Christian Formation

I am excited about our new website and eager to explore all the possibilities. I hope you will take a few minutes to looks at all the pages under “Formation” and let me know what other resources would be helpful to you. I will be adding things often so I hope you will check in once a week or so to see what else has been posted. This is a work in progress and hopefully will get better and better.

A few resources to highlight as we enter November are Around One Table, a discussion format provided by CREDO and others to provide a container for discussion of our Episcopal Identity. It’s a large document to download but has some excellent points for group discussion.

Most of us are wrestling with pledge campaigns and budgets at this time of year and the Christian Education Network is working on creating sessions for you use year-round. In the meantime, the following links may be of help to you:

Finding Hope in Hard Times is a booklet on our response to the current economic downturn and suggestions for discussion.

Several parishes have requested stewardship resources for children. This link may be helpful to you. There is more to come on this topic in the coming months. Please remember that stewardship is not a season, and these topics can be introduced at anytime.

Also, there are good resources from the Diocese of Connecticut around stewardship that you may find helpful. And don’t forget to check the resource library for books on stewardship.

Be well,

Caroline

Are you called to be a lector, Eucharistic minister or visitor, intercessor, or worship leader? Have others suggested that you might be called to lead worship?

If so, Taking Our Place is for you. This one-day workshop, sponsored by the Commission on Ministry for Diocesan Formation, is a training course for those who are new to leading worship, and a refresher course for those who are experienced in leading worship.

Download the brochure [here]

Saturday, October 10, 2009
Johns Memorial Church, Farmville,
9 am – 3:30 pm

OR

Saturday, January 9, 2010
St. Paul’s Church, Norfolk,
9 am – 3:30 pm

This has indeed been a busy summer and I am delighted that our new website is coming together.  I hope you will explore all the pages of the Formation webpage and visit every week or so for new material and updates.  Many Christian Formation resources are online now and so can be updated frequently.  The nature of resource centers is indeed changing in this technological age.  Of particular interest for the fall:

§  “The Charter for Lifelong Formation”, which was passed by General Convention in July and will be available in its final form in a few weeks and will be posted here.  There will also be a discussion guide for parishes that will be helpful in guiding us all to understand the implications of lifelong formation in our congregational life.

§  The third edition of The Prayer Book Guide to Christian Education was also unveiled at General Convention.  This wonderful resource was first compiled by Joe Russell (a former Shrine Mont Keynoter!) and then a second edition came a few years later.  Both were extremely useful in parish ministry and have been out of print for years.  The third edition is based on the Revised Common Lectionary.

§  Lastly, the much anticipated new confirmation curriculum is now available from Morehouse.  Confirm, Not Conform has much to recommend it.  Check out the link below for more information.  Several of our parishes are using this in the coming months. http://www.churchpublishing.org/media/custom/IN-Formation/CNCFlier.pdf

I look forward to seeing many of you soon.