Reclaiming Confirmation: Stirring the Souls of Youth Research shows that adolescents seek relevant learning, place less value in organizational membership, and often stop trying if understanding is not immediate. How might the confirmation process be reshaped to be...
Pop Culture Faith: Teaching the Gospel through TV and Film
Pop Culture Faith: Teaching the Gospel through TV and Film Pop culture influences the clothes we wear, the music we listen to, the attitudes we hold, and even the language we use. In fact, the average American spends two hours per day consuming digital media! Yet church educators are often unsure how to leverage television […]
Lament WITH Children and Youth
Lament WITH Children and Youth: Practices, Rhythms, Rituals that Empower Faith Communities to Address Loss and Injustice My story: In 2021, I lost both of my parents suddenly to Covid within 10 days. As a worship leader, I was immediately struck with how little room our faith communities provided for grief, let alone a framework […]
Nurturing the Mental Health of Youth
Nurturing the Mental Health of Youth The adolescent mental health crisis has been at the forefront of national conversation, yet it continues to plague our local communities and congregations. The church has a unique opportunity to address the adolescent mental health crisis by allowing and equipping youth to rest in their identity as beloved children […]
CHRISTIAN REFORMED CHURCH IN NORTH AMERICA Advocate April 2024
https://issuu.com/articles/46084365
Advocate Podcast Recommendation List
Podcast Recommendation List from Facebook crowd sourcing, this was posted in the APCE Advocate Issue No. 2. APCE Advocate Podcast Resource
It Is Well With My Soul – 2023 Trauma Resources from CEN of the ELCA
Oregon Health and Science University defines the 6 guiding principles of trauma informed care. This site is focused on health care professionals but can be applicable for faith formation leaders. Understanding, recognizing, and responding to trauma are some of the...
WWJD? HWLF!
I didn’t grow up going to church. My mom is Jewish. And to my dad, Christmas and Easter were enough. So, it took a while longer than the kids I would eventually join in youth group for me to understand what faith was, exactly. When I started going to church with a friend in middle […]
Who wants to be conventional anyway?
I started praying and praying intentionally. I said to God, “I’ll do whatever you want me to do with whatever time I have left on earth. The answer I got was simple and clear… “Go do what you love and do it to help people who are going in a different direction in life and who need a second chance.” I’ve been a tattoo artist for 29 years and I truly love creating art to illustrate people’s stories in tattoos.