Category Archives: Curriculum

An Updated Children’s Curriculum Chart

Children's Ministries, Curriculum, ,

I usually update my curriculum charts every year in April or May. This year I am late; I’ve come to realize that in my “retirement” I don’t have the energy (or heart) to focus on this project that I’ve done annually for at least twenty years now. And I must admit my frustration – every year on social media groups that focus on Christian formation the same questions are asked: what are you using for your [fill in the blank] with [fill in the blank with an age group]. It is followed by countless responses of “use this,” “we like this,” or “I have heard this is good.” That is NOT how to choose a curriculum for your church programs, no matter the age.

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Planning Calendar for 2021-2022

Adult Formation, Children's Ministries, Curriculum, Resources, Seasonal Ideas, Youth Ministry,

I have always believed that the Season of Easter is a time to plan and look to the future in all manner of things. Depending on where you live in the northern hemisphere, it is a time to think about planting: mapping out your garden, starting seeds, or actually putting plants into the ground. For me it was also about evaluating the past academic year in secular education or the Church.

I’ve written and shared plenty of ideas on how to evaluate your programming and curriculum. I’ll soon be posting new curriculum charts for children, youth, and adult formation. And by popular demand, I offer the Christian Formation Planning Calendar for 2020-2021 (Pentecost 2020 thru August 2021) in two formats for you to adapt to your own context and needs.

2021-2022 Planning Calendar (docx)

2021-2022 Planning Calendar (pdf)

  • Column 1: Date / Season
    • Date
    • Sunday noted on the church calendar
    • Reading designation (proper)
  • Column 2: Sunday Readings appointed for the day (following the Episcopal version of the Revised Common Lectionary). This is not the same as the ’79 BCP lectionary or the standard RCL. Episcopalians like to tweak and amend! Track 1 and Track 2 are offered when applicable.
    • Old Testament / Hebrew Scripture reading
    • Psalm or Canticle
    • New Testament reading
    • Gospel
  • Column 3: Observances
    • These can be civic (governmental holidays) or religious (Christian mid-week observances)
    • Space to fill in your own local practice
  • Column 4: Church Events
    • For you to fill in with your church’s events or notes for the day
  • Column 5: Notes
    • Space for your notations

Don’t forget to plug-in your teacher trainings and workshops, conference opportunities, seasonal projects for Advent and Lent, pageant and play rehearsals, mission trips, VBS, recognitions and presentations, school vacations and holidays, and social activities. As requested, you can download a pdf version or a Word version.

Stay tuned in the coming days for the updated curriculum charts. A lot has changed in the past year with numerous new resources and a few that have been discontinued. Certainly our lens may have changed a bit in what we choose to use and adapt with new questions to ask: How can I use this resource if/when we cannot meet face-to-face and in person on Sunday (or any other time)? How is this resource adaptable for use at home and online?

Everything You Need to Know About Confirmation

Confirmation, Curriculum, Resources, , , , ,

Of all my files, book collections, workshop presentations, and webinars, the topic that far exceeds any other subject is that of confirmation – the preparation, the history, the resources, and the rite itself. I’ve written on it and testified about it at the Episcopal Church’s triennial General Convention (too many times to count). A dream of mine has always been to have a single place to share all that I have gathered along with the ideas and suggestions of others from around the Episcopal Church.

Now it exists! With the formation of the Confirmation Collaborative in the spring of 2019 (read about our initial gathering and press release) one of our goals was to create such a site. Thanks to the generosity of the Baptized for Life project overseen by friend and colleague Lisa Kimball (the Associate Dean of Lifelong Learning and the James Maxwell Professor of Lifelong Christian Formation at Virginia Theological Seminary), there is now a “confirmation tab”with multiple pages jam-packed with resources, infographics, and best practices for “all things confirmation” in the Episcopal Church. It is only fitting that the topic of confirmation be tied to its roots in baptism on the web as well as in real life.

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Diddy Disciples

Book Review, Children's Ministries, Curriculum, , , ,

Before all of us became sequestered due to the pandemic, Sharon Moughtin-Mumby began an American “tour” to introduced her two publications through speaking engagements and workshops. I was sent copies of Diddy Disciples: Book 1 and Book 2 in advance to give an “American” review of these Church of England resources (published by SPCK). To be honest, I’ve been using these tomes along with my Oxford Illustrated History of Christianity as a platform for my laptop in order to raise my screen for all my Zoom gatherings.

Diddy Disciples has already made it across the pond and I had heard several educators post on social media that they were using it. I felt they had more to share in having used it than I who was no longer working in a church. Another reason for my delay in posting my “review” is that I’m not sure how much this “new” (published in 2017) collection of worship and storytelling resources for babies, toddlers, and young children is useful during this time of social distancing when many churches have put their in-person Church School’s and nursery care on hold. But Diddy Disciples does have a The Church at Home section of resources for families on their website.

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Biblical Story Making

Book Review, Children's Ministries, Curriculum, Parenting, Resources, Storytelling, , , ,

For a long time the Church has shared Bible stories with children that have included someone else’s moral or theological interpretation. In truth, the Bible has always been used to teach children right from wrong and the Golden Rule. In some part, this has lead to a generation of children (and adults) who are really moralistic therapeutic deists. Thankfully there are other opportunities to engage children IN the biblical story without adding our own interpretation or the “correct” answers as to why God did this or that. We the advent of Godly Play and Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, we know the importance of open-ended questions, wondering, and allowing children to experience the stories of God with their heart before their head.

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