Children and Youth Digital Formation Resources:
Connecting with and serving the children and youth of East Tennessee during this time of great uncertainty is a priority of The Diocese of East Tennessee. As we shift into a time of more home-based activities, use the resources below to stay in touch with our young people and encourage them to dive deeper in their faith together.
Resources for Formation:
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Faith @ Home is a year-round weekly email includes four separate lectionary based reflections and prompts for families (however that is defined) and friend groups. During this time of more people being at home, Faith @ Home is working on a new program to provide daily resources for all people to stay engaged while being at home.
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Illustrated Ministries creates illustrated resources for the church and the home, encouraging creativity and active engagement with faith. They are currently releasing free materials for parents and children staying home here.
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Household Bible Reading with Lectio Divina introduces families and small groups to the practice of studying the Bible using Lectio Divina. “Sometimes the Bible can be confusing and difficult to understand. With Lectio Divina we give ourselves permission to let the Bible be what it is. Questions will undoubtedly surface. If you like, search for the answers. Seek out conversations. Or simply let the questions be.”
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Blessing Children in the Home is a simple practice for reminding children how loved they are.
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Coronavirus, Anxiety, Children and the Church discusses affective ways in which we engage the questions and anxieties of our young people. Topics include what and how are you sharing about COVID-19?, setting a non-anxious tone, reframing developmentally and theologically, returning to normal, and letting love cast out fear.
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Grow Christians from Forward Movement is a great website to find inspiration for faith at home, describing itself as “striving to create an online community of discipleship focused on the practical details of life at home.” It includes reflections, stories, images, and recipes from diverse Episcopalians, celebrating the presence of God throughout the Christian year.
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How2charist is digitally instructed Eucharist and could be a great activity to learn about all the ends and outs of an Episcopal church service.
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Well Fed: Holy Food for a Reconciled Life Lenten offering from The Diocese of East Tennessee covering topics around hunger for; food, spirit, simplicity, good news, community, connection, and permission. Each session includes a blog, video, and discussion questions.
Resources for Connecting:
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Social media is a great way to stay connected during these times. We recommend Instagram (@Dioetyouth) and Facebook (ETNyouth).
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Zoom is a way to connect, have bible study, compline or just see the youth you minister to on a more regular basis.
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Google Hangout is another way to connect, have bible study, compline or just see the youth you minister to on a more regular basis.
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GroupMe serves as a great way to connect via group text with much better functionality than a thread text.
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Remind serves as a way to send mass communications out to segments or your entire church via text. It is great for quick updates or reminders for upcoming online gatherings and so forth. Check out this Remind Youtube tutorial.
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MailChimp or Constant Contact are great mass email providers that come with templates and plenty of add ons. We use MailChimp for our mass email communications.
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Assign congregants to leadership (staff, members of Vestry, members of Guilds) and have them reach out via phone, text, email, or physical mailing to check in. Encourage connection!
Individual Prayer Resources:
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The Book of Common Prayer: This is a complete online version of the Book of Common Prayer.
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Rethinkme: Daily Prayer, an Anglican guide to spiritual rhythms. (also available on the App Store)
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Daily Prayer: This site offers the daily selections from Forward Day by Day, a liturgical calendar, and more resources to strengthen your faith.
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Episcopal Church Prayer Wall: Pray with us. Pray along with our community… or submit your own.
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D365: The online d365, with its format of Pause, Listen, Think, Pray, Go, provides daily scripture readings, reflection, and prayer for young people (although adults will find it inspiring as well). Users can subscribe through email or download the app. The format is succinct and engaging, start-to-finish requiring approximately five minutes.
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Pray As You Go: An online portal (or app) to pray the scriptures. Pray As You Go is a daily prayer session, designed to go with you wherever you go, to help you pray whenever you find time. A new prayer session is produced every day of the working week and one session for the weekend. Lasting between ten and thirteen minutes, it combines music, scripture and some questions for reflection. It’s aim is to help you to become more aware of God’s presence in your life, listen to and reflect on God’s word, and grow in your relationship with God.