by Kristin Willett
Our congregation has been exploring what it means to weave Christian education throughout everything we do. In reality, everything we do in the local church is teaching and forming our worshippers whether we are intentional about it or not. We have decided to be intentional and recognize that “teaching moments” are woven throughout our shared life, providing opportunity to reinforce the message. Studies have shown over and over again that people learn best when they are reintroduced to information more than one time. Education professionals are also clear that people learn in a variety of ways – via lectures, reading, hands on experiences, etc. Our hope is that by exploring a specific theme with our congregation throughout the life of our ministry, we will allow individuals to experience the message in different ways, digest it so it becomes a part of who they are and build confidence in their ability to explore it with their families and others on their own.
During the season of Lent, the congregation focused on the 23rd Psalm. We began with our Ash Wednesday service. We set up interactive prayer stations that introduced the themes we would explore in the weeks to come: trust versus worry, following God, encountering difficulty, blessings and abundant life. One station used building blocks, another had congregation members sample desserts, one explored our “comfort items,” another introduced finger labyrinths and the final one incorporated yarn to reflect on our worries. All were intentionally accessible to all ages, incorporated a variety of senses and gave worshippers a hands-on introduction to the weeks ahead. (You are welcome to use our resources in your congregation.)
Once we introduced our message, we revisited it over and over throughout Lent. Each Sunday’s sermon focused on one of the themes and the children’s Sunday school lesson covered the same topic, as did the adult education class. Our session explored the themes in more depth as the leaders of the church.
We shared mid-week devotions on the topic via email (“Worship in your inbox”), Facebook (“Worship in your newsfeed”) and our local paper even ran them. We had sermon follow-up questions posted on our Facebook page to encourage worshippers to make the “Monday connection” and apply the Word of God to the rest of
their week. We created an at-home activity for families: Every day a link of a paper chain was removed that listed activities for the family to do in effort to live the message of the week. Families drew pictures of how they visualize God, baked cookies for their neighbors and donated items to others in the community.
Each element was designed to create a strong foundation and confidence in the topics we were tackling as a congregation. By providing prompts and activities
during the week, our hope was to help the congregation continue to engage these topics every day, not just leave them at the door on Sunday. Parents heard the same general message their kids received in Sunday school and had a starting point for conversation.
My goal with all educational efforts (sermons, classes, Sunday school) is to open the Word of God to the people of the congregation, allowing them to understand it better and be convicted to live the message daily. I have failed if they hear the message and go home forgetting it 30 minutes later. I want them to connect what we are exploring as a congregation to the rest of their week. I want them to talk about it with their families and live it in their school, homes and offices. I am confident our congregation knows and lives the messages of the 23rd Psalm more fully now that we practiced and explored them together.
KRISTIN WILLETT is one half of a clergy couple serving in Miles City, Montana, an aspiring blogger and a parent to three boys.
