Fall Festivals are hosted by churches and schools all over the map in North Georgia. Setting the WHY offers a true channel through the logistical challenges to pull off such an endeavor well.

The Fall Gathering is an all-staff-hands-on-deck event at my local church. It is 2-hour event of food trucks led by the Nursery and Missions Team, Big Games led by the Recreation Ministry Team, Cake Walk led by our Senior Adult Ministry, Music led by the Worship Team, and Trunk-or-Treat led by the Kidmin and Youth Team (which is billed as a jacked-up ministry fair for all the ministries of the church to shine.) We invite local businesses and families to trunk, too. #teamwork 

We schedule the Fall Gathering to follow the 20-minute soccer season awards ceremony where 300 kids have just finished a fabulous season. 300 kids and their families don’t show up for the soccer awards, but we can plan for 150. When the soccer families are dismissed from the awards ceremony, I hand out a green bag for them to collect candy and loot from the trunks since most forget to bring one. As our trunk folks see the green bags, they know these families come from the Recreation Ministry and respond accordingly. #hospitality

The goal for us is to ‘bump elbows with our neighbors where littles-with-bigs take priority.’ We want to be a good neighbor with no bait and switch. We want to model Christian community with creativity, generosity, great joy, and connection. #family 

With reports two days ahead that the weather might not permit us from doing everything outside as planned, we already had a rain plan and set it into motion. Food tables in the gym and food trucks parked outside near an overhang entrance. Trunks in the 3rd floor classrooms two to a classroom (I labeled each door with giant post-it notes) placing community trunks with ministry trunks for even more Christian community. I emailed all the trunks the day before to offer a heads-up and anyone needing something special (like cornhole needed an entire classroom) to let me know. #communication

Wins for having it inside:
* Texting the Sunday school teachers early Sunday morning to move their classroom furniture after class to make room for trunks #participation
* A typical outdoor obstacle course became a huge The Floor Is Lava course #creativity
* I was the Graham Cracker of a 3-person-S’more. A little girl came running up to me shouting, “I found your chocolate! I found your chocolate! Now I’m gonna look for your marshmallow!” #joy
* Critical mass in the hallways made for great photos to use for marketing next year. #marketing
* A greeter at the main entrance added that personal touch and began the experience in the lobby. #hospitality
* We ran out of cakes 1.5 hours in after I walked through the hallways showing off a pumpkin roll I won and hyping the crowds. #hypeambassador
* Three new families attended our children’s programming the following Sunday. Even though we had half of our Sunday am leadership out sick, we still prioritized hospitality anticipating some new faces. God blessed that.  We made arrangements for a greeter to answer questions, offer a tour, and we loved on their kids well. They’ll get postcards from us this week!
* Batteries in my pocket rescued several motorized costumes. deflated from all the festivities.

Canceling the event was not an option since editing and adapting was already considered. For me it’s an integrity issue. If we say we’re going to do something, by golly short of the rapture, it’s happening. It may not be what we planned, but with a clear WHY we can pivot with good communication, happy servant leaders, happy families, and happy kids who were able to experience the creativity, generosity, great joy, and connection that comes with gathering together in Christian community.

Next up? Live Nativity of ‘Manger Things’ on Sunday before Christmas and Campfire Christmas the Friday before.

This is what I have learned especially over the last three years: Nothing needs to be a Broadway production, and can turn out better if we can back off the expectation that it needs to be. Simplicity is king for family ministry. Before you think we are a big church with lots of volunteers, no one is a big church with lots of volunteers anymore. We are all new church starts.  With a clear WHY, we can use what’s in our hands to make anything happen with even a few people and clear, early communication.

How did your Fall Festival go and where were the wins?

“But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” Luke 18:16

Sunday morning is still king. Why?
1. It’s the day and time historically celebrated as a local church honoring Jesus rising from the dead on a Sunday morning. The resurrection of Jesus is the very basis for our Christian faith.
2. It’s the day and time for critical mass of the Body of Christ.

Though other times and days of the week are growing in popularity to fit the rhythms of the families of my communities, Sundays are still ‘game day.’ 

So what does our Sunday morning look like?

8:30am – Set up
We share all of our spaces with weekday preschool and/or recreation ministry meaning staging takes place on Thursdays, but full setup for Sunday am happens on Sunday am.

9am – Welcome Center opens
We begin receiving children K5-5th grade in one area with shared table games and building toys, understanding that kids will chat while their hands are busy setting the table for time with church friends. The goal is to receive children early as their parents need to arrive at their areas of service before services at 9:30am unhurried and relaxed AND to build in time for ‘hanging out with my church friends.’

9:30am – Large group
Welcome, Announcements, one song, one game, one locating and reading of scripture passage as they yell out the next word they find with their reading finger as I read from my red Bible (if it’s red, Jesus said), short story video from Pursue God Kids, follow-up questions to share in their age group (begins the transition from large group to small), repeat after me closing prayers, then dismissed to small group classrooms.

9:45am – Small group
For a consistent number of littles in each class we group kids K5 (our college intern leads this group every single week alongside a parent volunteer for relationship consistency), 1st grade (a leader who has looped up from K5 with them with a high school intern), 2nd & 3rd (two art teachers trade one month on/off and provide a worship art response which aligns with the lesson), 4th & 5th (led by two adult leads one month/off with an apologetic – defending your faith – lens with each lesson). The apologetics lens is the basis for choosing Pursue God Kids and all of our curriculum choices. Pursue God Kids is only $35/month no matter the church size and includes a fabulous library of Godly parenting resources from a biblical worldview.

10:30am – 10:45am Small groups return to Welcome Center awaiting pickup
This is a level of hospitality of making the drop off and picking up a smooth, with-friends transition. A bucket of fruit snacks and fruit bars is set nearby for kids to self-serve a snack and ice water is always available in a dispenser with paper cups. Will Guidara of Eleven Madison Park restaurant trains his staff in unreasonable hospitality. He writes, “Design the beginning and end of your time for the feeling of ‘this is where I belong.'”

We gather together for a worship service at 11am so only the nursery is available for 4 year olds and younger. Though the service looks no different than the 9:30am service in a traditional setting, I’m permitted to incorporate movement with a children’s moment, sign language the Apostle’s Creed and Gloria Patre to offer interactive and teaching elements along the side aisle, and clipboards with Alphabots and reading games to align with the service or teach the worship service elements.

Other regular welcoming and teaching opportunities:
* K2 CLUB – K5 thru 2nd graders with a big who loves them on the 3rd Sunday of each month 4-5pm on holy habits.
* CLUB345 – 3rd thru 5th graders on the 3rd Sunday of each month 3:45-5:30pm with an annual theme of The 10 Commandments, The Lord’s Prayer, or The Apostle’s Creed
* Tuesday night Kid’s Bible Study – we align with an adult Bible study 6:30-7:30pm with pizza dinner and developmentally appropriate study of God’s Word from an apologetics standpoint. We’re starting a 4-week Advent study tonight. Parents are studying “The Case for Christmas”. The kids are studying “Songs of the Christmas Story”.

Additional holy habit teaching and intentional discipleship come through Faith Milestones. I’ll be co-leading a Faith Milestone workshop with the fabulous Brooke Barksdale on Wednesday of this week at Marietta First UMC in Marietta, Georgia. If you’re local, we’d love to have you. If you’re not local, we’ll be uploading files of the workshop in the Facebook Group: Faith Experiences for Kids and Families later this week. 

What does your Sunday morning look like?

“We need kids in our churches not because that means the church is growing or at the very least not dying; we need kids in our churches to show us what it looks like to have faith in God.” Shaun Stevenson, “Redefining The Kidmin Wins: How to Face Discouragement”, p. 134

The local church I serve is going through a discernment process for how the congregation will move forward into the future. I affectionately call them ‘Family Meetings’.

#1 Son and Baby Girl never liked family meetings when they were growing up, but they were absolutely necessary for the health of our family. Family meetings meant we would be walking into a difficult season or resetting from a difficult season. We could expect the first ten minutes of the Reilly Family Meetings to be awful as we faced some elephant in the room, but afterwards we’d always be okay, even better over time. Nobody liked Family Meetings, but they were necessary to share information, offer space to process the information, then respond and move forward as one family in the healthiest way. 

In many local United Methodist Churches, this Family Meeting process is covered in prayer and lots of information. Lots of information. Lots. Of. Information. Study and prayer.

My church leadership has sought to make a way so that everyone can BE heard, BE informed, and BE loved through the Family Meeting process. A task force composed of amazing Jesus guys and gals has led the way. I’ve covered them daily in the armor of God through prayer.

As a staff member of the local church we’ve been asked to continue to plan for and prepare in a neutral position to engage in our community in ministry and mission. As a peculiar people (see last week’s post) I’ve seen the fruit of that with new families participating in women’s Bible studies, children’s Bible studies, religious badge clinics, recreational soccer, special events, local and international missions, and a sermon series diving deeply into 1 John. We have Jesus work to do and have no time to be distracted, sloppy, nor halt everything until.

Take Courage: The Book of Haggai is a wonderful small group study authored by Jennifer Rothschild. She uses Jeremiah 29:4-9 to lay out three practices of a woman in exile (in a foreign land) which speaks to how to navigate through a place we did not ask for, yet here we are: (1) Participate with it by planting, building, increasing, multiplying, (2) Pursue God in it through daily study, model with my whole heart and mind, and (3) be Patient with the exile, patient with myself, patient with the process. Rothschild finishes with the promise of faithfully participating, pursuing, and being patient: “Then you will call on me and come and pray to me and I will listen to you.” Jeremiah 29:12.

Though chatter is thick, the navigational beacons to share the goodness and faithfulness of our Triune God have remained clear because I’ve worked through my own three BEs.

Be in prayer.
Lord, let me not be distracted from doing the work of growing in Christian community through sharing the gospel of Jesus. Let me not sin in any of it through word or deed. You alone are trustworthy and I trust You to make a way for the littles and bigs to love You with their whole hearts for their whole lives. Let me faithfully drip, drip, drip into the faith buckets of the families I serve. For those who are serving on my local church’s task force, I pray Your full Armor upon them, as shared in Ephesians 6. Amen. 

Be clearly informed.
The chatter is about many issues. I’ve discerned the good, the beautiful, and the true as best I can. For the rest I have to stay out of the weeds and trust the Lord to work out the details. As a pilgrim on the Walk to Emmaus in 2000 we were challenged to study church history. Outright craziness! How in the world can the church still be around?!? Yet here are. A holy remnant I hope to be. Even now I’m enrolled in a great online class about the church and leaders of the era around King Henry VIII and Martin Luther entitled, “Off With Their Heads”  led by Brandi Diamond who served a season as a children’s ministry leader. 

Be ready for the change that is coming.
Change is coming. It’s unreasonable to think anything will remain the same regardless of what happens. We have been actively (or reactively) engaged in change for quite some time now. We’ve gone through a shift in family rhythms, routines, culturally, and can truthfully report that everything is still changing. So the gospel of Jesus my focus must be. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever and oh, how I love Him. This is where being clearly informed will be helpful to navigate the flux in the flex. I’ve become a student of my families to know seasons, holidays, work rhythms, and am involved in their lives even if only online through social media with an attaboy for riding a bike without training wheels, losing a tooth, winning a contest, and so much more. So I’ll move forward with my plans to expand Faith Milestones beyond the local church to home in 2023 and beyond. Stay tuned because we have Jesus work to do and have no time to wait. 

In the words of the MasterChief voice on my Waze app, “Stay the course.” 

“‘You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you’ declares the Lord.” Jeremiah 29:13-14b

Christians are supposed to be peculiar (odd, strange, unusual). We wear the name of Jesus Christ when we call ourselves Christians no differently than we carry our last names signifying what family we belong to. I would never be a sloppy Reilly, how can I settle for being a sloppy (careless, unsystematic, excessively casual) Christian living out a sloppy discipleship?

The word peculiar shows up seven times in the King James scriptures, in 1 Peter 2:9, “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light;” and my personal favorite, “Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.” Titus 2:14

In KJV days, peculiar meant “belongs exclusively to some person, group, or thing” or to refer to “a property or privilege belonging exclusively or characteristically to a person.”

Our choice to be peculiar goes along with ‘being holy (set apart) because God is holy.’ Set apart should look peculiar (odd, strange, unusual) and easily identified as belonging exclusively to Jesus, not sloppy (careless, unsystematic, excessively casual).  I am not my own with my own agenda or driven by my own cause. I’m to be peculiar and not sloppy in what I do, how I think, in my drives and motivations, and how I respond to the world around me.

In a world where everything caters and is programmed around me and my preferences (cell phone, Netflix choices, radio channels, spotify playlists, Amazon wish lists, etc.) I’m so grateful that the local church is not. It’s not supposed to be.

I need the local church to sharpen my peculiarity and not permit me to be sloppy in my discipleship. The local church is a critical means of growth for healthy, peculiar Christians and healthy, peculiar Christians are needed in the local church to guard against straying outside the navigational beacons of teaching to make disciples of the Jesus-of-the-Bible in the face of competing and contradictory agendas.

Peculiar Christians are generous, percentage givers, they set aside regular time in God’s Word, spend regular time teaching littles about Jesus (Jesus calls them the ‘kingdom of God’- Matthew 18:1-6), don’t hold a grudge, teach others with a sense of urgency, let others go first, don’t forsake gathering together in some place, work hard as unto the Lord, are involved in a local church to serve others, and guard their hearts and minds from competing and contradictory agendas. These peculiar actions are not out of duty, far from it. I do these things out of love for the One and Only who left Heaven to make a way for me to be made right with the perfect, holy God of the universe.

Here are some guardrails I’ve put in place to help me choose peculiarity over sloppiness.

Stop following influencers and be the model of peculiarity in my own world. Following Jesus is the only way to grow in peculiarity for Him. Spending more daily time following influencers online will make me poor in my pocketbook and my spirit. Getting the guidance for how I should live in this world through a platform outside the Bible is sloppy. “He that tilleth his land shall be satisfied with bread: but he that followeth vain persons is void of understanding.” Proverbs 12:11

Stop doing only that which is in my comfort zone. Only when I serve outside my comfort zone will I truly be inviting the Lord to do His work in me. Satisfied with being average, safe, or doing the bare minimum is sloppy. “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.” Philippians 4:13

Stop comparing myself to others. My standard for peculiarity must be Jesus and not the celebrity Christian who rolls in my feed (this is set by an algorithm or someone trying to sell me something) or who I think is the most spiritual person in the room just because they’ve been in the room the longest. Tossing my hands up just to keep the peace or because it’s hard is sloppy. “Thou shalt not covet.” Exodus 20:17

Stop waiting for permission. I’m over sitting at tables of collaboration and leadership only to continue to hear, “Let’s wait until….” It’s going to be inconvenient. I’m going to get pushback. I’m going to be told all the logical reasons why we shouldn’t. I’m over it! If the disciples had waited, the gospel would have never made it to me. I don’t like being in trouble anymore than the next person, but for goodness sake, our Great God can be trusted with the outcome and I have decided to follow Jesus. Let me set aside my selfish vices to submit to the Lord’s commands to go and make disciples teaching. We are in the mission field everywhere we go and “The joy of the Lord is my strength.” Nehemiah 8:10

I confess that I slip into spiritual sloppiness when I’m tired, when I’m hurt, when I compare, when I have to be right, when I wear a critical spirit like a new pair of boots, and when I spend more time on my phone rather than in His Word. How do I move out of it? I repent and pray for it: a God-glorifying, Jesus-pleasing Christian peculiarity. It’s lonely and takes courage to pray for such a thing, but He is so worth it.

“Anything that would hinder us from the closest walk possible with Jesus Christ is not for us.” Amy Carmichael, missionary to India for 55 years without furlough

Calendaring for the next 18-24 months calls for a level of fearlessness when facing the following seven big BUTS of Children’s Ministry:

BUT IT’S NOT THE WAY WE’VE ALWAYS DONE IT – Refreshing and editing ministry must be a constant if we intend on being relevant. 20% of each year’s programming should be as a result of an update, an edit, something new, or delayed/postponed.  Informally debrief after every event and after each special Sunday so energy and excitement builds and remains. Rename it. Change the season/date. Start small to get the kinks out so that people know you are hearing them.

BUT FAMILIES ARE SO BUSY – Learn the rhythm of your community, not just your local church. With the exception of Sunday (Sunday is Game Day!), clear your schedule for your volunteers and families the first few weeks and the last six weeks of the school year. Families are trying to get accustomed to new normals, schedules, and filling out all that paperwork that is required at the beginning of the year. May has become more congested for families than December. Reach out in prayer and encouragement, but give your families easy wins. When you calendar, choose what is best. Consider what you used to do annually to offering every other year. Remember that Sunday programming is your bread and butter. Treat it with even greater planning and preparation as you would a special event.

BUT IT’S NOT ON THE CALENDAR – Just because others in your church don’t calendar 18-24 months in advance, doesn’t mean you can’t. Call a calendaring meeting and see who comes. Set your working calendar in pencil and get your stuff on the calendar first with the plan that if something else comes up, you respond with grace and a spirit of collaboration. Calendaring is partnering.

BUT WE’RE A SMALL CHURCH – Churches that are growing deeper are the ones with greater intentionality of forming circles and not just rows as they share life, share interests, and share a heart for others in inter-generational service as a result of Bible reading and study. Relationships grow more quickly and deeper in small groups, so take advantage of these small moments with great fruit. Let go of the thought that everything needs to be a Broadway production and make the faith-formation experiences more personal, more participatory, and more thoughtful.

BUT WE DON’T HAVE THE BUDGET NOR THE SPACE – Think what Jesus used: his feet, his words, his posse, and what he had on hand. Whatever you have, invite other local churches’ kidmin to join your kids for a different experience. Whatever the other local churches’ kidmin is doing, call and ask if you can bring a group of kids for a shared experience once or twice each year. When the bottom fell out of the stock market just a few months after I was brought on to start a family ministry at a church financed primarily by retired college professors, I prayed and got creative with what was available and in my hands. Bands and sports camps came on campus each week. Each night I sold hot Little Caesar’s pizza out the back of my car along with ice-cold waters and Gatorades for three entire summers to finance for three years the ministry God had called me to lead. Sunday through Thursday from 10pm-1am. Fruitful ministry and oh the relationships and connections. Use what you have and let the Lord do the multiplying.

BUT WE DON’T HAVE THE VOLUNTEERS – Who do you have? Then raise up and train folks to be the volunteers. I’d sit in the sanctuary during services and ask the Lord to show me who to invite. Stay off the struggle-bus of negativity and wishing for what you don’t have. Give the volunteers you do have the joy and wonder of using the spiritual gifts handed to each one by their Creator. I make a way for 4th & 5th graders (the oldest in my lane of influence) to be taught and experience the joy of serving our Lord in their home church. I’m looking down the road to train up servant-leaders for this and their future local churches. Think of yourself like a general contractor enlisting the help and gifts of sub-contractors to build His house.

BUT NO ONE COMES TO SUNDAY SCHOOL ANYMORE – Thinking of the local church becoming more decentralized, we must offer Christian Education on Sunday morning and beyond. I do love Sunday school because it builds sticky faith and sticky relationships, so I schedule the really special things to take place during the Sunday school hour. Edit what you are doing maybe with a name change. Try new arrangements in discipleship. We are not event-planners. We provide environments where we ‘make disciples and teach.’ We ‘make disciples’ in teaching and letting little people and their families practice what they learn so they become more like Jesus. The first thing Jesus did when he called his disciples was to ‘teach them.’ Sunday morning is our bread and butter, but it can look differently and be called something different to build energy, build buzz, build relationships, and fulfill the vision of the church and the Great Commission. Keeping my focus on deep relationships with Jesus and with one another, God and our children’s ministry leadership can figure it out. We have more resources available today than any other time in history. Let’s use them!

There has never been a more exciting time to edit, make new, and update what it takes to point littles and their bigs to Jesus in the local church. The kids you are leading will be the leadership and the innovators in the local church today and tomorrow. Let’s model prayerful editing, innovation, and accept the tension of BUTS with creativity and joyful obedience. I imagine you deal with your own set of BUTS. How are you overcoming your BIG BUTS in ministry with children and families?

“Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, BUT WITH GOD all things are possible.’” Matthew 19:26

(This blog was originally posted in May 2019, but I needed to hear it again. Maybe you did, too.)

The first time I heard Melissa Mashburn speak was at the She Leads Church online conference. She’s clear, organized, and living in the trenches of local ministry with a history of wearing multiple hats. Her posts are encouraging and her redemption story includes her mother-in-law. Sweetness! I joined her Ministry Chick Facebook group immediately after the conference and have been an Instagram follower every since.

She’s written a book and it’s an absolute delight! Ministry Chick: Find Your Community, Own Your Leadership, Take your Step! Throughout the book she repeats a message that ‘you, Sister, were made for more’. She covers most of the major themes we all have or will encounter as a female leader in ministry reminding the reader that her identity is always in Christ. Her writing is like we’re sitting on the back porch in a small group holding multiple conversations going on at the same time. The wisdom is just that good and I felt I was drinking from a fire hose.

The wisdom is for all women in ministry. The quiet servant who loves behind the scenes and those of us who wear ‘too muchness’ like a new jean jacket.

She speaks about setting core values as guardrails in the ministry which serve as
protective barriers to keep me safe, healthy, and on track thereby resisting the wind gusts of other people’s opinions and values. This is just the thing to set aside the people-pleaser in many women in ministry, or is that just me?

The book is sprinkled with multiple Chick Chats. Chick Chats are insights gathered from the amazing and diverse women within the Ministry Chick online community. These women are making decisions every day, serving our great God in Christian community, leading others, and oh the stories they have to tell. Melissa kindly and graciously shares in several places my own experiences and stories I have shared within that amazing community.

Want to know if your voice matters? “If you want to think about it from a 30,000-foot view, your voice, as a woman, represents roughly about 60% of your church, ministry, or organization. This means it is imperative that you use your voice to represent your team, experiences, and thoughts.” Melissa Mashburn, Ministry Chick

The last section of the book is about taking your next, best step with a holy confidence and a healthy humility. The book closes with a fantastic Group Discussion Guide.

I wholeheartedly recommend this book and can’t wait for the conversations to begin.

“It’s the coolest thing to see a woman who has a holy confidence and healthy humility. She knows who she is, and she knows Whose she is, and she is not afraid to be all her and give Him all the glory.” Melissa Mashburn, Ministry Chick

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