With the school year starting this week (in central Kansas at least) and the new Sunday school year starting in a couple of weeks — faith formation and growth is on my mind. At a time of new beginnings, it’s a good time to think about what intentional choices I can make to help my daughter grow in faith as I seek to walk more closely with God.

1. The Conectere Program at Eastern Mennonite Seminary

They highlight the program as “an interdisciplinary project at Eastern Mennonite University to support secure Christian parenting and caregiving. Conectere resources parents and caregivers in culturally attentive ways of relating with children, so that the sharing of faith and values is complemented by secure relational practices — a combination shown by research to make faith transmission across generations most effective.” The first cohorts of parents and caregivers started this summer, but you can express interest in the 2025 or 2026 cohorts.

2. Shine Everywhere by Shine Curriculum

Shine Everywhere is a grant-funded project as part of Lilly Endowment’s Christian Parenting and Caregiving Initiative, which aims to help parents and caregivers share their faith and values with their children. Shine Everywhere “listens to congregations and families and, in response, creates faith formation products for use at home.” Check out the ways you can be involved through digital surveys for those who use the products, Zoom round tables for church leaders and parents and individual coaching for pastors and congregational leaders.

3. Shine at Home from Shine Curriculum

If your congregation uses Shine Curriculum, or if you have a copy of The Peace Table at home, these simple activities structured around “Enjoy,” “Learn” and “Play” help extend the Sunday school lesson, involve the whole family and help the entire household grow together.

4. Six Practices that Grow Faith at Home from Shine Everywhere

Originally presented in Families at the Center of Faith Formation by Lifelong Faith Associates, these six practices help form faith at home. Check out shineeverywhere.com for descriptions of these practices and for other related resources. The six practices are: Talk together, Pray together, Celebrate together, Serve others together, Learn about your faith and do things that grow your faith, and Worship together at church.

5. Read Together

We know the importance of reading to children in the early childhood years, but the benefits don’t stop when they enter school. Books are some of the best tools for encountering the “other,” exploring faithful responses to conflict, learning about God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit and so much more! As I tell my students when I teach Children’s Literature — a good book is a good book. A well-written book will appeal to all ages including adults. I look forward to the Herald Press children’s books releasing next April, but have also been enjoying books from Beaming Books, as well as titles like the ones we read at home this week: A Sky-Blue Bench by Bahram Rahman and Fatima’s Great Outdoors by Ambreen Tariq.