Family Faith Formation Resources | Serving

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 for serving to use both in community and at home. These ideas can be seamlessly woven into existing church programs and into family life.

Serving: In Community

When people of all ages have opportunities to serve together locally and/or globally—helping others, seeking justice, and sharing God’s love—wonderful things start to happen:

• Faith is formed as people work side by side in shared experiences, praying together and encouraging each other.

• All ages recognize that as followers of Jesus they are called by God to serve others and seek justice and that they are equipped by God to serve in ways that are valuable and important.

• Busy families spend quality time living out their faith together.

• Relationships are built, generation gaps narrow, and a sense of teamwork is fostered.

Here are some resources for intergenerational service.

• Use this Intergenerational Service Survey to help your church build on its strengths and identify its weaknesses in terms of an intentionally intergenerational approach to service.

• The book Doing Good Together: 101 Easy, Meaningful Service Projects for Families, Schools, and Communities includes information for leaders on how to provide successful family service experiences. The helpful age index lets readers know which activities work best with kids ages 3-18, and the ideas can easily be adapted to include all ages within your church community.

• Get inspired with this list of 25 Ideas for Intergenerational Service. For more ideas on how your church can provide faith-forming service opportunities for all ages, visit the Intergenerational Church toolkit and open the “Serving” tab.

Serving: At Home

• The book Teaching Kids to Care and Share: 300+ Mission and Service Ideas for Children by Jolene L. Roehlkepartain contains interactive ideas for both short-term and long-term serving and learning opportunities for children ages 3-5, 6-9, and 10-12 years of age.

• Inspire families to find ways to serve that work for them by sharing this list of 40 Ways Kids Can Volunteer, Toddler to Teen.

• We love the downloadable resources and posts on the Doing Good Together site. Some of our service-specific favorites for families:

  • How Can We Get the Most from Our Service Activities? features questions for families to ask each other before and after their service experience as a way to learn and grow together.

  • Each of these Reflection Activities for Family Volunteering pages features conversation starters, book recommendations, and ideas for serving. Topics include Helping the Elderly,  Helping the Homeless, Helping Those Who are Ill, and more.

  • Check out these posts for parents: Nurturing Compassion in Boys, Make It Fun for Kids to Give Back, and Create a Family Giving Circle.

  • See also the Back to School Kindness Challenge for elementary school children and the Back to School Kindness Challenge for youth in the upper grades.

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.