Family Faith Formation Resources | Justice

This article is part of the Family Faith Formation Toolkit - a collection of resources for equipping ministry leaders, parents, and caregivers with family faith practices and resources, brought to you by Faith Formation Ministries.

In the following links you’ll find creative resources and practices around justice to use both in community and at home. These ideas can be seamlessly woven into existing church programs and into family life.

Justice: In Community

Look for ways to engage all ages in conversations about justice and responses to injustice.

Fundraising Activities

• Include the children of your church in fundraising projects for World Renew. At Sonlight CRC in Lynden, Washington, children (who are also part of the fundraising task force) have raised enough money through bake sales, donations at their birthday parties, Peter Fish collections, and Thanksgiving suppers to pay for 28 water wells in Nigeria. How might you partner with the children and youth in your church to serve and speak out for justice in your community and globally?

Curriculum Resources

• Learning about Refugee Stories at Sunday School offers four sessions based on picture books.

• Let’s Talk about Privilege is a free resource written by Jane Genzink for the children in grades 1-5 in her church. Divided into three sessions, it covers the topics of privilege, people who are marginalized, and what it means to be a godly neighbor.

• An Illustrated Earth: Celebrating God’s Creation is a twelve-week curriculum on creation care.

• When forming creation-care teams, consider how you might make them intergenerational. Get started with the ideas found in our Ten Ways to Care for Creation tool.

Justice: At Home

• Writer, educator, and parent Lisa VanEngen has written an outstanding resource for speaking with kids about justice issues, including racism, creation care, health care, disabilities, hunger, and more. Her book, And Social Justice for All: Empowering Families, Churches, and Schools to Make a Difference in God's World includes conversation starters, action ideas, recommended library books, and more. 

• Research shows that children are racially biased. The post Here’s How to Raise Race-Conscious Children and this post from the Embrace Race site contain helpful information for parents.

• “Racism is our inheritance. It doesn’t have to be our legacy. But we had better do something about it,” says pastor Scott Neely. In his TEDx Talk What Will I Teach My Son? he shares his family history of white privilege, describes what he’s learned about racism, and explains the three things he’ll teach his children.

• Parents looking for library books about refugees will appreciate this list of Ten Refugee Stories.

• Looking for picture books on Indigenous themes? Check out this wonderful list of Indigenous Justice Book Suggestions.

QUESTIONS?

If you’re part of the Christian Reformed Church in North America and you have questions about how to equip ministry leaders, parents, and caregivers with family faith practices and resources, one of Faith Formation Ministries’ Regional Catalyzers would love to talk with you about ideas and strategies.