Last week, LifeWise Academy Cherokee was invited to give a five-minute “speed date” presentation alongside nine other nonprofits at the monthly Cherokee Christian Ministerial Association luncheon. Our LifeWise Program Director invited me to come along and help share the story.

We set up our LifeWise table, enjoyed a fabulous lunch, and then the presentations began.

I wasn’t sure what to expect.

But I left encouraged, challenged, and reminded of something important: God is active and on the move among His people in my own backyard!

1. The Lord is Active and on the Move – It’s easy to become overwhelmed by the needs of the world. Pick up your phone, read the paper, watch the news—and suddenly the weight of everything feels like it belongs on our shoulders.

It doesn’t.

We are not called to carry every need. We are called to be faithful to the places and people God puts in front of us.

Around that luncheon table were people answering God’s call in very practical ways: supporting families, tutoring children, serving senior adults, providing transportation, meeting medical needs, and so much more.

God is already doing something. Where might He be inviting us to join Him? Safe Passage & Trail Life

2. We Don’t Have to Reinvent Every Wheel – Churches are really good at teaching God’s people to love their neighbors. But we can be even more effective when we partner with people who are already in the trenches.

One organization serving single moms to dream again shared that their greatest need right now is tutors—from elementary math to English and chemistry. Serenade Heights

Another is serving senior adults who need rides to appointments and helping people living in their vehicles. Stand Up for Seniors

Someone is already doing the work and made a way. Maybe our job is to ask, “How can we help?” The Hope Center

3. Sometimes We Need to Go Where the People Are – I was especially encouraged by a mobile medical ministry bringing free medical services into the community. For families without reliable transportation—or whose schedules make a traditional medical office difficult—going to them matters. Bethesda Community Clinic

God’s people are using their gifts, experience, education, and even family partnerships to meet people right where they are. Encompass Ministries

4. Our Voices Matter – Our Christian community has gathered multiple voices to help elect local officials who share a Biblical worldview. If anyone says Christians should not be involved in local politics, they don’t know history. Every person, which means every elected official, has a worldview. I’d prefer to support candidates who share a Biblical worldview. Take Action Cherokee

“All politics are local.” Tip O’Neill, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives

5. The Body of Christ Is Showing Up

That may have been my biggest takeaway. The Body of Christ is answering God’s call to love neighbors in so many ways, across all ages and stages of life. And sometimes what looks like a little offering becomes much more when the Lord gets His hands on it.

If this is happening in my backyard, it’s happening in yours. Convoy of Hope and Matthew 25:40 Car Care

Not every organization will have a website, but many will have some kind of social media presence. Schedule an hour and dive into the pool of people in your community who are already doing God’s work.

Learn about them. Make a phone call. Ask how your church can partner. You don’t have to make any promises, but learn what the Lord is already doing to serve the least and the lost of your neighbors.

Consider showing up once — to simply to bless someone with the ministry of your presence.

Keep a little resource notebook of local organizations you can recommend when a family in your church has a particular need.

Because someone has already started from a sacred scratch.

Look around, listen well, pray faithfully, and join the good work God is already doing.

We are better together and in the words of one of the presenters, “It takes an army.”

“What then shall we say, brothers and sisters? When you come together, each of you has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. Everything must be done so that the church may be built up.” 1 Corinthians 14:26

I love getting text messages and DMs from Jesus guys and gals I’ve met along the local church journey that begin with: “Can you help me?” And then comes something like, “I’m going to start leading children at my church on Sunday mornings—or Wednesdays—beginning next month. What curriculum would you recommend?”

I love these messages because they almost always come from a layperson—a non-staff person who is laying their very best YES on the table so the littles in their local church can know Jesus.

Start With the Foundations

1. The Lord’s Prayer – I want littles to spend time learning and understanding the Lord’s Prayer—from the names and greetings of our Creator all the way through the power and meaning of AMEN! This is how we talk with our Creator and Savior.

2. The Apostles’ Creed – What do we believe? And what does each line actually mean? The history of how the Creed came to be is incredibly insightful to the historical cost of following Jesus and most adults ride the struggle bus on the line “I believe in the holy catholic church” in a Protestant church. The Apostles’ Creed gives children a beautiful framework for knowing what Christians believe and being able to say it for themselves.

3. The Ten Commandments – The Ten Commandments give children a foundation for how we live out the Christian life—in both priority and practice.

An afternoon text came last Sunday from a Jesus gal who will soon be teaching 4-year-olds through 5th graders. My recommendation? Start with the Ten Commandments.

There are songs and fingerplays to help children learn all ten. But even better, they can begin to understand why the order matters and discover some of the Old Testament history surrounding God’s people as they prepared to enter a land filled with people who did not worship the one true God and were opening opposed to Him. Sound familiar?

That’s a pretty good place to begin!

Why Group Publishing?

Group Publishing created several resources covering these foundational topics years ago, and many are still available. Why do I like Group? Because their teaching resources are intentionally relational, experiential, applicable, and learner-based. Those are four things I want to see in any resource placed in the hands of a layperson who has just said YES to loving littles to Jesus.

And here’s the part I especially love: You can begin with good resources without blowing the church budget.

For this particular new leader, my two starting recommendations—the Kids’ Travel Guide to the Ten Commandments and the Kids’ Travel Guide to the Lord’s Prayer—cost less than $25.

That feels like a win!

A Few More Resources on My Shelf

Another set of resources I’ve used repeatedly over the years is the 13 Most Important Bible Lessons series:
13 Most Important Bible Lessons for Kids About God
13 Most Important Bible Lessons for Kids About Living for Jesus
13 Most Important Bible Lessons for Kids About Loving Each Other

And some of the very best Bible study materials for kids I’ve discovered are actually homeschool resources.

I’ve used resources from Not Consumed Ministries for Wednesday night Bible study with littles. Their studies typically provide 20–25 lessons—perfect for ten weeks in the fall and ten weeks in the spring—with two-page lessons that break down Scripture passages from both the Old and New Testaments in developmentally appropriate ways. Each lesson can be accomplished in 20-30 minutes alongside an Open Bible. They offer guides for Primary, Junior, Youth, and Parents, generally in the $12–$15 range.

One of my personal favorites was WORK. I’ve written more about that resource here. I mean what parent doesn’t want their child(ren) to work around the house and at school with a cheerful attitude?

Start Small. Start Biblical. Start With a Path.

Churches that are just beginning to set the table for faith formation with littles don’t necessarily need a giant curriculum library or subscription. They need a discipleship path which builds faith files along the way.

They need a resource that is:

• grounded in a Biblical worldview,
• interesting and engaging for both teachers and students,
• developmentally appropriate,
• connected to the historic Christian faith,
• helpful in building a foundation for apologetics (defending the Christian faith as the most reasonable and historically accurate),
• practical enough for a volunteer or layperson to actually use,
• and sticky enough that children remember what they are learning long after childhood.

Sunday is still coming. And somebody in your church has already said YES.

Open the Bible. Invite the Holy Spirit through prayer. Set the table to gather the kids. Love them well, and I don’t mean with candy.

So, Jesus guys and gals, what would you suggest?

“He decreed statutes for Jacob and established the law in Israel, which he commanded our ancestors to teach their children.” Psalm 78:5

In my morning devotional Bible, I have a laminated bookmark.

It’s more than a bookmark. It puts on paper the mission that helped launch the Global Methodist Church: To make disciples of Jesus Christ who worship passionately, love extravagantly, and witness boldly.

Before the first General Conference gathered delegates for worship and the business of the church, these three distinctives helped define this new movement.

And as someone who serves from a “third chair”—alongside staff and lay leaders, serving littles and their bigs—we’ve been designing methods of faith formation around what those distinctives look like in ministry with children and families.

Our team intentionally built them into our gatherings:

• Worship passionately: helping littles practice worship with their whole bodies—singing, moving, praying, and celebrating Jesus.
• Love extravagantly: giving children opportunities to love their neighbors through work and service, both at home and beyond.
• Witness boldly: teaching littles to know and tell the stories of Jesus with confidence wherever they live, learn, and play—including at local community events.

We’re on a New Team

The Global Methodist Church is grounded in the historic theology and practices of John Wesley, but we are also on a new team.

And like athletes joining a new team, we need aligned tools to help us be effective and fruitful as we live into our full mission of “Making disciples of Jesus Christ and spreading scriptural holiness across the globe.”

Here’s the challenge for those of us doing ministry with children and families in a Global Methodist Church: There is no denominational publishing house. There is no single, central place to find resources. And in many GMC Conferences, there is not yet a collaboration network specifically for children’s and family ministry leaders. And Sunday keeps coming!

That’s where the R3 Gathering comes in. The R3 Gathering is North and South Georgia’s response to the need for connection, aligned resources, encouragement, and shared learning among the people leading and serving littles and their bigs in the Global Methodist Church.

Our first pilot gathering took place in South Georgia last spring. Now we’re bringing R3 Gathering: Fall 2026 to North Georgia!

Together, we’ll explore:

Ruts — Where have we been? What patterns have shaped our ministry? What has the GMC leadership already put in place?
Roots — What grounds us in Scripture, Wesleyan theology, and the distinctives of the Global Methodist Church?|
Rhythms — What healthy, sustainable discipleship patterns can we build for children, families, and the local church we serve?

Most importantly, what does it look, sound, and feel like to raise up Global Methodists in the local church and at home?

The Fall R3 Gathering will assist you to begin designing a discipleship pathway for littles while discovering and sharing resources that align with the GMC and equip families for discipleship at home.

R3 Gathering: Fall 2026
Thursday, November 5, 3:00 p.m. – Friday, November 6, 4:00 p.m.
Camp Collinswood, Buckhead, GA 30625
Register at https://tinyurl.com/fallR3gathering

Your registration includes Thursday dinner, a bunk for Thursday night, Friday breakfast and lunch, and light snacks. $96 per person through September 14; $126 per person beginning September 15

Are you on staff—or are you the layperson responsible for the discipleship and faith formation programming for littles and their bigs—in your local Global Methodist Church?

This is for you! Register at https://tinyurl.com/fallR3gathering

And This Is Just the Beginning

One gathering is wonderful. But the real value comes from what happens after we gather. We’re building toward the 4 Rs of a network:

R1 — Relationships – An intentional foundation of friends and ministry partners on this new team; we’re better together.
R2 — Resources – The fuel that helps us keep growing and serving effectively.
R3 — Residencies – Grounding leaders through intentional development and preparation for the future.
R4 — Reproducing – The fruitfulness that comes when effective leaders build teams, share what they’ve learned, and make a healthy handoff to the next generation.

As heard from the Exponential Conference this year: “Networks are to movements as groups are to churches.”

That’s what we’re building. Not just another conference. Not just another gathering. A network of Global Methodists committed to helping children and families know, love, and follow Jesus.

If you can get to Georgia and you serve on staff or in lay leadership of kidmin/family ministry in a Global Methodist Church, come join us at the Fall 2026 R3 Gathering!

Reach out to Allison Vandenbergh at avandenbergh@firstmethodistalbany.com or to DeDe Reilly at dbullreilly@gmail.com for more information.

Let’s worship passionately.
Let’s love extravagantly.
Let’s witness boldly.
Let’s spread scriptural holiness around the globe.

And let’s figure out together what it means to disciple the next generation as Global Methodists.

“The true value of networking doesn’t come from how many people we can meet, but rather how many people we can introduce to others.” Simon Sinek

One of the greatest gifts of semi-retirement has been margin—margin to spend time with our grandchildren and margin to share the Bible with children in our community.

For me, that open door is LifeWise Academy.

I like to call it being a missionary to public school kids.

LifeWise Academy provides Bible education to public school students during the school day, off school property, with parental permission. Thanks to a little-known 1952 U.S. Supreme Court decision, released-time religious education is legal, and LifeWise Academy has created a proven model that allows local churches to partner with local schools in a meaningful way.

This past February, our county launched its first pilot program after two and a half years of prayer, planning, and perseverance. We became one of sixteen LifeWise schools in Georgia, with a vision to see that number grow to one hundred over the next three years.

Kingdom work often requires patience. Some communities launch in a year. Others take much longer. But we keep praying, serving, and trusting God to open doors in His timing.

This fall our team is hosting community events, connecting with families, and inviting others to join the mission. We believe every child should have the opportunity to hear the story of God’s great love.

At the local church Mr. Bob and I have been attending since midsummer, the pastor shared just last Sunday that every growing Christian should so order their lives to make space and margin to be part of a ministry inside the church and a mission outside the church. All three Sunday services last week shared testimonies, as the message, of local ministries and local missions specific to the next generation. All. Three. Services. As. The. Message.

LifeWise is one way we’re living out that challenge.

Would you like to see LifeWise in your community? Visit www.lifewise.org, enter your ZIP code, and begin gathering signatures. You might be surprised by what God can do through a willing group of believers who believe that the Lord they serve can do mighty things in the world of a little person and their bigs.

Let’s go!

“You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.” Revelation 2:3

The wonderful thing about quality preschool and early childhood education is that the same principles that help children develop an understanding of BLUE and the number 7 also help children grow in faith.

Language Development: Children learn about Jesus through the words of trusted adults. When we regularly talk about God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, faith becomes part of everyday life.

Secure Attachment: The consistent love and care we offer reflect the love and care of our Heavenly Father.

Early Literacy: As children learn to love books, letters, and stories, they are also preparing to engage with God’s Word. Building print literacy supports biblical literacy.

Music and Movement: Singing Scripture, moving together, and worshiping in community help children remember God’s truth while also supporting healthy brain development through the release of feel-good neurotransmitters like oxytocin and serotonin.

Engaging the Whole Body: God created children to learn through movement, touch, breathing, and play. These gifts help regulate emotions, redirect attention, and create space for learning.

Routines and Rituals: Faith grows through repetition. Family prayers, bedtime blessings, Bible stories, church attendance, and everyday conversations about Jesus become lasting rhythms that shape a child’s heart. aka Holy Habits!

These aren’t simply educational strategies—they’re beautiful ways God designed children to grow in every area of life.

If you live in Georgia, I encourage church nursery teams, preschool volunteers, grandparents, and family caregivers to explore the district training opportunities offered through the Georgia Preschool Association this season. Live in another state? Check out your state’s Preschool Association or Early Childhood Education connections.

I’m especially excited that on Saturday, October 3, 2026, the Georgia Preschool Association will host an online training event specifically designed for those serving little ones and their families in faith-based settings. You’ll be able to learn from home while gaining practical tools for your ministry. If you serve in a church nursery, weekday preschool, or are a Mimi caring for your little three times each week, this is a great training.

Training is an investment that multiplies. The earlier we begin investing in those who care for our littlest littles, the longer we have to influence a child’s lifelong walk with Christ Jesus.

Let’s continue learning together as we love our littles well—for His glory and for their future.

“So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.” 2 Thessalonians 2:15

July is one of my favorite months—not because of the Georgia heat (definitely not!), but because it kicks off weekday preschool training season.

Across our state of Georgia, the Georgia Preschool Association co-sponsors district training events where early childhood educators gather to learn, encourage one another, and sharpen their skills. Today I’m headed to Griffin First Baptist Church to teach two workshops for District 6 under the leadership of my friend and colleague, the fabulous Diane Lamb.

But here’s something I wish more churches knew: These trainings aren’t just for weekday preschool teachers.

Maybe you rock babies in the nursery once a month.

Maybe you teach three-year-olds on Sunday mornings.

Maybe you’re Mimi, Nana, or Papa and spend a couple of days each week with your grandchildren.

These trainings are for you, too.

You’ll learn what is developmentally appropriate, discover how God wonderfully designed little brains to learn, and walk away with practical ideas you can use immediately. Understanding why children do what they do often changes the way we respond to them.

In short, these trainings make the work of loving and leading littles both easier and more meaningful. And that makes ministry—and parenting and grandparenting—a whole lot more joyful.

One challenge I’ve noticed over the years is that each ministry often stays in its own lane.

Churches tend to use church curriculum and church-based training. Weekday preschools tend to use preschool curriculum, if they can find it, and preschool training. Homeschool families often use homeschool curriculum and homeschool conferences.

There’s certainly value in each of those.

But I’ve found that some of the richest ideas happen when we cross those ministry lines.

Throughout my years in family ministry, I intentionally borrowed from each world.

On Sundays we used a traditional Sunday school curriculum. For our midweek Bible study, I often chose Not Consumed, a homeschool curriculum that functions beautifully as a discussion-based Bible study, just like their parents in small group study down the hall. Other midweek programming would include Mark Burrow’s Bible Black Belts.

Likewise, nursery teams, church preschool volunteers, and family caregivers can benefit tremendously from weekday preschool training. Many of the free resources, including Faithful Beginnings, are easily adapted for church settings. It’s incredibly affordable and it’s geographically close.

We’re all helping children know and follow Jesus.

If you live in Georgia, I’d love to encourage church nursery volunteers, preschool teachers, grandparents, and family caregivers to look at the Georgia Preschool Association’s district training opportunities this year. They also offer a fantastic annual conference in the spring.

One date to put on your calendar is Saturday, October 3, 2026. Georgia Preschool Association will host an online training event created specifically for those serving young children and their families in faith-based settings. You can participate right from your own home.

Whether you’re changing diapers, leading circle time, reading Bible stories, or rocking a sleepy toddler in the church nursery, your investment matters.

The younger we begin nurturing faith, the longer we have to watch God grow it.

So let’s keep learning.

Let’s keep growing.

And let’s keep loving our littlest littles to Jesus—together.

“Now then, my children, listen to me; blessed are those who keep my ways.” Proverbs 8:32

Retiring from a long commute has made room for one of life’s greatest gifts—more time with our grandchildren and their parents, our favorite people on the planet.

We’ve shared meals, played countless games of checkers, wandered through the Croc store, and made plenty of trips to Tropical Smoothie—or as our youngest grand lovingly calls it, “Tropical Smoovie.” I hope he never outgrows that.

If I’m being truthful, the adjustment has been just that—an adjustment.

For the first time in decades, I haven’t had a color-coded calendar telling me where to be every hour of every day through the next calendar year. As someone who loves planning and scheduling, that has made my eye twitch a little! I’ve had to give myself permission to sleep until I wake up and even enjoy an afternoon nap. For the first three weeks, I slept ten hours a night with a daily nap. Apparently, I was more tired than I realized.

In The Good and Beautiful God, James Bryan Smith writes, “Sleep is a perfect example of the combination of discipline and grace. Sleep is an act of surrender.” I’m learning that surrender isn’t laziness—it’s trust.

I’ve also wrestled with a little FOMO. I miss the day-to-day rhythm of serving the church families I’ve loved so dearly. I’m thankful for Monday morning phone calls with my prayer partner, daily texts from ministry friends, and seafood dinners shared with our husbands. Those friendships remain precious gifts.

And yet…

The wins have been abundant.

Summer has given us longer days, time to read good books, and lunches of Uncrustables, watermelon, and strawberries by the neighborhood pool.

One of my greatest joys has been sitting beside Mr. Bob in worship every Sunday. Singing together. Praying together. Listening to God’s Word together. Grinning at each other when the sermon hits just a little too close to home. After decades of incredible ministry schedules, worshiping side by side feels like a sweet gift from the Lord.

I’ve also been actively purging my ministry library. Two road trips (so far!) with dear friends to McKay’s Used Bookstore in Chattanooga have transformed eight overflowing laundry baskets of books into a manageable church library collection, a few wonderful new fiction authors, and a home that feels a hundred pounds lighter.

Meanwhile, ministry opportunities continue to unfold.

I sponsored an amazing young lady on her Chrysalis Flight last weekend. Chrysalis is part of the Walk to Emmaus community.

Lingering in daily Bible reading, study, and prayer is a time of His tender presence.

Planning for Lifewise Academy is underway, including a meeting with a local principal this week and an August “Lifewise Academy in the Park” gathering for students and families. Georgia currently has 16 Lifewise schools, and we’re praying for 100 over the next three years as we seek to bring Bible education to students during the school day off school property.

Weekday Preschool district workshops begin next week, and our North and South Georgia Global Methodist Church R3 Gathering is already on the calendar for November 5–6, 2026. It’s exciting to continue investing in churches and leaders in this new season.

I’ve read that retirement comes in three stages: Go-Go, Slow-Go, and No-Go. Mr. Bob and I are definitely in the Go-Go stage. A Planet Fitness membership has helped us stay moving, especially through the sweltering “Hot-lanta” summer.

This season looks different than any before it. The Lord is simply giving us new places to serve, new people to love, and new rhythms in which to walk with Him.

So today, I tip my glass of lemonade to friends and colleagues near and far. Now, if you’ll excuse me, it’s time to pick tomatoes from the back porch for dinner.

“Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” Ephesians 5:1-2

By the time Baby Girl and #1 Son were walking and talking, our home had developed some simple, sacred rhythms.

“God bless you,” after every sneeze.

Prayers before every meal—even when we were eating at our favorite local Shoney’s as loyal Shoney’s Shoppers.

And praying out loud together.

That last one stretched me the most. Speaking prayers aloud didn’t come naturally, but I wanted my children to hear someone they loved talking outloud with Jesus. If they were going to learn what a life of faith looked like, they needed someone to mirror. I did not want to pass along my fear of praying outloud to my littles.

We weren’t ready to become missionaries to Africa…yet.

But God was already preparing us to be missionaries in our own home, in our families, and in the marketplace.

It was the 1980s. Mr. Bob traveled Monday through Friday for work while I served full-time as an assistant vice president of investments at Capital Bank, which later became Sunburst Bank in Baton Rouge. I didn’t want my children to know me only as the mom who rushed home to feed them, bathe them, and put them to bed.

So we made a plan.

We paid off our debt, lived on plenty of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and macaroni and cheese for a season, and I left my full-time banking career to teach part-time in our church preschool.

Looking back, I can see how God was preparing me not only to raise my own children to love the Lord with their whole hearts for their whole lives, but also to spend a lifetime helping other families do the same.

Author James Fowler describes the faith of children between about 2 years old and 7 years old as the Intuitive-Projective stage of faith. During these years, children begin to understand God through the adults they know and trust. Their earliest picture of God is shaped by the people who love them. Children develop language and imagination. Faith is magical, fluid, and heavily influenced by stories, images, and the examples of adults.

They hear simple Bible stories. They learn songs. They celebrate holidays. They pray familiar prayers. Through repetition and routine, they begin to understand that God is real, loving, and present.

They watch us.

They notice how we treat neighbors, how we respond when we’re frustrated, how we share, forgive, be generous, tell the truth, and show kindness. Faith at this age is more caught than taught, but teaching is still of great importance.

Even everyday lessons—sharing toys, using kind words, waiting patiently, obeying promptly, and treating others with respect—become building blocks for practicing Christlike character.

As I’m spending time with the grands and other littles today, one of my favorite resources for those who lead this age is the free Faithful Beginnings Library from the Georgia Preschool Association. One lesson, “Be Kind to One Another,” gives those who lead and influence toddlers and preschoolers simple, hands-on ways to practice sharing and kindness. For older preschoolers and early elementary children, I also recommend Ordinary Mary’s Extraordinary Deed by Emily Pearson, a delightful story that reinforces how one act of kindness can spread farther than we imagine.

The Faithful Beginnings Library continues to grow thanks to teachers, childcare professionals, churches, grandparents, and families who are serving little ones every day. If you serve in a church nursery, operate an in-home daycare, are a first-year or ten-year classroom teacher in a church preschool, this library of fun activities can provide support to loving littles to Jesus. check it out here.

The resources are free, practical, and designed for the places where faith grows best—at home, at church, and in everyday moments.

After all, the greatest mission training field may just be around your own kitchen table.

“They were to be trained for three years, and after that they were to enter the king’s service.” Daniel 1:5b

Last week I spent two hours on Zoom with a Global Methodist Church deacon who serves children’s ministry leaders across the Allegheny West Annual Conference. (This Georgia girl learned that Allegheny West includes Ohio and western Pennsylvania!)

What encouraged me most wasn’t my geography lesson—it was discovering that leaders across the country are asking the same question: What does it look like to raise up children and students as Global Methodists?

The Global Methodist Church celebrated its fourth birthday on May 1. While we’re a new denomination, we’re deeply rooted in a rich Methodist heritage shaped by John and Charles Wesley and their mother, Susanna. Their passion for Scripture, holy living, discipleship, and serving others remains the foundation of who we are today.

As of last February 2026, the Global Methodist Church includes nearly 7,000 congregations around the world. That’s exciting growth—but with growth comes opportunity.

How do we intentionally form the next generation? What distinctives should children, students, parents, and ministry leaders experience in a Global Methodist church?

Those questions led Allison Vandenbergh, a gifted children’s ministry leader in South Georgia, my ministry partner who is an incredible teacher, Robin Glover, and me to design the first R3 Gathering following last fall’s New Room Conference.

Together we explored three important conversations:

Roots – What are the Wesleyan roots that are clearly set to be pillars in GMC Christian education? 

Ruts – What has the GMC leadership already set in place to define, resource and prioritize organizationally?

Rhythms – How can we implement these distinctives in a developmentally appropriate way to equip local church, mission, and family leaders as active and faithful members of the Global Methodist Church?

For many churches, very little changed from the Sunday before they joined the Global Methodist Church to the Sunday after. Sunday School still met. Vacation Bible School still happened. Families still gathered around dinner tables. Children still memorized Scripture and learned about Jesus. Local and international missions experiences were still planned.

But now we have the opportunity—and the responsibility—to intentionally shape what it means to grow up as a Global Methodist.

It’s time to set the table for Global Methodist littles with their bigs.

“Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.” Ephesians 4:14

My journey in Christian education began in an unexpected place—a delivery room in Louisiana’s East Baton Rouge Parish in the 1980s.

The moment I held our daughter for the first time, I whispered a prayer that God would capture her heart and mind at an early age. Twenty months later, I prayed the same prayer for our son: that he would come to know and follow Jesus and never let go.

Those prayers launched me into a lifelong adventure of learning how faith is formed in the earliest years. As a young mom in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, I was blessed by a church family, preschool teachers, and faithful mentors who helped me nurture faith in our little ones. I will always be grateful for those who poured into both me and my children.

Author James Fowler, in Stages of Faith, describes the years from infancy to age two as a season of “Undifferentiated Faith.” During this time, children begin forming their earliest impressions of God through the people who care for them.

For toddlers and twos, the foundational truths are beautifully simple: God made you. Jesus loves you.

Long before children can read, they are learning. They watch, listen, imitate, and absorb the values and virtues of the people they trust most. Through loving relationships, they begin to experience God’s love, forgiveness, generosity, and care.

Faith is learned not only through words, but through actions, gestures, movements, and special (sacred) items. Folded hands. Bowed heads. Bedtime prayers. Sharing toys. Saying “I’m sorry.” Giving hugs.

As Christian educator, author, and theologian Craig Dykstra reminds us, “The practice of Christian faith is a lot more physical than we usually recognize or let on.” We learn faith by practicing faith.

That’s why I was delighted to discover Faithful Beginnings, a free resource from the Georgia Preschool Association designed specifically for infants, toddlers, preschoolers, and the adults who love them. Through simple lessons and activities, families, churches nurseries, grandparents, and childcare providers can help young children take their first steps in faith.

Resources for elementary-aged children are plentiful, but materials designed specifically for infants and preschoolers are often limited. Yet these early years matter deeply. Children learn to trust, love, pray, serve, and wonder way before they learn to read.

One of my favorite lessons from Faithful Beginnings especially for the littlest of littles is the Little Hands, Big Heart Lesson using family photos and a mirror. We have a digital photo album at our house which is a favorite ‘go to’ of our youngest grandchildren, so that would work, too. The extension activities included several that we did with our children and with our grandchildren. Check it out under the ‘Gratitude’ tab.

And because music is especially sticky for littles, one of my favorite toddler songs is sung to the tune of Baby Shark:

God loves you, do do do do do do…
God loves you, do do do do do do…
God loves you, do do do do do do…
God loves you.

Jesus, too, do do do do do do…
Jesus, too, do do do do do do…
Jesus, too, do do do do do do…
Jesus, too.

Every faithful journey begins with a faithful beginning.

“Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.” Psalm 8:2