2019-2020 Formation Planning Calendar:
Holidays, lectionary readings, church colors...all in one planning calendar. And Free!
Curated Chart of Curriculum:
THIS is what you've been looking for...someone to break down the different options of what's out there for faith education. Sharon Ely Pearson, an Episcopalian with an MA in Christian Education from Virginia Theological Seminary, offers a curated chart of curriculum resources. Be ready to be impressed!
General children's curriculum info@rowsofsharon.com Children's curated curriculum chart for 2019 here.
General youth curriculum info@rowsofsharon.com Youth curated curriculum chart for 2017 here.
General youth curriculum info@rowsofsharon.com Youth curated curriculum chart for 2017 here.
Called to Teach: Basics for Sunday School Teachers of Children
Leader: Debbie Kolacki, Elizabeth Christie and Karen Ware Jackson
Leader: Debbie Kolacki, Elizabeth Christie and Karen Ware Jackson
Lutheran:
Sparkhouse - ELCA Publishing house for kids, creates faith formation resources for children, youth, and adults-- striving to spark new life in Christian communities. Curriculum for classrooms, lectionary, theme-based, rotation models and also transferable as VBS lessons.
Frolic, is a family of early childhood resources that integrates faith development and child development both at church and in the home! Frolic resources help keep your church connected to active families with young children.
*Invite parents and their little ones to Frolic Faith Development classes based on the Frolic First Bible and books. *Transform your nursery into an intentional ministry site with the Frolic Nursery Guide and other Frolic nursery resources. *Connect with families each month by automatically sending them personalized e-newsletters packed with articles on child development, tips on early faith formation, and fun seasonal activities and ideas. 
Augsburg-Fortress - The publishing house of the ELCA featuring a variety of resources for education as well as supplies for ministry. Consider their communion materials Fed and Forgiven. And Confirmation material.
ELCA Youth Gathering Curriculum NOT JUST for those going to the youth gathering. Use it! It's great curriculum. Did I mention it's FREE?!
A Place for You Starter Pack -written by Daniel Erlander. This pack contains A Place for You Interactive Edition, A Place for You Leader Sourcebook, A Place for You, Little One board book, and A Place for You Animated Videos. Gives you the components you need to introduce or reintroduce your congregation to Daniel Erlander's beloved classic, A Place for You: My Holy Communion Book. Watch a video about the products here.
The Confirmation Project - The Christian Youth: Learning and Living the Faith Project (CY: LLF) seeks to learn the extent to which confirmation and equivalent practices (CEP) in five Protestant denominations in North America are effective for strengthening discipleship in youth.
Click on the graphic above from Pastor Steve Thomason...for a link and more information.
The Book of Faith (variety of Bible resources can be adapted for junior high and high school) For example: "Heaven on Earth: Studies in Matthew"
Faith Lens - Written with teenagers in mind, it is a weekly (during the school year) look at the lessons that uses current events and relevant questions to get people talking. Put out by the ELCA.
Faith 5 - Care to have some fun, keep your family communicating every night, and grow in your understanding of yourself and God? Try this simple five-step process for the next six weeks and see if it doesn’t help!
Lutheran Peace Fellowship - Offers ideas for many ages, including computer games targeted for kids around social justice issues.
Episcopalian:
Church Publishing Inc. - the official publisher for the Episcopal church offers a wide variety of books and curriculum for children and youth ministries.
Godly Play - "assumes that children have some experience of the mystery of the presence of God in their lives, but that they lack the language, the permission and the understanding to express and enjoy that spiritual experience..." It provides a way of storytelling that invites questions of wonder about God and is appropriate for all ages. Read a Christian Century article by it's creator Jerome Berryman here.
Episcopal Confirmation Magazine with tons of resources. This edition provides eight questions that ask the planning team to consider context and purpose as they design a program that encourages lifelong faith provides
Lesson Plans That Work! - Lesson plans are written by experienced church teachers using practical approaches to respond to the needs of volunteer teachers. They are designed to follow the Revised Common Lectionary and published by the Episcopal Church.
LeaderResources offers a collection of downloadable Christian Formation Resources --- for children’s ministry and youth groups including Sunday School and confirmation curriculum, leadership training as well as retreat speakers, trainers or a consultant in religious education and youth ministry. While grounded in the Episcopal Church, they serve all denominations and people of faith.
Forward Movement - Episcopal resources for children through adults.
These Are Our Bodies addresses foundational issues for how we are called to have conversations about our sexuality within a faith community. Looking at sexuality through the lenses of growth and change, we can explore values and intentionality. Individuals and churches can use this technique to build upon this theological grounding. Discusses sexuality starting from the age 3, written by Episcopalians.
Methodist:Cokesbury - is the retail division of The United Methodist Publishing House. Our mission is to reach more people in more places with quality services and resources that help them come to know and deepen their knowledge of God through Jesus Christ, learn to love God, and choose to serve God and neighbor.
Presbyterian:Practical Resources for Churches - terrific resources for evaluating Sunday School Curricula and tips for supporting teachers.
Reformed:
Faith Alive - is a nonprofit publishing ministry of the Christian Reformed Church in North America and the Reformed Church in America. Faith Alive publishes materials for...Sunday school and other children’s ministries, youth ministry, adults and small groups and
disability ministry. |
Topic Specific:
From Youth Director Ashely Kulhman and Pastor Jennifer Gonsalves at Grace Lutheran Church, Albert Lea, MN, comes the Curriculum they created to go with their Visual Church Year Calendar. We recreated our Confirmation Program to allow different learning styles and movement into our Wednesday Nights. Some Important things to understand this curriculum include:
• Designed for 7/8 Graders for a 15 min lesson • The Confirmation Curriculum is called “What does this Mean” and we start with Large Group Time lead by one of our Pastors for 10 Minutes. They introduce the theme of the day and any announcements. The youth are then split into their small groups and rotate through 2-3 different stations based on that day’s theme. Each stations is about 15 minutes. The Small Groups end their evening in a 30-minute discussion about the theme, the different stations and how they can use this knowledge 
Engage - Youth Ministry & Contemporary Issues by the Institute for Youth Ministry at Princeton.
Connecting Faith and Justice: Youth Lectionary A Curriculum (UMC) -This curriculum is for all youth (Junior High and Senior High) students. The lessons are flexible and can be adapted to fit the needs of your students while encouraging them to search deeper within themselves, their relationship with God and their role within their community and the world. The lessons are written by a diverse group of educators, youth pastors, elders, deacons, deaconesses, practitioners, professors, emerging leaders and missionaries from around the globe who are passionate about youth faith development. Each lesson is designed to last an hour and includes a centering moment, scripture study, group activity and a closing moment. All the lessons are standalone lessons and are not dependent on previous lessons.
My Neighbor is a Muslim - A FREE resource from Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service that helps your audience learn more about what it means to be a Muslim. Jesus taught us to love our neighbor, learning about who our neighbor is and about their faith are steps in this direction.
Communion - ELCA Pastor Brian Hooper provides a great example of a congregational letter talking about "first" communion changes.
Bringing the Gathering Home - In partnership with LuMin Campus Ministry Network and the Lutheran Outdoor Ministries Network, The ELCA Gathering team created three cross generational sessions and three sessions to be used in young adult ministry contexts. Each curriculum seeks to continue conversations started this summer at the Gathering, at camps and in congregations about God's grace, love and hope changing everything for us through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.
Why Jesus? - A Small group activity from Luther seminary.
Gun Violence Toolkit - 70 pages of educational resources and action tools
-Case studies on two churches and a presbytery engaged with gun violence prevention -Three complete Small Group Studies -Worship, biblical and pastoral care resources on issues of suicide prevention, grief and solidarity -The Citizen’s Test on Gun Violence in America -Sample signage for “No Guns in God’s House” -Over 160 links to educational resources and action ideas, including gun violence prevention national groups and local contacts in all 50 states 
Mr. Rodger's Simple Faith - from Church Next comes this curriculum:
Simple, patient, and calm. It's not just the recipe for a hit children's show, but for the spiritual life as well. These concepts are at the core of this course and unpacked by Westina Matthews in four video presentations entitled:
Narrative Lectionary Resources:
Spirit and Truth Publishing - Spirit and Truth Publishing produces faith formation resources for all ages integrating education and worship, with products related to the liturgy, church year, and the Narrative Lectionary. The publisher, Gregory Rawn, received his MA from Luther Seminary and graduated from the Institute of Children's Literature.
Bloom! - is created by ELCA Pastor Rachel Simonson with children's ministry resources that follow the narrative lectionary. Check out free samples here.
Storyboard by ELCA Pastor Heather Roth Johnson. "I am storyteller, public speaker, workshop leader, writer and in general just a creative soul. Contact her about narrative lectionary curriculum.
Clergy Stuff - Provides Narrative lectionary based curriculum, liturgy helps, original music, children's bulletins and pays attends to special needs children. Dr. Kimberly "Kace" Leetch, the owner, graduated with an MDiv from Luther Seminary and serves as an associate pastor in the MN area.
Spill the Beans - A quarterly resource with a Scottish Flavor for Worship Leaders, Sunday Schools, and Youth Leaders based on the Narrative Lectionary. Uses inclusive language and hands on activities.
Various:
Preschool LOGOS was created by GenOn Ministries for 3 and 4 year old children and can be used in a variety of settings: education time, VBS, Christian preschools, and daycare. The objectives for children are to:
Feasting on the Word written by mainline Protestants follows the lectionary. Great theology and good resources for all ages.
Progressive Christianity - offers a 6-10 year old curriculum focusing on Jesus' example of compassion and inclusivity. Sample lessons for A Joyful Path curriculum can be found here.
BimBam - BimBam (formerly G-dcast) is a new media studio making Jewish videos, apps and animated series that are joyful, empowering introductions to Jewish ideas and life for kids & adults.
Teach Bible Stories with a Parachute! -Examples of using parachutes to engage children with Bible stories. Christine V. Hides is the Director of Ministries with Children and Youth at Northbrook UMC and Content Manager for Christians Engaged in Faith Formation.
Ooey Gooey, Inc. -is dedicated to the creation of child-centered, hands-on, play-based environments for young children and provides workshops, training, technical support and curriculum resources to those who wish the same. Lisa Murphy, M.Ed., early childhood specialist, author, founder & CEO, is available for both domestic and international conferences and seminars.
Process verses Product Art example... hugely important and hugely different!
First Third of Life Church Booklet - Westwood Lutheran Church has an in-depth take home booklet outlining their faith formation mission and strategy. Get some great ideas here!
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