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A Simpler VBS During COVID Season

Posted by Betsy Dishman at May 19, 2020

Betsy Dishman serves her local church as Director of Children and Family Ministries in Harrisonburg, VA in addition to serving as GenOn’s Training Coordinator. Here’s how her church is navigating this summer to offer a simpler Vacation Bible School during the COVID-19 season. How has the coronavirus affected your church’s plans for VBS this summer? In the past, VBS has been a growing ministry for us with more than 50 percent participation from outside our church, which involved more than 100 children and 50+ youth and adult leaders. We recently decided to shelve our large publishing house curriculum that we...

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Tags: children's ministry, Christian Education, COVID-19, VBS

One Great Idea: Camp Out LOGOS

Posted by Tracey Daniels at Sep 07, 2019

Donelson Presbyterian Church in Nashville, Tennessee launched 26 years of LOGOS with a year-long theme of “Camp Out LOGOS, Getting S’more Jesus.” Their sign-up for children, youth, and parents was held after Sunday worship with lunch—grilled hot dogs, baked beans, chips, and s’mores, of course—served at tables decorated for the theme. Parents completed registration forms and signed the LOGOS covenant and photo release. Payments were made or scholarships were requested. (Church members provide scholarship money as their way to contribute to LOGOS if they are unable to help with staffing.) LOGOS leaders dressed as camp counselors and...

Our First Day with Sunday LIFT

Posted by Tracey Daniels at Sep 07, 2019

Kim Looney Director of Children, Youth, and Family Ministries Plymouth Congregational Church Syracuse, NY Editor’s note: Kim wrote about attending the Sunday LIFT workshop in our last newsletter. Read that article. My church had its first LIFT on Sunday, and it was fantastic (with around 60 participants)! It was pouring rain right about the time when everyone arrived for worship (fitting for the theme of the day). We had a baptism during worship, and after worship everyone was invited to our fellowship hall to explore the first Summer LIFT Water Story: A Big Boat. Each age group got a different colored...

Planning for Fall Faith Formation? 5 Great Reasons to Look at GenOn's Faith for Life Bible Study Curriculum

Posted by Suzie Lane at Jun 03, 2019

GenOn Ministries’ believes that Bible study curriculum for young people is most effective in growing Christ-centered disciples when it… …is rooted in one or more Biblical passages. Faith for Life is. …provides opportunities for young people to express their faith through decision-making, relationships, service to others, worship, and personal devotional time. Faith for Life provides these opportunities. …reflects a keen awareness of varied faith formation settings. Faith for Life is written by Christian education leaders from various Christian denominations in a wide variety of settings. …is flexible, working in single or multi-graded groups, in a variety of timeframes and calendars,...

Two Questions: Sharon Pearson

Posted by Tracey Daniels at May 06, 2019

Sharon Pearson Christian Educator and Author Episcopal Church In each edition of GenOn Connect, we will ask someone the same two questions about intergenerational ministry: “What keeps you up at night?” and “What gets you up in the morning?” What keeps you up at night? I am fearful that the Christian faith is not being passed down to future generations. We know the statistics of the “spiritual but not religious” growth in the United States and how many of our youth and young adults (and I would say parents also) have a belief system that has been called “moralistic therapeutic...