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