Welcome! Join a conversation about discipleship and how churches can encourage faith formation at all ages.
Jill
Faith Formation
Aviva
Linda
Karen
I have hope that God is still working in my child’s life, even when she doesn’t recognize it. I have hope that God will continue to walk alongside her parents in those times when her absence at university is felt deeply.
The CRC Office of Race Relations is now offering discussion guides for small groups on books and films that address the topics of race and faith. First up is Trevor Noah's memoir, Born a Crime.
Here are seven ideas of activities with the potential to form faith that you can do with your kids for little or no dough.
"Can you recommend a good devotional?" I suspect this is a question that pastors are frequently asked (I know it's one I receive fairly often). In response, here are 12 resources I've used and would recommend.
Women considering abortion need education, resources, and support. Here are a couple ideas for ways that your congregation can create spaces for talking about abortion with grace and truth.
How do we engage our congregations in Advent? How do we get people reading their Bibles? In response to these questions, my church (Oakdale Park CRC) created this Advent community reading plan.
As I hear my friends reflect on the election’s outcome, I am hearing a loss for words about how to talk about this with children. It is in response to what I am hearing that I offer this devotion for parents.
I recently wrote this text to bless our children's ministry leaders and volunteers after their fall informational meeting. Feel free to use and adapt for your own fall ministries.
Do you love the Olympics? If so, here is a great devotional for your family to use as you cheer on athletes, root for underdogs, and learn how Jesus paints a different picture than what we see at the Olympics.
Congregations always have a culture. You won’t find it written down in mission statements or council minutes but walk into any congregation on a Sunday morning, and you will gradually gain a sense of who is welcome.
For most of the morning, half of the youth group had been planting cannabis, aka marijuana. The leaders from both churches were mortified and the experience taught everyone an important lesson.
Short-term mission trips are difficult. They can also be rich and rewarding, with the potential for long-term impact. To equip your team, check out the new, free, downloadable resource called Changed for Life.
In many ways, the nursery epitomizes what the church is about: Knowing each other. Living life together. Chasing each other when necessary. And allowing no one to forget God loves them.
Connecting a team of six regional catalyzers with support staff in both Michigan and Ontario can be challenging. That's why we're grateful that Christine Dekker joined Faith Formation Ministries...
Many Christians, on both sides of the border, are looking at the current political climate in the United States with disbelief and wonder. How did we get here?
Introducing Martin Contant, another FFM staff member with years of experience working in the CRCNA who's just begun working as the Coach for FFM’s Regional Catalyzers.
For our next installation in the series introducing the staff of Faith Formation Ministries, we would like to introduce you to Sandy Swartzentruber, Creative Resource Developer.
In our series introducing you to the staff of Faith Formation Ministries, I would like you to meet Karen De Boer, Creative Resource Developer, from Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario.
Last week I encountered three different people. Three people with their own stories and their own complicated relationships with the Church. How can the CRC be a community to these people?
Bruce Feiler, in his article for the New York Times, writes: "The single most important thing you can do for your family may be the simplest of all: develop a strong family narrative.”
Ron deVries serves as a Regional Catalyzer for Faith Formation Ministries in Alberta. In this interview, he shares a few of the big issues he has noticed in youth ministry today. . .
Laura Keeley is Co-director of Children's Ministries at Fourteenth Street CRC in Holland, Michigan, and serves as a Regional Catalyzer for Faith Formation Ministries in Michigan.
This week we are heading south of the Canadian border to introduce you to Jill Friend, who serves as a Regional Catalyzer in Iowa.
Being part of a large family reminds me that all of us, in our own way and in our own place and time, are trying to figure out what it means to live out our faith. And for each of us, that looks different.
Lesli is the newest member of the team, serving seven Classes in Ontario, Canada. Look for more interviews with Regional Catalyzers in the weeks ahead!