For a study guide see page 22. To read “For faith formation, play, hands-on learning and digital resources,” find this story at www.
thelutheran.org/feature/september.
A
my Kippen tells visitors they can choose a church where they can drop off their children at Sunday school or they can make a commitment that will
pay off in ways they could not even imagine. “It will literally change who your kids become when
you are involved in their faith life,” the director of faith formation at Faith Lutheran Church, West Fargo, N.D., tells parents. More than 15 years ago, Faith replaced traditional
Sunday school with GIFT Family Ministry, using Bible Song curriculum from Faith Inkubators. Parents attend each week with their children and practice Home Huddles (Faith Inkubators’ Faith5) each night at home with their children, sharing highs and lows, reading Scripture, talking, praying and blessing each other. “Instead of faith being just another something we
do for an hour every week, it becomes a shared experi- ence,” Kippen said. “Parents come to see the church as their partner in raising faithful kids, and kids learn that church is not just what we do, but who we are. “If parents choose another church to call home, we
accept that. We are not the church for everyone. We are the church where families stay together.”
New models, approaches … realities If you attended Sunday school, your parents likely brought you to a classroom where you spent an hour listening to a teacher present a Bible story, lead music or direct activities. Today children and families prefer a more participa-
To help teach faith at home, Terry and Suzi Hansen do “Home Huddles” each night with Sofia, 14 (left); Emily, 12; and Joseph, 4. Faith Lutheran Church in West Fargo, N.D., encourages the Hansens and other families to use the huddles to share their highs and lows, read Scripture, talk, pray and bless each other.
ANN ARBOR MILLER
Sunday school
tory style than the “expert model” of yesteryear, said Paul Lutz, adjunct professor in Christian education at the Lutheran Teological Seminary at Philadelphia and a pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church, Lansdale, Pa. “Te success of Sunday school happened at a time
when people were satisfied relegating religious things off to experts—pastors or Sunday school teachers,” he said. “Te expert model doesn’t satisfy people the way it used to. Fortunately for us Lutherans we have this concept called the priesthood of all believers. We can help people identify their spiritual giſts and help them participate in ways they couldn’t before because [the experts] took over those responsibilities.” Mary Hess, professor of educational leadership at
Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minn., said, “Right now we are living in a time of great experimentation. What is interesting to me is to watch churches try different approaches [in faith formation].”
September 2014 17 18
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