I (Jodi) have a confession to make: I don’t like Christmas pageants. It's not just the significant planning that they can require. It's not even just the stress that they can bring …
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“Behold, I Am Doing a New Thing!”: The Radically Hybrid 2024 Forma Conference
Editor's Note: This article is in a forthcoming issue of VTS Magazine. Some of its content is also published on the Forma website. It is republished here with minor formatting and …
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Prayers and Blessings for Christmas
The seasons of the church year are great teachers in prayer. Each shows us a distinctive array of imagery, symbols, stories, and experiences for connecting with God. No matter …
Prayers and a Blessing for All Saints’ Day
The Feast of All Saints takes place on November 1. Because this day calls Christians to remember and celebrate all members of the body of Christ throughout time, we bring an array …
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20 Children’s Book Suggestions for Beginning a Checkout Library
I’ve written about how to build a checkout library for children and households before in Creating a Children’s Lending Library for Your Church: Where To Start and Creating a …
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St. Francis Day Survival Guide: Practical Tips for Animal Blessings
Many churches and faith communities offer animal blessing ceremonies. A popular date for these events is the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, which is celebrated on October 4. If …
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Drawing the Circle Wide: The Antiracist Work of Godly Play’s Equity Audit
As an educator, I live for the summer. I would say, “Don’t tell my students!” but they already know! As much as I relish walking alongside them as they mature in their lives and …
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Prayer Partners: Building Intentional, Intergenerational Community
When I started at St. John’s in Olney, Maryland, the church's biggest challenge was children's ministry. In its recent past, the congregation had a boisterous 1990s version of …
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Equipping Volunteers for Excellence
Imagine you had flour, sugar, baking soda, and water in front of you. What might you make? Even if you don’t bake, things like cake, brownies, bread, muffins, biscuits, cookies, …
Moving from Mistakes to Success in Recruiting Volunteers
Recruiting volunteers is an active activity. Let me say that again. Recruitment is an active activity. Actually, let me restate that another way: Successful volunteer recruitment …
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