June 2016 (2)

Our Mission:
Supporting lifelong faith formation in the home and congregation.

From the President's Desk

It is an exciting time for the Christian Education Network of the ELCA. We now send the e-news out to you two times each month. The first one introduces you to leadership and those involved in lifelong faith formation using a format of asking 6 questions. It is sent near the middle of the month. The issue you are receiving now arrives towards the end of each month and includes suggested resources for use in ministry. As we now enter the summer months, we shift gears and resources used in many cases. We hope you can glean some new ideas throughout our summer resource editions.

A resource I would like to recommend to you is our website. Stephanie Pasch, our membership coordinator, refreshes the home page regularly with new information including prayers submitted by our chaplain, Rev. Elizabeth Cummings. As members, you have access to the many resources found under the Resources tab including links to downloadable materials. If you have not visited our website recently, I invite you to do so. We strive to fulfill our mission of supporting lifelong faith formation in the home and congregation.

Blessings,

Debbie Streicher

President of the CENetwork

Resources for Ministry

Summer Resources

Sparkhouse offers free activities available for download including Bingo, I Spy, and coloring pages. Each activity pairs perfectly with a faith-filled DVD. All DVDs are 30% off and include FREE shipping. Use promo code ROADTRIP at checkout.

Any time away from daily routines to travel with a vacation destination in mind is filled with potential faith-shaping memories. A vacation offers time to have an adventure together in new settings. This Vacation Milestone Moment helps individuals and groups to experience a vacation through the faith formation practices of caring conversations, devotions, service, rituals and traditions. It can be used prior to the beginning of a trip, during the journey, and also once it is over.

Gather offers Bible studies for all seasons. For summer 2016, Angela Shannon, a pastor at King of Glory Lutheran Church in Dallas, Texas, will share "The Heart of the Matter," a three-session Bible study on learning to deal with conflict through the ministry of reconciliation.

Good Reading

This is Why I Came

Author: Mary Rakow

A woman sits in prayerful meditation, waiting to offer her first confession in more than thirty years. She holds a small book on her lap, one that she's made, and tells herself again the Bible stories it contains, the ones she has written anew, for herself, each story told aslant, from Jonah to Jesus, Moses to Mary Magdalen. Woven together and stitched by hand, they provide a new version, virtually a new translation, of the heart of this ancient and sacred text. Rakow's Bernadette traces, through each brief and familiar story, a line where belief and disbelief touch, the line that has been her home, ragged and neglected, that hidden seam.

The result is an amazing book of extraordinary beauty, so human and humorous, and yet so holy it becomes a work of poetry, a canticle, a song of lament and praise. In the private terrain of silence and devotion, shared with us by a writer of power and grace, Rakow offers, through Bernadette, her own lectio divina for the modern world.

Christian Education

Network of the ELCA

Vision Statement

Building a community which equips, encourages, and empowers those engaged in lifelong faith formation in a changing world by:

Providing resources and educational opportunities
Facilitating communication and conversation
Offering networking, idea sharing, and mutual support
Nurturing spiritual growth

Prayer Pause

God of new life, guide us through our Independence Day holiday. Please keep all your children safe. Help to us to give thanks to you for all of creation. Help us when we struggle, knowing that you are always keeping us in your care and giving us forgiveness and grace in all that we do.

Amen.

Rev. Elizabeth A. Cummings

CENetwork Chaplain