Today in the Mission Yearbook - A rally cry for lifelong formation

Office of Christian Formation offers resources

October 14, 2024

The theme of “bee-longing” energizes the start of the Christian 

formation year at Woods Memorial Presbyterian Church in Severna 

Park, Maryland, in 2023. (Contributed photo)

The PC(USA)’s Office of Christian Formation has collected and updated resources for congregations of all sizes wishing to mark Christian Formation Week, which was designated Sept. 8–14 but can be celebrated anytime.

Covenant Presbyterian Church celebrates Rally Day with a Sunday School Kickoff during the Christian Formation hour, which includes breakfast, a few energizers and singing before teaching teams and children meet and explore the classrooms. Adults remain in the fellowship hall to learn about opportunities for adult education and discipleship at the Activities Fair.

In worship, major milestones are honored with Bibles for second graders and T-shirts for sixth graders as they move up to the “Youth Division.” After church, people of all ages gather for a picnic potluck, crafts and games. “We are using the resources on the Christian Formation webpage as a way to dream of new ways to celebrate our traditions,” said Watson, who pointed out how helpful the resources were in planning for intergenerational connections. “We will be including conversation starters at our tables to build intergenerational conversation on Rally Day!”

For JoAnne Sharp, director of Faith Formation at Hodges Boulevard Presbyterian Church in Jacksonville, Florida, the first week of September is a time “to remind the folks that faith formation is a lifelong process that doesn’t end at confirmation or graduation from high school.” Over her career as a Christian educator, Sharp has seen the traditions and patterns of the church change in regard to Sunday school and how formation is approached.

“It is hard to get people to let go of the old language of Rally Day,” said Sharp, who explained how the term worked “when society rallied at the end of summer to start the new program year.” Now, Sharp acknowledges the church attendance trends and “the struggle to see families more than twice a month during the program year.” Currently, Hodges Boulevard Presbyterian Church doesn’t have a dedicated faith formation time on Sundays, so there is no promotion to new classes as part of Christian Formation Week. But Sharp pointed out there are still ways to recruit and honor participants through recognizing volunteer leaders during worship and hosting a “covered dish brunch with ministry teams’ information booths.” The church has renamed the occasion “Celebration Sunday,” and will use the Office of Christian Formation’s QuickSheet with recommended liturgy and worship for the occasion.

Woods Memorial Presbyterian Church in Severna Park,

Maryland, celebrates the return to Christian formation

programming with “puppet parables” in worship. (Photo 

by Kat Green).

“Balloons may or may not be involved on Celebration Sunday as folks are coming into worship. Confetti will not be in play, nor glitter!” said Sharp.

Recently, the PC(USA)’s Office of Christian Formation hosted an online community circle focused on listening to the needs of small churches. “So often in a small church you feel like resources for Rally Day don’t fit because you feel you aren’t kicking off something,” said Sandy Safford, a Christian educator and commissioned lay pastor. In her work as a consultant and coach in Denver Presbytery, Safford encourages leaders to adapt resources to scale and to take their time with launches. One leader shared that in her church of fewer than 75 members, they don’t try to bless the backpacks, commission the new teachers and throw a launch party all on the same Sunday. Instead, they space each of these special celebrations out over August and September.

Safford said that small churches tend to be “community-oriented” and recommends that small neighboring churches rally together to host such an event for the community.

Miatta Wilson, associate for the Office of Christian Education, is hopeful for what may come from the rallying cry that came out of the 226th General Assembly (2024) that approved a resolution to research and develop curriculum and resources in the small church context (CF-01). The Office of Christian Formation has already compiled existing small church resources and looks forward to adding more.

Beth Waltemath, Communications Strategist, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

Today’s Focus: Christian Formation Week

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Chenoa Stock, Mission co-worker serving in Peru, World Mission, Presbyterian Mission Agency 
Rebecca Storti, Director, Meetings & Special Events, Board of Pensions 

Let us pray

Gracious God, we plant and water the seeds, but you alone give the growth to our mission and outreach projects. Keep us faithful in our work in your vineyard that our labors may bear fruit and we may help others grow in the knowledge of your love and grace. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Minute for Mission: Christian Formation Week begins; Christian Formation Celebration

A day, a week, or a month: Churches take time to launch the PC(USA)’s Christian Formation program year

September 10, 2023

At Woods Memorial Presbyterian Church in Severna Park, Maryland, 

children prepare at Vacation Bible School for the “Bee-longing” theme 

of a new church year. (Photo courtesy of Woods Memorial Presbyterian 

Church)

Activities include blessings of backpacks and Bibles for new readers

The last harvest of peaches, melons and other summer fruits is not the only sign of changes in the season. School backpacks replacing beach bags and hiker’s packs in the piles that accumulate at front doors signal a new year and a shift in schedules for families across the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), marking a renewed commitment to learning and growth as the new school year begins.

The Presbyterian Planning Calendar marks the start of Christian Formation Week as Sept. 10 for the  launch of the Christian Formation program year in churches. The Presbyterian Mission Agency’s Office of Christian Formation has created and consolidated various resources for churches that can be used on Sunday, Sept. 10, or anytime churches choose to celebrate it.

Churches form their own rituals to honor the annual dedication of the mind, heart and body to study and formation in community. These rituals and special occasions may happen in a day, a week or over the course of a month.

For First Presbyterian Church in Granville, Ohio, Christian Formation Week is an entire month of celebrations. With school schedules starting at various times, sometimes in early August, several congregations use the opportunity to slow down and savor the rites of a new school year and new beginnings.

First Presbyterian Church in Granville, Ohio, plans a number of 

celebrations welcoming a new year in Christian formation.

Jenni Whitford, Granville’s director of Congregational Faith Formation, describes a staged approach to recognizing changes for families and welcoming members back for the program year. On Aug. 20, the church welcomed children with a blessing of the backpacks followed by a Back-to-School Bash Picnic. “For many of our families, this is the first time we are all back together after a busy summer,” Whitford said. The following weeks at the church included distributing Bibles to new readers and a “Get to Know Your Bible” breakfast on Aug. 27. Intergenerational “Wonderful Wednesdays” programs began Aug. 30. The official program year launch on Sept. 10 is when leaders will introduce a volunteer accelerator tool to align members’ interests and skills with volunteer positions.

Whitford is thankful for the generous hive mind of other educators and the resources provided by the Office of Christian Education for giving her ample ideas and resources to make this time of year meaningful for member families. “I use many resources — some I have gathered over the years,” said Whitford, who relies on the QuickSheets developed by the Office of Christian Formation as well as resources collected at workshops from the Association of Partners in Christian Education and websites like Virginia Theological Seminary’s Building Faith and the Doubting Believer blog by the Rev. Anne Russ.

She got the idea of attaching star keychains to backpacks with a little card from the Rev. Mary Gause, transitional associate pastor and certified educator of Overbrook Presbyterian Church in Columbus, Ohio.

 

First Presbyterian Church in Granville, Ohio, welcomes those 

engaged in the church’s Christian formation activities beginning 

this month. (Photo courtesy of First Presbyterian Church)

United Presbyterian Church in Washington, Iowa, also blessed the return of students to school before celebrating the launch of its church program year. “We are doing a two-part launch of our new year of Christian formation, due to the different dates that school and Sunday school start,” said the Rev. Erin Kaye, the church’s pastor. For the blessing of the backpacks on Aug. 20, Kaye and other church leadership used  “laminated Illustrated Ministry backpack tags, printed in-house, in color and on cardstock with our logo on the back.” For the blessings, Kaye is grateful for the prayer adapted from UKirk’s College and Young Adult Sunday Resources, which may be accessed through the Office of Christian Formation’s QuickSheet, “Blessings for the New School Year.”

“To kick-start their thinking,” Kaye gave the QuickSheet provided by the Office of Christian Formation to the church’s Christian Education Committee, which is planning the church year launch for Sept. 10. “I’ve made use of several of the QuickSheets in my own planning,” said Kaye, who also intends to use a new resource — ready-made social media graphics announcing the launch of the Christian Formation year. “I plan to offer the Faith Practices at Home QuickSheet to our congregation, and to post the social media offerings each week on Facebook and in our weekly email updates.”

“There are so many good Christian formation resources on the denominational website,” said the Rev. Mark Lampley, senior associate pastor at Sequoyah Hills Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee, who, in addition to regularly sharing the QuickSheets with leaders and teachers, often invites them to attend the Faith Formation Leader Connection events held virtually by the Office of Christian Formation each month.

The church will debut a blessing of the backpacks this year, an initiative taken on by the deacons for Rally Day. An intergenerational brunch between services has always been the real attraction. “The men of the church make and serve yummy Southern comfort foods, which draws our largest attendance of the year, outside Christmas and Easter,” Lampley said. At the meal, there are Christian formation stations and table tents of children and youth, and adult discipleship opportunities where people can register for retreats, small groups and volunteer opportunities. Youth group launches the same night, while the following Wednesday, the church pulls out the portable grill and holds a neighborhood gathering “under our beloved magnolia,” promoted in the neighborhood newsletter. “Lawn games and inflatables draw a crowd,” Lampley said.

Woods Memorial Presbyterian Church in Severna Park, Maryland, is planning to begin the new Christian formation year with a “Come Home to Woods, You Belong” event, said Kat Green, director of Children’s Ministry. “The morning begins with our online family devotion time, ‘Jammies with Jesus,’” which features a dad joke from the pastor and the day’s Bible story. “More often than not, the children have a joke to share,” Green said. “We close with the Lord’s Prayer and a dance party.”

At Woods Memorial, the launch of the program year spans the weeks between July 1 and Sept. 10. This year the children led the way into the theme of belonging through a “prequel” week of Vacation Bible School the last week of June. Children gained their bumble bee wings as they gathered around Creation care themes and wrote bee-attitudes with which to bless the congregation as the church begins a new year.

No matter the date, the format or length of celebration, or the rituals and liturgy that congregations use to mark Christian Formation Sunday, one beatitude stays constant: “Blessed are those who seek to learn and grow in faith, for they shall see God.”

Beth Waltemath, Communications Associate, Presbyterian Mission Agency

Today’s Focus: Christian Formation Week begins; Christian Formation Celebration

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
David Loleng,  Director, Financial Literacy & Leadership, Presbyterian Foundation
Christine Long, Church Consultant, Tacoma, Board of Pensions

Let us pray

God of all generations, teach us to speak your truth in love and help us to grow as Christ’s body, all knit together by your Holy Spirit. Build us up in faith, hope and love, so that we may be faithful witnesses to your saving work in the world, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.