Theme: Honoring UCC Churches & Their Sponsored Families
The Ministry of Children and Families would like to feature your church by telling your story how you've helped displaced families from war-torn countries. We would like to honor the families and have them share their story of life in the USA. We have 12 churches confirmed and counting . . . Make your story a part of the 2009 Advent season!
If you would like to include your story, please contact:
Lutie O. Lee
Minister for Children and Families
Local Church Ministries of the
United Church of Christ
Congregational Vitality & Discipleship Team
Email: leel@ucc.org
Phone:(216) 736-3863 or 800-822-8224 (ext. 3863)
Copies of the
2008 Advent Calendar may still be found here!
Why we are holding a "Children and Families Multicultural Festival" before General Synod.
The center of the Ministry for Children and Families is development of resource materials on faith formation and settings where such faith formation may occur. The Minister for Children and Families, Lutie O. Lee, has convened a core Faith Formation Group of diverse lay people and clergy members which has been working together since October 2007. They have reflected on issues concerning not only content for faith formation but also effective programming for such education. In the course of their conversations they have given voice to a strongly held conviction: to enter this new phase of UCC educational ministry through the world of children and their families. Rather than first pulling together a conference of family experts from academia, the Faith Formation Group seeks first to learn directly from youth, children, families, and Christian Educators about their needs and wants. Out of this grass-roots information educational practices, programs and activities will grow. The result of the Faith Formation Group's preliminary work has been the unanimous recommendation that the Worship and Education Ministry Team sponsor a Multicultural Children and Families Festival as a pre-Synod event, Thursday, June 25, 2009.
This Festival is intended to be a down-to-earth educational activity in a fun, family-friendly setting. It has a two-fold purpose:
1. to begin to build a network of community and friendship across congregations and among families with different cultural backgrounds by sharing faith traditions and customs, and
2. to begin grass-roots information gathering about needs and desires of diverse families in the area of faith formation which may be used for future program development.
Congregations will be invited to create booths of games, story-telling, crafts and customs which give all who visit a taste of their traditional or evolving faith practices. Performance groups will be invited to share their arts with the whole group at regular intervals. Our hope is that there will be commingling of faith communities of multicultural churches in the festival in a fun, educational and non-threatening setting. Before the festival is over, strangers will have become friends. Hopefully families will stay after the festival to experience what Grand Rapids and General Synod have to offer.
This event will not end in Grand Rapids, MI; in fact, this will be the beginning of grass-roots information gathering for the development of the new Ministry for Children and Families. People will be invited to register on-site with their names and congregations' names and contact information. They will be encouraged to make comments about their experience of the Festival. These information sheets will become passports to contact their churches and to talk with them about their hopes and desires for this ministry.
Join the groupImmerse Yourself in Friendship
Venue: The Church Council of St. John's United Church of Christ, at 1934 Bridge St., pastored by the Rev. William M. Lyons, has given approval to hold this festival at their church. St. John's UCC is located two miles from the convention center of Grand Rapids. There will be shuttle buses to transport families to the festival to be shouldered by the host church. Tell everyone you know about the Children and Families Multicultural Festival. Come and Immerse Yourself in Friendship!
Build a Village
An interactive website for the whole family, featuring alternative holiday and year-round gift giving opportunities in support of the life-changing work of Church World Service — as well as stories, games, and other activities for children of all ages. As we have in years past , we are suggesting that local church congregations participate in the Church World Service Kit Program. In 2005 we focused on School Kits because coordinators of the AKit Program@ express a great need for these kits. However, this year there is a great need for all kits. So we are suggesting that you and your local congregation make a selection from the list of kits - School Kits, Clean Up Kits, Health Kits, or Baby Kits (Layette) - and send your kits to Church World Service. You will find the kits, items for each and the mailing address by going to the following website: www.churchworldservice.org, once the page is open , click on ATools, Blankets and Kits@ at the top of the screen, once this page opens, you will see the words A How To Make and Ship Church World Service Kits@ and click on these words. You will see a listing of kits and items needed.. Click on the kit that your congregation will pack and send to CWS. i.e. Health Kits . Once you have clicked on the kit of your choice, you will see the mailing address and procedures for sending your kits to Church World Service. Questions? Call the regional office at 888-297-2767.
Ordering the Children's Sabbath Manual
You may call (865)-457-6466 x 105 or klibby@childrensdefense.org to request an order form for ordering the Children's Sabbath Manual.
The Annie E. Casey Foundation KIDS COUNT www.kidscount.org/datacenter/ provides national and state-by-state information and statistical trends on the conditions of America's children and families. This year, the KIDS COUNT Data Book essay, "A road Map for Juvenile Justice Reform," looks at the nearly 100,000 youth confined to juvenile facilities on any given night in the United States, and what can be done to reduce unnecessary and inappropriate detention and incarceration and increase opportunities for positive youth development and community safety.
The Church and Children-Vision and Goals for the 21st Century." If your congregation has not yet studied this document on children from the National Council of Christian Churches, it highly recommends you consider doing so. The study guide and policy statement is a free download from the National Council of Christian Churches.
Information of ordering 2008 National Observance of Children's Sabbaths Manual is above. The more manuals you order the less they cost per copy. You might want to get together with other churches in your community and place one order. Also order the Children's Defense Fund Bible from the same site. This small travel Bible includes a concordance for children's advocates. klibby@childrensdefense.org or (865)457-6466, ext. 105
Additional resources you might find helpful include:
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