Christian formation does not have to be costly. Yet finding formation resources that are substantive, useful, and affordable can be tough. Expenses for curricula, books, supplies, equipment, and seasonal materials add up quickly. For communities working with lower formation budgets, these costs can simply be too high to bear year after year and leave formation leaders feeling underresourced.

If your community is experiencing financial strain or looking for ways to stretch more dollars, we’ve got your back. In this article, we have compiled a list of our favorite formation resources that are available for free. This list includes short-term and year-round curricula, devotional resources, and materials for Advent and Lent.

If you know of a helpful free resource that isn’t on this list, please leave a comment and tell us about it!

Curricula

1. Abundant Life Garden Project

This curriculum emphasizes the abundant life that God gives to creation and the importance of sharing that life with others. It consists of 6 lessons on the topics of “Water,” “Soil,” “Seeds,” “Animals,” “Harvest,” and “Celebration.” It can be used throughout the year or as a Vacation Bible School curriculum.

• Age group(s): children, intergenerational
• Publisher and date: Episcopal Relief & Development, 2020 (The Episcopal Church)
• Number of lessons: 6

2. Adult Faith & Wellness Circle

This curriculum is designed to help adults enrich their understanding and practice of wellness by grounding wellness in their faith. It addresses wellness in relation to “heart,” “soul,” “strength,” and “mind.” Lessons offer guidance for sessions up to 90 minutes long and include contemplative prayer practices, journaling activities, group discussion questions and takeaways, and scriptures related to wellness. The curriculum consists of a facilitator guide and a participant workbook, which can both be downloaded from the Living Compass website.

• Age group(s): adults
• Publisher and date: Living Compass, 2023 (not affiliated with a specific denomination)
• Number of lessons: 6

3. Connecting Faith and Justice: Youth Lectionary Curriculum

This curriculum follows the Revised Common Lectionary with a focus on justice each week. Lessons explore topics like poverty, racism, diversity, inclusion, advocacy, protest, civil disobedience, peacemaking, environmental justice, and more. Each lesson offers a “centering moment” or practice, scripture reading and discussion, group activities, and a “closing moment.”

• Age group(s): middle and high school youth
• Publisher and date: General Board of Church and Society of the United Methodist Church, 2018 (United Methodist Church)
• Number of lessons: 52 for all three years of the lectionary cycle

4. Faithful Resilience: Building Spiritual, Physical, and Social Climate Resilience

This is a curriculum for exploring how communities might practice resilience and seek equity and justice in the face of imminent changes that the climate crisis is bringing, especially rising sea levels and people having to relocate to other communities and places as a result. Its lessons include scripture, questions for reflection, research prompts to learn about local ecologies, actions to take, and stories spotlighting communities that put resilience into practice.

• Age group(s): adults
• Publisher and date: Creation Justice Ministries, 2022 (multi-denominational)
• Number of lessons: 6

5. Lesson Plans That Work for Youth and Young Adults

This curriculum provides youth and young adults opportunities to engage justice through scripture, group learning and discussion, activities, and prayer. It consists of two series of lessons, one on “Racial Justice” and another on “Climate Justice.” The curriculum includes age-specific lessons for both youth and young adults.

• Age group(s): middle and high school youth, young adults
• Publisher and date: Department of Faith Formation of The Episcopal Church, 2021 (The Episcopal Church)
• Number of lessons: 8 for each series

6. Living the Way of Love in Community / Vivir el Camino del Amor en comunidad / Vivre la Voie de l’amour en communauté

This curriculum enables adults to learn about the seven practices of the Way of Love in small groups and to discern ways of incorporating the practices into their lives. Its lessons are designed for 90-minute sessions with possible meal fellowship for an additional 30 minutes. The lessons include prayer, group discussion, reflection and writing activities, and worship. You can access additional accompanying resources in English, Spanish, and French through the Way of Love website.

• Age group(s): adults
• Publisher and date: The Episcopal Church, 2018, revised 2019
• Number of lessons: 9

7. Sacred Ground: A Film-Based Dialogue Series on Race & Faith

This multimedia digital curriculum enables adults to learn more about the history of race and racism in the U.S. and to examine that history critically in conversation with their faith. The curriculum illuminates the histories and experiences of Indigenous, Black, Latinx/Latine, and Asian/Pacific people on this land and addresses topics like European colonization, the Doctrine of Discovery, white supremacy, the model minority myth, mass incarceration, and racial trauma. The curriculum uses documentaries and other videos as well as downloadable reading selections, which can be accessed for free on the curriculum website. Sessions may take up to 2 hours to complete (and can be longer with options for sharing a meal and viewing the videos together), but length and format can be tailored to each group.

Note: The required reading for the curriculum includes two books that are not free.

• Age group(s): adults
• Publisher and date: The Episcopal Church, updated 2022
• Number of lessons: 11

8. Teen Compass Faith & Wellness

This curriculum helps youth explore wellness in their own lives. It incorporates story examples, scripture, group discussion, journaling, and prayer to enable youth to reflect on what wellness means in relation to Christian faith and to create goals for practicing wellness. The curriculum is designed for a minimum of 26 sessions, and the scope and sequence contains 8 units on different components of wellness with 3 lessons in each unit.

• Age group(s): middle and high school youth
• Publisher and date: Living Compass, 2016 (not affiliated with a specific denomination)
• Number of lessons: 27

9. Transforming Questions

This curriculum is designed to help adults grapple with key questions about faith and life. It seeks to make space for asking questions and being formed and transformed through the asking. The topics treated include questioning faith, Jesus’s identity, how to read the Bible, what happens after death, and more. Lessons involve leader presentations and small group discussions with the option for extending a 60-minute session with a 30-minute meal together.

Note: While the curriculum is free, the curriculum’s companion book is not a free resource.

• Age group(s): adults
• Publisher and date: Forward Movement, 2015 (The Episcopal Church)
• Number of lessons: 10

Devotional Resources

1. d365

This daily digital devotional for youth and adults follows the Revised Common Lectionary and guides participants through five steps: “pause,” “listen,” “think,” “pray,” and “go.” The devotions include an opportunity for centering, scripture passages, meditations with reflection questions, prayer, and a practice to try. The site also provides an option to listen to music while using the devotional. You can access it through their mobile app or a web browser.

• Age group(s): middle and high school youth, adults
• Publisher and date: Passport, Inc., ongoing (not affiliated with a specific denomination but in partnership with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), The Episcopal Church, and the United Methodist Church)
• Additional details: each entry consists of 5 short webpages (1 per step)

2. Forward Day by Day

This devotional follows the Daily Office Lectionary in The Book of Common Prayer and Revised Common Lectionary and provides daily meditations that connect with scripture. Entries feature a scripture verse, daily scripture references, a short meditation or story, a prompt for reflection or action, and a call to pray for churches and dioceses throughout the world. It is available for free in several different ways: daily emails (to which you can subscribe for English or Spanish versions), daily podcast episodes, mobile app, daily prayer website in English or in Spanish, and a Braille edition.

Note: Printed and e-book versions in English or Spanish are also available through paid subscriptions.

• Age group(s): adults
• Publisher and date: Forward Movement, ongoing (The Episcopal Church)
• Additional details: each entry is 1 page in length

3. Praying in Color Templates

Sybil MacBeth has created several free resources to complement her book Praying in Color: Drawing a New Path to God (Paraclete, updated 2019). These resources include guides for teaching adults and children how to “pray in color,” a practice developed by MacBeth that involves writing, drawing, and coloring to offer prayers and thanksgivings to God. They also include tips for using praying in color with Lectio Divina and collections of printable templates for practicing praying in color any time of year as well as during the seasons of Advent and Lent.

Note: The book Praying in Color is not a free resource.

• Age group(s): children, youth, adults, intergenerational
• Publisher and date: Praying in Color website by Paraclete Multimedia, ongoing (The Community of Jesus)

Seasonal Resources

1. AdventWord

This digital resource is an interactive Advent calendar that not only offers a word and meditation for each day of Advent, but also invites people to develop and share their own creative expressions for the word of the day through photos, reflections, and more. The daily meditations are accessible for free by email or at the AdventWord website linked above. For a host of ideas on engaging AdventWord, check out Miriam Willard McKenney’s article “Ways to Use AdventWord.”

• Age group(s): adults, intergenerational
• Publisher and date: Forward Movement, ongoing (The Episcopal Church)

2. The Good Book Club (Epiphany)

This online program is like an asynchronous daily Bible reading challenge for adults. It provides an opportunity to read a book of the Bible with others during the season of Epiphany. The program includes free daily reflections that you can receive by email. It can be a useful resource to engage individually, with a partner, or in a Bible study group.

• Age group(s): adults
• Publisher and date: Forward Movement, ongoing (The Episcopal Church)
• Additional details: amount of recommended daily reading can vary by biblical book and length of the Epiphany season; see the website for reading schedules from previous years

3. Journeying the Way of Love Advent Curriculum & Calendar / Recorriendo el Camino del Amor Currículo de Adviento y Calendario / Cheminement sur la Voie de l’Amour Programme de l’Avent et Calendrier

These resources enable adults to bring the Way of Love into the season of Advent. The curriculum draws upon Luke 1 – 2 to illuminate the Way of Love practices. Lessons are designed for 60-minute sessions and include prayers, scripture readings, and questions for group discussion. The curriculum and calendar are both available for digital download in English, Spanish, and French.

• Age group(s): adults (curriculum); adults and intergenerational (calendar)
• Publisher and date: The Episcopal Church, 2018; ongoing for calendar editions
• Additional details: curriculum contains 4 lessons; calendars are updated annually

4. Life Transformed: The Way of Love in Lent Curriculum & Calendar / Una Vida Transformada: El Camino del Amor para la Cuaresma / La Vie Transformée: La Voie de l’Amour dans le Carême

These resources are designed to bring the Way of Love into the season of Lent. The curriculum uses the Easter Vigil scripture lessons to explore the practices of the Way of Love. Lessons involve prayers, scripture readings, teaching commentaries, and group discussion questions. The curriculum and calendar are both available for digital download in English, Spanish, and French, and the website also provides an additional free curriculum in all three languages for a Lenten quiet day.

• Age group(s): adults (curriculum); adults and intergenerational (calendar)
• Publisher and date: The Episcopal Church, 2019; ongoing for calendar editions
• Additional details: curriculum contains 7 lessons; calendars are updated annually

5. Preparing to Become the Beloved Community (Advent & Lent) / Preparación para convertirse en la Amada Comunidad (Adviento y Cuaresma) / Preparation a la Conversion en Communauté Bien-Aimee (Avent et Carême)

These curricula engage the seasons of Advent and Lent through the theology and practices of Becoming Beloved Community. They combine scriptures that follow the Revised Common Lectionary with the four key practices of Becoming Beloved Community: “Telling the Truth,” “Proclaiming the Dream,” “Repairing the Breach,” and “Practicing the Way.” Lessons are designed for 45-minute sessions and include prayers, scripture readings, reflections, discussion questions, and group activities. The Advent lessons also involve a lighting of the Advent wreath candles. Curricula for both seasons in all three lectionary years are available to download in English, Spanish, and French.

• Age group(s): adults
• Publisher and date: The Episcopal Church, 2021 – 2024
• Additional details: both Advent and Lent curricula contain 5 lessons for all three lectionary years

Additional Resource

Becoming Beloved Community Where You Are / Convertirse en la amada comunidad allí donde esté

This free PDF is a hub of resources and ideas for getting started and going further in the racial and social justice movement toward Becoming Beloved Community. It lays out the theological and practical commitments of the movement and offers links to information like training programs, a racial justice audit handout, pilgrimages, and websites about the work that communities are doing toward justice, reparations, and reconciliation. While this document is grounded in the Episcopal Church’s particular approach to seeking racial justice, a number of the resources can be helpful for communities affiliated with other church denominations as well. Both English and Spanish versions of the downloadable PDF can be accessed through the links above.

• Age group(s): adults
• Publisher and date: The Episcopal Church, English edition updated 2024, Spanish edition updated 2021

Featured image is by Josh Appel on Unsplash