Buckets of Summer Faith Fun

Thanks to Karen DeBoer of the Family Faith Network at Dwell for creating and sharing this Great Idea.

Karen writes, “The start of summer provides your church with a wonderful window of opportunity to give families with children faith-forming ideas and the tools they’ll need to try them at home.” She then encourages ‘pouring the contents into… a brightly colored beach pail’.

Her post includes detailed steps for creating a beach pail full of hands-on faith practice tools, along with specific resources for engaging those practices – and a picture of the finished pail.

See the original post here.

You might also include Traci Smith’s Faithful Families: Creating Sacred Moments at Home (Chalice) or Families Celebrate Summer (Fortress), a deck of 56 cards full of faith-growing activities perfect for summertime. Preview either to modify the list of ‘tools’ included in your pails, but they are pretty similar.

For a much more local and organic approach: invite elders, youth, or other leaders to share a summer faith practice of their own. Gather these together, along with any necessary (simple) supplies, and share them – identifying the person suggesting the faith practice – in a beach pail.

Bless the pails in worship to include the whole congregation in their sharing. Let volunteers deliver them to families who are not ready to participate in worship (for whatever reason!). Keep a few extra to share with families or individuals who visit for worship or other events throughout the summer.