Six New Things – Week of September 6, 2021
Pandemic mental health is a major concern. Here are resources for walking with people of any age, supporting parents, and working with young ones in deepening groundedness and developing resilience.
ONE
Bridging resilience studies and children’s spiritual formation, Forming Resilient Children: The Role of Spiritual Formation for Healthy Development (InterVarsity), equips leaders and parents to develop children’s spirituality to foster the resilience needed to face the ordinary hardships of childhood and to persevere when facing trauma.
In a similar vein, A Mind of Their Own: Building Your Child’s Emotional Wellbeing in a Post-Pandemic World (Muddy Pearl) celebrates the family as it equips parents to build resilience and care well for their children’s mental wellbeing, from toddlerhood to teenage years.
Find additional resources for developing Hope and Resilience in all ages in our lib guide.
TWO
Find Your Fierce (Magination) walks teens through strategies to manage anxiety, relaxing their bodies and training their brains to help them return to activities they enjoy and help them manage future anxiety.
Adults in need of help with anxiety, might check out Dear Anxiety, Let’s Break Up: 40 Devotions to Conquer Worry and Fear (Broadstreet) – written from both a medical and biblical perspective to help readers understand the Bible’s message on mental health; develop coping skills; reverse cycles of negative thinking; free themselves from stigmas and guilt; and learn to support others struggling with anxiety.
Find additional resources for supporting Contemplative and Mental Health Practices for Children & Youth and caring for Mental Health & Addictions in our lib guides.
THREE
Sometimes When I’m Mad (Free Spirit) tackles the specific issue of children and anger management with gentle, straightforward language descriptive of a child’s experience of anger and ways children can us anger management techniques.
FOUR
One excellent tool in developing resilience is experiencing joy and gratitude – and sharing them with friends. Help young and old alike experience God’s blessings in the world around them with the rhyming meter of father/daughter authors, Mark and Summer Batterson Dailey’s, The Blessing of You (Multnomah).
Find additional wisdom around Bullying & Friendship in our lib guide.
FIVE
Deepen the experience of family and the gift of being a blessing with the devotional meditations and recipes to bake and share with loved ones found in Bread of Life: Savoring the All-Satisfying Goodness of Jesus through the Art of Bread Making (Crossway).
SIX
Develop the resilience of your entire congregation with The Storied Church: A Strategy for Congregational Renewal (Fortress) which explores the restorative, transformative, life-giving power of stories not only for individuals, but for congregations. Each chapter includes questions for reflection to help readers listen to and tell the stories that will lead to renewal and transformation.
See also our Truth-Telling & Story Telling lib guide for additional story sharing resources.
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Please note: The Ministry Lab’s Summer Worship Series – for member congregations to use in whole or in part – will no longer be accessible after Sunday, September 19. Please take advantage of these free resources while they’re available. And please let us know if a future services would be helpful!
