We are so grateful for those of you who have given to FFM this past year. FFM relies on the financial generosity of people like you! Last year, nearly $100,000 of FFM’s annual funding came through personal donations, special offerings at churches, and small grants. Thank you!

To strengthen our capacity for providing faith-formative coaching, workshops, and resources this year, we are looking for 45 new monthly donors from among our newsletter readers. Would you consider making a recurring monthly contribution of $25, $35, $50 or more?

Your regular and ongoing partnership makes it possible for us to develop resources like the Faith Practices Project, Everyday Family Faith, and God’s Big Story cards. Additionally, through your generosity, FFM’s regional catalyzers are able to walk alongside ministry leaders in local churches like yours through workshops, consultations, cohorts, or longer-term coaching.

Will you be one of the 45 people who join our financial support team this year as a regular monthly contributor to FFM’s ministry?

For easy online giving options, go to crcna.org/FaithFormation/donate. There you will have the option to make your gift a recurring monthly donation. Thank you!

P.S. If you want to support FFM, but you’re not quite ready to make a recurring monthly contribution, you can always make a one-time donation at the link above! We’re grateful for each person who partners with us in growing faith for life.

Pull Up a Seat and Wonder with Us: We Have a Podcast!

We’re wondering: how is our faith formed in day-to-day life? Open to Wonder is a podcast where we’ll wonder with our guests about that question and many other questions: big ones, small ones, weird ones, and hard-to-talk-about-in-church ones. Join us for a communal conversation about where we are struggling, growing, and wondering as we live out our faith together. Visit our podcast site to find a link to our show on your favorite podcast platform!

Defining Mentoring: Who Am I as a Mentor?

Dear friends in church leadership,

Being able to define and truly understand what mentoring is can be challenging. But mentoring doesn’t have to be a scary thing only a select few do; rather, everyday ordinary Christians can participate in a mentoring relationship.

We believe that there are key principles to a mentoring relationship that help push against the fears and uncover the myths around mentoring. We’ll share these defining characteristics of a healthy mentoring relationship in an upcoming webinar called “Defining Mentoring: Who Am I as a Mentor?”

Join us on Tuesday, October 5, from 8:00-9:00 p.m. (Eastern time) to learn more about how we define mentoring today and its impact on building intergenerational faith communities.

Yours,
Annalise Radcliffe, coordinator for RCA Next Generation Engagement,
Ron deVries, youth ministry catalyzer for CRCNA Faith Formation Ministries,
Ruth Langkamp, RCA Next Generation Engagement Program Specialist,
Chris Schoon, director of CRCNA Faith Formation Ministries

Around the Table: Handing Down the Faith

How might cultural shifts affect the ways we share our faith with the next generation? Join FFM's Laura Keeley, Ron deVries, and Lesli van Milligan on October 14 as they unpack Christian Smith's new book Handing Down the Faith and explore its implications for children's ministry, youth ministry, and congregational leadership. This workshop is interactive, so join us live for this upcoming gathering. (Recordings don’t offer the great conversations you’ll have with others in ministry.)

Register for Around the Table: Handing Down the Faith »

Around the Table: How Your Church Can Equip Families with Children During Advent

Interested in providing busy families with simple and meaningful ways to form faith at home during Advent? Pull up a chair around our virtual table on October 19, 2021 for a workshop on Advent family faith practices with FFM team members Karen DeBoer, Trudy Ash, and Jill Benson. This workshop is interactive, so join us live for this upcoming gathering. (Recordings don’t offer the great conversations you’ll have with others in ministry.)

Register for Around the Table: How Your Church Can Equip Families... »

Faith Practice Reflection Tips 2021-2022

These tips offer an easy way to share helpful faith formation tips with your congregation. This year, tips will again focus on 12 faith practices, providing a Scripture passage to read and meditate on and three reflection or discussion starters. Encourage your congregation to use these tips for personal or family devotional time, in small groups, at council meetings, and in other gatherings.

Share a reflection tip with your congregation »

The Building Blocks of Faith and Christian Schools

The Building Blocks of Faith aren’t only for churches! Here’s how meeting four spiritual needs can strengthen curriculum, instruction, and assessment in Christian schools.

Read how Christian educators can use the Building Blocks of Faith »