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Online Resources
Building Faith Blog – A blog for parents of young children who want ideas on building faith at home. Simple, practical ideas from Tamra Keim, Daniel Yoder and Talashia Keim Yoder. From the Mennonite Early Childhood Network.
The following are not Anabaptist but are generally compatible.
Vibrant Faith at Home
This is your go-to resource for finding dozens of creative activities to help you incorporate faith practices into your family routine. For any age level and any family stage, organized in an easy-to-access manner. All free, at vibrantfaithathome.org. A service of Vibrant Faith, which has created many resources compatible with Anabaptist thought.
Bread Not Stones Blog
“…when our children are asking us for things more complicated than bread – like spiritual guidance – how do we meet that need in the most nourishing way? How do we give bread and not stones?”
This is a blog that is intended to help parents or others who find themselves with the responsibility of raising children in faith.
- Here you will find resources and reflections that help you articulate and contemplate your own faith and the theology of your own tradition.
- Here you will learn how to ask hard questions of the Bible without worrying that you are hurting God’s (or your pastor’s) feelings.
- Here you will develop confidence in sharing your faith with your child and helping them to grow into their own expression of faith.
- Here you will find examples of how parents can engage their children in meaningful conversations about God, the Bible and the Community of Faith.
Practicing Families Blog
Sixteen different contributors from various Christian denominations write at practicingfamilies.com, which seeks to support families in their efforts to follow the way of Jesus. Find Family Liturgies, new every Monday: Practices and prayers to use in your family. Every Wednesday, Practicing with Children: stories of how contributors experience God in the midst of family life. Every Friday, Practicing Parents: spiritual insights gleaned from parenting, and about parenting.
The Center for Parent and Youth Understanding (CPYU)
CPYU helps parents, youth workers, educators, pastors and others understand and reach today’s youth culture. It’s not Anabaptist, but is a valuable resource.
Check out the website, cpyu.org.
The CPYU podcast, Youth Culture Matters.
The CPYU parent newsletter, which a group can subscribe to and send on to parents.
Books
Ordinary Miracles by Rachel Springer Gerber
Where is God in the midst of temper tantrums, laundry, and accidents? Find out in this honest devotional memoir about mothering three busy boys. In Ordinary Miracles, ordained Mennonite minister and blogger Rachel S. Gerber gives voice to the grit of parenting with stories of hope. Like the disciples on the road to Emmaus, who failed at first to recognize Christ walking beside them, Rachel learns to discover the gifts and holy calling hidden in the events of harried family life.
Seven Things Children Need by John M. Drescher
This is a revised edition of a Herald Press classic that has sold over 125,000 copies. It has been translated into nearly 20 languages. The author discusses seven of the most basic needs of the growing child: significance, security, acceptance, love, praise, discipline and God. This is a practical, personal, down-to-earth book for people who care about children as persons.
Please Pass the Faith: The Art of Spiritual Grandparenting by Elsie Rempel
By 2030, almost one-third of North Americans will be over the age of 65. How will this affect the church? Author Elsie Rempel believes that the swelling ranks of new seniors presents a huge spiritual resource. In Please Pass the Faith, she draws from real life and from Christian formation experts in helping seniors and other adults foster relationships with children and youth. She also offers practical ideas for integrating children and youth into church life—all the while nurturing one’s own spiritual life as an elder.
