A friend just this week posted a photo of a simple painting of a tree she's done on a wall at her house. The leaves of the tree are post-its of names of people she and her family are praying for. It is beautiful and so simple, and a constant reminder of their connection to people.
We do a variety of things. We have a private Facebook group for parents and grandparents who bring kids to our church, and we share things of interest there: articles, book reviews, links to flyers. We use the bulletin for similar announcements. I (the director of children's ministries) will sometimes type up something I think is really cool and simple that they can do with their kids and distribute it in everyone's mailboxes. Or I'll review a book, include a few tips, and offer to buy the book for everyone who wants it, and distribute the review to everyone's mailboxes. We had several copies of a communion picture book several years ago that we borrowed around, and I had the best response when I made an announcement holding the book and said, "Come up and see me after church to borrow this!" A story box sounds like a great fun idea--the best thing you can do is provide the opportunity for families to take advantage of it. It's up to them to grab the opportunity.
We don't have adults with dementia in our adult Bible study, but we do have adults with intellectual disabilities, and we've found that the videos at The Bible Project https://bibleproject.com/explore/ are wonderful. Although they're animated, they're more aimed at adults, but they're easy to understand and fun to watch. And they have lots of videos. That said, I'm an enormous fan of The Jesus Storybook Bible--I use it when I work with children, and I read it through as my own devotional practice one year. You can't go wrong with it :-) I'm curious about God's Big Story Cards, from Faith Alive. I use them in a children's Sunday school, but there isn't a reason why it couldn't work for adults with dementia--there are 5 different activities in the same 5 categories for every Bible story (there are over 140 stories). Some are words to repeat, sometimes you act out the story, sometimes you draw things or make stuff with PlayDoh. It might be worth exploring.
We have both a public FB page and a private FB group. That way we have two layers of communication. The public page is great as the face of the church--someone interested in checking us out can see the things we do and get a feel for who we are. I use it to forward the kinds of community notices that would normally go on our bulletin board or in the bulletin. But when we really want to talk with each other about how we're doing, or share a photo that people don't want to be seen publicly but they know their church community would appreciate, we use the FB group. I really appreciate having both. We didn't start the private FB group until the lockdown, and it has turned out to be one of the best changes we've made.
We're at the end of our second summer doing Lego response time, but without base plates--I'm going to check out Amazon for them next summer. We love it! There's something beautiful and holy about the few minutes that everyone has their Lego and their heads are bent over them, working on their creation. The 3-year-olds aren't as engaged as the older kids (we have 3-2nd grade together in the summer), but some kids keep working on Lego the whole time instead of going out to the playground. This summer, one girl suggested that everyone work together to make a model of heaven on the last Sunday; turns out that she wanted everyone to make *her* vision of heaven ;-)
We have monthly communion, except during Advent and Lent, when it's weekly, so the kids leave their children's worship to join their families for communion regularly. On communion Sundays the kids are released a little earlier in the service than usual (before the prayer of confession and assurance of pardon instead of after) so we can get the singing/story/praying and a little response time in before we have to leave. We also add something for the children: the final song of the service on communion Sundays is always lively so we can invite the children and anyone who wants to to come to the front and wave ribbons or play percussion instruments. There is a dance leader for this, but not everybody follows her; it's mostly a joyful free-for-all that gives the kids something important to do on those Sundays when children's worship is interrupted.
Posted in: Denominational Survey - Church Promotion Resources (English)
Hello. Where are the web resources? There are a lot of pdfs on this page, but they are not best for sharing on social media. Thanks!
Posted in: Five Pointers for Praying With Kids
A friend just this week posted a photo of a simple painting of a tree she's done on a wall at her house. The leaves of the tree are post-its of names of people she and her family are praying for. It is beautiful and so simple, and a constant reminder of their connection to people.
Posted in: How Do You Share Ministry Resources With Families?
We do a variety of things. We have a private Facebook group for parents and grandparents who bring kids to our church, and we share things of interest there: articles, book reviews, links to flyers. We use the bulletin for similar announcements. I (the director of children's ministries) will sometimes type up something I think is really cool and simple that they can do with their kids and distribute it in everyone's mailboxes. Or I'll review a book, include a few tips, and offer to buy the book for everyone who wants it, and distribute the review to everyone's mailboxes. We had several copies of a communion picture book several years ago that we borrowed around, and I had the best response when I made an announcement holding the book and said, "Come up and see me after church to borrow this!" A story box sounds like a great fun idea--the best thing you can do is provide the opportunity for families to take advantage of it. It's up to them to grab the opportunity.
Posted in: Bible Study Help for Adults With Dementia?
We don't have adults with dementia in our adult Bible study, but we do have adults with intellectual disabilities, and we've found that the videos at The Bible Project https://bibleproject.com/explore/ are wonderful. Although they're animated, they're more aimed at adults, but they're easy to understand and fun to watch. And they have lots of videos. That said, I'm an enormous fan of The Jesus Storybook Bible--I use it when I work with children, and I read it through as my own devotional practice one year. You can't go wrong with it :-) I'm curious about God's Big Story Cards, from Faith Alive. I use them in a children's Sunday school, but there isn't a reason why it couldn't work for adults with dementia--there are 5 different activities in the same 5 categories for every Bible story (there are over 140 stories). Some are words to repeat, sometimes you act out the story, sometimes you draw things or make stuff with PlayDoh. It might be worth exploring.
Posted in: Church Facebook Page Public vs Private?
We have both a public FB page and a private FB group. That way we have two layers of communication. The public page is great as the face of the church--someone interested in checking us out can see the things we do and get a feel for who we are. I use it to forward the kinds of community notices that would normally go on our bulletin board or in the bulletin. But when we really want to talk with each other about how we're doing, or share a photo that people don't want to be seen publicly but they know their church community would appreciate, we use the FB group. I really appreciate having both. We didn't start the private FB group until the lockdown, and it has turned out to be one of the best changes we've made.
Posted in: Using Only 3 Words, How Do You Currently Feel About Church?
Overwhelmed but hopeful.
Posted in: Toy Story: How We Used Lego in Summer Children’s Ministry
We're at the end of our second summer doing Lego response time, but without base plates--I'm going to check out Amazon for them next summer. We love it! There's something beautiful and holy about the few minutes that everyone has their Lego and their heads are bent over them, working on their creation. The 3-year-olds aren't as engaged as the older kids (we have 3-2nd grade together in the summer), but some kids keep working on Lego the whole time instead of going out to the playground. This summer, one girl suggested that everyone work together to make a model of heaven on the last Sunday; turns out that she wanted everyone to make *her* vision of heaven ;-)
Posted in: Knock Knock, Communion Calling
We have monthly communion, except during Advent and Lent, when it's weekly, so the kids leave their children's worship to join their families for communion regularly. On communion Sundays the kids are released a little earlier in the service than usual (before the prayer of confession and assurance of pardon instead of after) so we can get the singing/story/praying and a little response time in before we have to leave. We also add something for the children: the final song of the service on communion Sundays is always lively so we can invite the children and anyone who wants to to come to the front and wave ribbons or play percussion instruments. There is a dance leader for this, but not everybody follows her; it's mostly a joyful free-for-all that gives the kids something important to do on those Sundays when children's worship is interrupted.