Serving local churches adjacent to cemeteries offer a great opportunity to take a walking field trip and learn the history of the church and the community. I’ve served at two local churches with cemeteries and oh the stories.

Every other year, on a Sunday afternoon before the time changes, we enlist the presence of a saint to meet our 3rd-5th graders at the cemetery ready to tell the stories of the people who have gone on to Glory. These folks gave money, prayed, and served on committees to make the decisions to provide the spaces the kids now call ‘my church.’ 

Most cemeteries have a caretaker who grew up in the community the cemetery and church serves. This saint knows the families and the history of the community more personally than anyone else. They know the founding families, what used to be where the drug store is now, why their school and roads are named after these folks, and how these folks made church-life part of their holy habits in following Jesus.

We invite parents/grandparents and the church-at-large so we never know who will meet us there.

Program
Supplies: 2 bunches of yellow carnations; hot apple cider (for our return to debrief)
Arrival: a short time of teaching at the beginning makes space for late arrivals (we taught on Baptism last week continuing our teaching curriculum for CLUB345) .
One of our leaders wears a bright-yellow vest so motorists see us as we walk to the cemetery.
Teaching: What can we learn about the person from the limited info and symbols provided on the grave marker/stone?
Response: a single yellow carnation is left on each grave if we stop to learn.
Allow time for wandering, chatting, and storytelling.

• Two brothers are buried head to head, yet their names are different by one letter. There was a family feud and they refused to be associated with one another in life, yet are buried head to head.
• The first youth leader was a new burial site when we visited. She sat in the front youth pew at 11am worship with her special-needs, adult, son up until the Sunday she passed away in her nineties.
• The wife moved to the area with her new husband as part of a Cobb County land grab, crossing the Chattahoochee River on the ferry. She desperately missed her family and told her new husband that when she died, we would not be buried in the field where their animals relieved themselves. Her daddy purchased the adjacent land for her to set up a family cemetery and a church for her to start for the community. Her husband is buried in the field. She is buried in the cemetery.
• The church I currently serve is named after a man who started an insurance company. His family trust now funds with the interest only the local high school (which was a 1st-12th grade school originally), facilities and missions for our church, and Young Harris college. But the history goes all the way back to the 1830s with the community’s priority of the local church and education. We heard of the unwed teacher’s home (dormitory) and the principal’s ‘parsonage’ of the A & M school. 
• One of our buildings is named to honor his incredible wife. She was an educator, business woman, and built the church on her husband’s donated land. She was elected president of the National Council of Federated Church Women and was a member of the World Council of Christian Education. 
• We learned about the only place to get gas, the hardware store which is no longer there, and so many young educators which came to the area for teaching jobs until they married.
• One of our students in attendance last Sunday had his own stories to share he’d heard from his mom, who joined us, and his grandmother. His family is part of the community’s history. He shared who were teachers, a dog story, a first mayor story, and was filled with delight to be sharing HIS family stories with us, too.

Learning the stories of real people who followed the Lord and have gone on to Glory is a gift only the local church can share and share well. How do your kids learn of the people who made your church the place it is today in your community? Enlisting the service of the saints of your local church is always a win-win!

“Let this be written for a future generation that a people not yet created may praise the Lord.” Psalm 102:18

We have a cemetery on the front lawn of our church. I love it. I use it. I especially like having a patriarch of our church come to share with our tweeners and youth the stories and the “why” it is there.

We schedule it for the 4th Sunday in October (no bugs and nice cool temps). After some “housekeeping” and “respect” discussion, we send the students in pairs on a scavenger hunt throughout the cemetery. These are the questions we had for them this year:

Find the name of someone that shares your first name, your middle name, or your last name

Find someone who died nearest your birth month and day

Find 3 people with the same last name

Find 2 people with the same first name

Find 3 people who served in the Armed Forces

Find someone who died the year you were born

Find someone who died most recently

Find someone who’s name has a color in it

Mr. Jimmy then arrives to share the story of why the cemetery is there, why two brothers have the same name yet spell it differently, that there are 4 civil war veterans buried there, and why some tombstones are larger than others.

Then….he asks if there are any questions. Their questions are honest, innocent, and so respectful of the burial process along with the whys of plants, markers, and rocks. He shares that most young people don’t think about graveyards very much, but the older one gets, it becomes important.

Before we are dismissed, we stand at the grave of the first youth director at Wesley Chapel. And I get to tell a few stories of my own as she passed away just this year in her nineties.

Before we leave we let them know that we have what we have and enjoy what we enjoy in our church because of the conversations, prayers, and gifts of many in this cemetery. They planned and prepared for our current children’s ministry and youth ministry.

A comment made by one of the tweeners, “I never even noticed the cemetery before, but now I like that it’s part of our campus. It’s filled with great people.” I couldn’t agree more.

“Remember the days of old; consider the generations long past.  Ask your father and he will tell you, your elders, and they will explain to you.”  Deuteronomy 32:7

Karl Vaters is an encourager of those who serve in a local church. He speaks from experience and has plenty of stories to tell. He regularly speaks from what he calls a ‘smaller church’ perspective. I first met him at my first Children’s Pastors Conference a LONG time ago. Thankful for social media and his website, he’s a good resource when it comes to living and working in the trenches of the pew, the fellowship hall, and the parking lot, not just the stage.

He posted a blog in March 2022 entitled: How To Be A More Innovative Small Church (3 Starter Principles). These are my questions and thoughts for each principle:

1. Connect the congregation to it’s innovative heritage
   – How can I learn about the history of the local church I serve? How can I share that history with the current church families in such a way that they find belonging and connection to those saints?
   – Be sure to read the history on the church’s website; chat with the longest-serving staff member; Dig deeper into the names on the plaques all over campus.
   – I Love My Church Faith Milestone: every year we tour the church, learn vocabulary for church spaces ex: “We call this a _____ because _____,” and the stories of the people on the plaques.
   – Every other year, on the last Sunday before the time changes so it’s daylight, we tour and hear the stories of our church cemetery with our 3rd-5th graders with a church saint who is the caregiver or knows the most. I call them ‘the keeper of the stories’. I’ve served at two local churches with cemeteries onsite or across the street and those are indeed sacred spaces of great information. The kids love to hear the stories, they’re outside, and church saints can answer all their questions. I get to add that many of the names on the grave markers made decisions that made it possible for the kids to enjoy the church they call ‘home’ today, were active in their jobs and families AND their local church and community.
2. Strip away everything but Jesus
   How many times do I say His name in the course of my teaching? No matter what I teach, do, share, pray, how do I make sure everything is all about Jesus?
   – Even the best curriculum doesn’t point to Jesus every week, but I must. So I study and practice pointing all things and people to Jesus for every message. HE is the message of greatest importance. Everything we think or believe we are as Christians and as the church is only because He rose from the dead to forgive us of our sins. He is indeed the author and perfecter of our faith. Jesus all day, everyday!
   – I’m on the lookout for images of Jesus in all types of art and creative expressions. I’ve learned much about how the greatest artists of history were given space and finances to paint, sculpt, and draw what we now regard as some of the greatest pieces of art in the world.
   – Bread & Juice Class is a Faith Milestone we offer to Kindergartners and 1st graders early in the school year. In a church-wide space audit a huge picture of the last supper was discovered which was given to the children’s area. That artwork is an important part of our teaching and our end-of-class picture.
   – At Preschool Chapel and in our large group space, The Treehouse, we have a constant visual companion in a 6ft cardboard cutout of Jesus. “This is NOT Jesus, but it is how an artist took all he/she knew and thought He might look. For us, it’s a reminder that Jesus is with all of His followers all the time.”
   – We light an LED pillar candle when we gather together at the beginning of every large group, every Faith Milestone, every meeting, and every everything with a repeat after me, “We light this candle. As a reminder. That God is with us. And around us. Always.”
3. Engage in more conversations.
   – How do I make myself available, accessible, and offer margin to have conversations with those I serve, those who I serve alongside, and those who I don’t know yet? What is my posture? Where is my face? Do I linger? Do I arrive early enough? Do I stay late enough? Do I have a ‘place’ where I am found?
   – Just a few weeks ago we enjoyed a Rally Day event to intentionally welcome folks back to church after the last worship service of the day with an outdoor picnic, homemade lemonade and ice cream, and burgers/dogs. I never eat at these events, but rather walk table to table and chat. My dad called it, “working the room.” I learned from the best. On Rally Day I pulled a wagon behind me with hand fans (it was HOT!) with sunglasses (Top Gun theme) and bubbles (everybody likes bubbles) for the kids and the kids-at-heart. So many great conversations, answers to questions I asked about new family schedules, thanking the guys at the grill and the tech station, relieving the face painters to take a bio-break so a little girl could delightfully paint my face as we waited. 

How would you address these three principles to be more effectively innovative in your house?

“Jesus Christ was the most revolutionary, innovative, world-changing person who ever lived. His followers should be the same.” – Karl Vaters

Twice each year we set the table for a shared teaching for grandparents who desire to share their faith with their grandchildren with intentionality. Why?

• The average age of a first-time grandparent in the US is 47 years old.
• Biblical command from Deuteronomy 4:9 ‘teach my commands to your children and your children’s children….’

With summer just around the corner time with our grands will look different, so we offered these suggestions and used them for conversational prompts to fill the 90-minute workshop time together. With snacks, of course!

This summer, let’s begin by ‘marking your home.’ Every faith tradition expects there to be visual elements and more to help the devout practice their faith in their home. Think of the prayer corner of a practicing Hindu, a prayer rug of a practicing Muslim, or a statuary of the Mother Mary of a practicing Catholic. What sensory elements, using all five senses, do we provide to mark our homes as a Christian home? Ideas: visual elements like our Bible, scripture (not in cursive) on artwork, appealing artwork of Jesus; smell elements like ‘we light this vanilla candle when we pray’ or baking bread; windchimes to hear as ‘the wind’ passes (can’t see the wind, but we know it’s presence…like the Holy Spirit); drink water because our great God created our bodies to work well when hydrated, etc.

Let’s hike together – Explore a waterfall, walk a prayer labyrinth, discover a local cemetery, or stroll through your neighborhood pointing out the creativity of our great God. And give that kid a stick!

Let’s cook together – Pick those strawberries and blueberries or pick up some at a local fresh food market to enjoy the sense of taste and smell offered by our great God.

Let’s grow stuff together – It’s a miracle that we can plant seeds and stuff pops up out of the ground when the Lord provides water and sunlight. Photosynthesis is a miracle and leaf colors are made real because of the wisdom of our great God. Go ahead and get that seeded watermelon and linger to talk of gardens, foods, planting, and the partnership of water, sun, and good soil as you poke those seeds. And seed-spitting competition!

Let’s read together – Read books together, especially biographies of people who endured hardships as they depended on the Lord in prayer and provision like Elisabeth Elliot, Samuel Morse, Prudence Crandall, John Wesley, Corrie Ten Boom, etc.

Let’s play games together – Otrio is our family favorite because if a kid can play tic-tac-toe, they can play, and probably beat you, in a short amount of time. It plays quickly. I learned to play Rummy, War, and Crazy Eights with a deck of cards my grandmother gave me and we played all the time. When I spent my tween-year summers with my Grandmother, she taught me how to play solitaire and properly shuffle a deck of cards. Learning to follow the rules of a game (builds trust) reminds us that God has rules for us to live by together and He is trustworthy. Learning to properly shuffle a deck of cards, I learned I can do hard things if I take the time to practice. And boy, does summer give us time to practice!

Let’s learn together – Want to know what are the stickiest and most impactful pieces of faith formation to repeat and know? The Apostle’s Creed (What do Christians believe?), The Lord’s Prayer (How do Christians pray?), and the 10 Commandments (How do Christians live out our faith in Jesus with one another in community and relationship?) In our home, we have artwork with all three pieces on the wall, on the stair landing, and on a displayed dish.

Let’s share together – Share with your grand what you are learning about Jesus in your Sunday school class, small group, prayer group. Share with your grand, and introduce them to the folks who walk your faith journey with you regularly.

Let’s worship together – Invite them to worship with you in your sanctuary and at our June Thursday family VBS parking lot service this summer!

What’s on your summer bucket list as you prepare to intentionally share your faith with your grandchildren?

“Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them fade from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them.” Deuteronomy 4:9

Previous posts of sharing your faith with your grands can be found here.

Last summer I attended a parenting class offered by a church down the street. The free class was led by one of my favorite youtube-kidmin-leaders and he did not disappoint. At the intermission, I was approached by the Children’s Ministry lead. We chatted for a bit in small talk, then she asked me who I was and what I did. She was a delight! Before we returned to the program, we made plans to meet for lunch at a nearby restaurant in the next couple of weeks.

When we met at the restaurant we chatted how we came to be at our local churches, how we came to be on staff, and how we can partner in the community. I brought my calendar and she checked her calendar so we wouldn’t have VBS on the same week nor plan our fall festivals at the same time. We planned to share a cemetery tour in October with our 3rd-5th graders. I invited her 3rd-5th graders to come to the Winter Ball Invitational in January and I will wait for her to invite us to something they are doing.

We share a common goal that every single child in our community has a growing and personal relationship with Jesus and belongs to a family of faith. My local church teaches children to love Jesus. Her local church teaches children to love Jesus. Together we can share our resources, our passions, and our Jesus in community with one another.  We are indeed better together!

Have you met your ministry counterparts at the local church down the street? How can you partner with other local churches in your community to more effectively make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world? Who will you call this week to share some chips & salsa, have a cup of coffee/tea, make an invitation?

“As God’s co-workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. For he says, “In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.'” 2 Corinthians 6:1-2 NIV

Love it when a good book becomes a family movie. Heaven Is For Real opened in theaters across the county the Wednesday of Holy Week. After previewing the movie, I knew it’d make a great ‘late night’ event for our CLUB345 (3-5th graders) and our youth. And I wanted the ‘late night’ to be on Good Friday. And I wanted to share it with another local church, because we are better together.

We have a local Movie Tavern within walking distance who would be showing it. They typically have private parties on Sundays and during the week, but I was set on Good Friday. I set up a free EventBrite registration event that closed the week before and then waited until the Movie Tavern set up their online registration for our night.  We registered 46 for the movie in the maximum blocks of 6.  We registered for every seat except the front 2 rows for the 6:30pm showing and met in the parking lot at 5:45pm.

We also have a cemetery on our church grounds. Our partnering church came early to enjoy a cemetery scavenger hunt in the rain, then we headed to the theater to meet up with the rest of our students and families.

After watching the 6:30pm showing, we returned to the church to process out loud what we’d seen. We offered water bottles to drink upon our return to the church and had a bible study on Heaven.  The original plan was to walk back, but the rain was pretty fierce.

Separating the students into pairs and threes, we answered the following questions with the scripture references and they answered by preparing a poster of what they discovered. We then had a poster party to answer our questions after 30 minutes.

On Sunday, April 17, 2005, I presented this lesson to our Princess Sunday School class (4th-6th grade girls) at my home church. It was my first Sunday back since my Daddy had passed away on April 1, 2005. This helped me begin to heal and it helped the girls know how to help me in my grief as we answered what my Daddy was doing that day in Heaven.

Revelation 21:25/22:5 day?night?
John 14:2 Is there room for me?
Romans 8:23/ 2 Corinthians 5:2-3 …look like?
Revelation 7:9 …look like?
1 Corinthians 15:42,44 …what’s there?
Isaiah 29:18 … be like?
Isaiah 25:6 …eat?
Revelation 3:5, 7:9 …wear?
Isaiah 11:6-7 …animals?
Psalm 90:4 …time?
Revelation 5:11 …angels?
Revelation 4:6 …beach?
Revelation 22:2 …plants?
Revelation 22:1 …rivers?
Revelation 21:19-20 …jewelry?
Revelation 21:4 …no more?
Revelation 21:21 …streets?
1 Corinthians 13:12 …questions?
Luke 23:43 …how long to get there?
Psalm 33:13-14 … where?
John 14:1-3 …who takes me?
John 14:6 …how?
John 5:24 …how can I be sure?

We responded in worship art with a door-sized painting (purchased uncut wooden door from Home Dept for $24 and it was primed before the evening activities.)

Since it was Good Friday, we served our church by moving chairs to a holding area to make it easier for our volunteers to set up the Easter Sunrise service, as well.

“There are some things God has kept secret. But there are some things He has let us know. These things belong to us and our children forever.” Deuteronomy 29:29