Nothing like a few days at the beach and a new book to give me a new thing to try and practice with my families and others looking for new platforms to love folks to Jesus. The new book by John Roberto, Lifelong Faith: Formation for All Ages and Generations, had me reading from the middle of the book, watching YouTube videos from LifelongFaith.com, and diving into search engines like a treasure hunter about playlists.

Playlists are curated menus and plans to dive deeper into a topic, a church season, or even a book of the Bible. According to Kathy Pittenger who provides the video teaching at LifeLongFaith.com and additional resources within the book, a playlist is a digital space for curating content for multiple intelligences and various learning styles. A playlist provides a sequence of activities and resources for self-led, on-demand instruction.

The first thing Jesus provided to His disciples after He called them to follow Him was teaching. Teaching is included in our marching orders with the Great Commission. Adapting to how our families learn today mean we can add to our toolbox multiple platforms for teaching in addition to the in-person class.

What does ‘teaching’ look like today? I’ll be the first one to admit I’ve watched many a YouTube video to learn how to fix a leaky faucet, what to wear with a white blazer, and how to make bread with only three ingredients. Curating the best information in one place about a topic, ritual, or holy habit is exactly what a playlist provides with actionable links to learn more.

Where to start? If you’ve used a bitmoji classroom over the last few years, you already have a familiar platform to use and start with. Playlists can hold articles, music, blogs, sermons, podcasts, stories, books, videos, photos, wondering/huddle questions, discussion prompts, etc. depending on your audience.

The first Sunday in October my local church will celebrate World Communion Sunday. What is it? How do we celebrate? Why do we celebrate? Is it important? What makes this holy communion different? What makes this holy communion the same?

Our ministry offers a Bread & Juice Class to teach littles and a big-who-loves-them about holy communion each fall. Read more about that here. But what about everyone else? What about all the stuff we’ve forgotten?

I can now ‘set this table’ on social media and self-guided learning can take place well in preparation for this Sunday’s rituals.

Other info about playlists can be found at https://www.lifelongfaith.com/playlists.html and are well worth the time. Then choose a topic or season or ritual to begin providing your families with playlists they can use at home or as they go at their convenience. The building of playlists can happen on your own or in collaboration with others who serve a similar audience as you do. I’ll be using a closed Facebook group to do some collaborative curation because we’re better together and we share a familiar audience.

My next playlist? Advent with more of a menu look to include a few to-do items like reading a chapter of the Gospel of Luke each day through the month of December leading all the way to Christmas Eve. Our 2022 Advent theme is The Songs of Christmas. I’m already building a staff Spotify playlist of favorites to make the Advent playlist more personal to our home church.

“Instruct the wise and they will be wiser still; teach the righteous and they will add to their learning.” Proverbs 9:9

Here are five things you can do now to take down the intensity of Advent making this sacred season less overwhelming for you in ministry with children and families.

1. Prepare Christmas cards for your church families before October 15th, then mail the first week of December. Personal Christmas cards to your church families will give you a big bang for your buck and relationships.
   a. Purchase deeply discounted Christmas cards from Big Lots, Ollie’s, etc. with Baby Jesus or nativity images only. Write a short Christmas letter about your family and how you’ve seen God’s goodness and faithfulness in your home, your work, and your world. Overbuy to have extras for guests who offer their contact info between mid October and Christmas Eve. I invite the 3rd-5th graders to write a personal Christmas card to their parents and other church leaders at October/November’s CLUB345.
   b. Take a picture of your team or church staff dressed up/ugly Christmas sweater or wrapped in Christmas paper (check out the pics down a preschool hallway for inspiration) or tangled in Christmas lights based on your Advent theme for the season. Prepare like you would family photos adding a blessing.
   c. Enlist the beautiful handwriting of a senior adult or two to hand address the envelopes, affix the Christmas stamps, and prepare by mid-October, hand signing each one to make it personal.
2. Ask your personal family, “What three things will make Christmas Christmas for you?” This gives you the prioritized task list ahead of time to set the Advent table with your personal family as you are setting the table for your church families. We ask this on Team Reilly every year around this time leaving the list on the fridge. Last call is November 1st to give time for ordering and planning.
3. Place your order for your take-home resources now like a pop-up Advent calendar, craft supplies for your family Advent event, and anything else you need for Advent AND January. If you’re handing out birthday candles to attach to cards on Christmas Eve so families can put the candle in a Christmas dessert on THE day, purchase the candles, glue dots, prepare a cardstock notecard, and invite a ladies or men’s group to put them together at their October/November meeting time.
4. Decide and prepare or order your team’s volunteer/staff appreciation gift now. Consider possible supply chain issues and guard your head space. Consumables? Gift cards? Handmade items? Don’t wait. Unsure? Type “gift” in the search bar on 2-3 kidmin Facebook groups for inspiration and make your decision. Plan to gift by mid-December to be sure to reach everyone before THE day.
5. Pull out the large laundry baskets and label what event the supplies inside are for to stage throughout Advent/January. Locate a space on campus where you can begin to stage supplies for all the specials which is safe and secure. I typically pull out the floor-length table clothes and begin using the space under the Welcome Center tables for Advent/January labeled staging since we share space with other ministries.

BONUS: I love all things Advent, but can get easily overwhelmed with every great idea I see. I fill a google doc labeled “Advent Ideas” with links and pics of all those great ideas to look through next September.

I’m praying for you. Not only are you preparing for this year’s Advent, but you’re also looking ahead to the possibilities of 2023. Set aside some time now to plan for Advent, so you have the margin to set aside some head space for 2023 dreaming AND some Advent time with your own family.

BONUS PLUS: Get those sizes together now for the family Christmas jammies so when they show up on the shelves you are ready!

“Silent night. Holy night. All is calm….”

A Faith Milestone is an intentional teaching and practice of various holy habits for a robust faith in Jesus. Faith Milestones include shared language and the same developmentally appropriate interactive elements of the saints who have gone before us. As new families join our church family, it is very important for us to make space for teaching how holy habits are shared and practiced within THIS church family offering historical teaching and a way to reduce the risk of anxiety and uncertainty when the opportunity arises to participate in corporate worship.

Bread & Juice Class is one of my favorites. Kindergarten and 1st grade littles with their bigs learn and practice the historical and current ways we intentionally remember Jesus with bread and juice.

We start with a discussion about how food and visual decorations help us celebrate important events like birthdays, Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc. Then we move around, chat through, and experience the following in ….

• Why do we do this? Jesus said for his friends to “Eat this and remember me,” and “Drink this and remember me,” and “Do this and remember me,” because we forget
• Bread (yum) – flat bread vs puffy bread; yeast; remembering how God’s people had to hurry up and get away from the meaners so they didn’t have time for the bread to rise with yeast (The Passover); when we eat we use all five senses
• Juice (yum) – deep purple grape juice; Welch’s in a cup
• Story of Mr. Welch (making a way for littles to participate)
• Read a book (cultural references)
• Worship placemats (this holy habit/practice is part of our worship table)
• Craft of cutting and gluing a challis and a round wafer with Jesus stickers since Holy Communion is all about Jesus (interactive)
• Intinction, wafer, smaller celebration cups (juice w/wafer) and all the new vocabulary
• We come to receive communion with our hands folded in the shape of a cross to receive Holy Communion (we don’t TAKE communion, but rather RECEIVE it)
• We say AMEN when we receive it because AMEN means “Yes!” and “Let it be so” (sacred vocabulary)
• Returning the unused bread and juice back to the earth (a favorite to break up bread and toss on the ground)
• Holy=set apart;  super-duper-awesome-special (use American sign language)
• Communion=in community where there’s always a place for little people and those who love them at all the tables (use American sign language)
• A certificate of completion because it’s a Faith Milestone (take home item) along with a small communion cup gifted to each child from a Holy Land pilgrim made of olive wood who loves them in their church (connecting to the saints still here)
• Davinci’s Last Supper (historic religious art)

Even the bigs learn something new or are reminded of what they’ve forgotten about this sacred meal, historical faith practice, and important faith milestone we practice in community as friends and family of Jesus.

Learn more about Faith Milestones at MilestonesMinistry.org for living and passing on faith.

“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” Philippians 4:4

Messy Night is one of my favorite ways to start a new CLUB345 season. CLUB345 is a monthly gathering of 3rd-5th graders. Our CLUB345 time is filled with practicing holy habits, Bible study, and shared developmentally appropriate faith formation experiences which grow our relationship with Jesus AND with one another. The goal of CLUB345 is to set in motion deeper church-friend relationships that remain when they head off to youth. 

Our focus this year will be the Ten Commandments. We started Messy Night with our Bibles and our towels because following Jesus is messy. We chat about the importance of setting clear boundaries in life (house rules; game rules) as we live to please the Lord. When we choose Jesus, we choose to live set apart as different from the world, but in the world. The Ten Commandments, The Lord’s Prayer, and The Apostle’s Creed are critical to the faith development and teachings for upper elementary because they set the stage for living set apart.

Messy Games:

Fruit by the Foot – hang over pvc stands and kids have to eat the whole thing without touching it from the bottom up. Tip: Make it only as tall as the kids can reach when standing upright.

Donut fishing – white donuts are tied onto string tied onto sticks/pole. One friend holds the pole while the other tries to eat the donut without using their hands. Tip: Poke a hole in the middle of the donut (use a pencil if needed) to string it up.

Chubby Bunny – how many white marshmallows/cheese balls can you hold in your mouth and still say, “Chubby Bunny.” It’s a one-on-one game with a friend. Tip: Stay close to guard against choking. 

ABC Soup Spelling – using vegetable soup, spell words using the pasta onto paper plates. Tip: cover the table since the tomato sauce will stain.

Condiment Twister – tape 4-6 Twister game mats together on both sides’ seams with colored duct tape to make a huge mat. Then let the kids use the squirt bottles of each condiment for each color: mustard/yellow, grape jelly/blue, relish/green, ketchup/red. One of our boys suggested Blue Plate Mayo for the blue dots which was brilliant, but plan for mayo to be super greasy. Tip: A spinner is not necessary, just call out the directions. Wash the mat off with a hose and a sponge afterward then set to dry over some bushes for a few days; roll it up for future use.

We book a dual water slide through Jumpy Fun to wash off everything. Tip: The slide is faster when you periodically squirt dishwashing detergent like Joy (lots of bubbles) or Baby Shampoo (easier on the eyes) midway on the slide.

What else would you add to a messy night?

“I love the Lord, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy. Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live.” Psalm 116:1-2