bautista-Berrios, curate at Trinity Episcopal Church, Midlands, in Houston, Texas, reminds us, serving as an acolyte, praying with others, and even working at a summer camp can be important parts of our Christian formation. How can you invite youth into service at your church?

In a similar vein, Richelle Thompson writes that “The Church as a whole has a mixed record when it comes to fully embracing children as equal participants in the body of Christ. We value them, sure. We love them and revel in the sweet voices of the children’s choir or their first tentative attempts at crucifer. But we’re sometimes reluctant to entrust them with significant or complicated projects.” Where might your parish invite younger people to offer their expertise?

Smaller churches can find it a challenge to drum up enough support (and enough kids) for Sunday school, but there are still ways to invite children into a life of faith. Author, parent, and priest Anna Olson reminds us that even just a corner set aside for younger people can suffice. Check out her pros, cons, and questions about making a kids’ corner the foundation of children’s faith formation.

It’s not often a resource can be used by both children and adults, as a formation tool and a gift for visitors, and as a celebration of the arts and the gifts of parishioners. But that’s exactly what Grace Episcopal Church in Anniston, Alabama, was able to do on a dime. Learn how they went about it, then ask: What talents and interests do people in your community have? How might they be used to meet a variety of needs and offer opportunities for formation and enculturation?

Ultimately, one of the most powerful instruments of Christian formation is the lived example of those around us, who make us yearn for more of the Good News. Jay Sidebotham, priest, author, illustrator, and director of RenewalWorks, invites you to consider what teachings and tenets are most important to you—and then to share them with the children and youth in your life.

Now it’s your turn: Want to attract families with children and youth? Ken Howard, founder and director of The FaithX Project, provides important guidance on the steps you might want to take and questions you might want (or need) to ask as you begin to build the kinds of programs that will help them grow in Christ.