Christian Formation is less about content and more about the passing of a sacred fire-the light of Christ that burns in each us. Successful ministers (and by "ministers," I mean all of us) tend to their own fires and explore creative and connective ways to stoke other's fires. One of the reasons that Sunday School has encountered hard times is that we have not created a culture that supports those who work with children. Instead, we drop "out-of-the-box" curricula into the hands of the few willing time-crunched teachers/parents and expect them to inspire the hearts and minds of our youngest. And then we are surprised when children are not impacted or don't want to go to Church or Sunday School. So what are we to do?

We need to carve out more time for ministry with children and support for those who work with them. To do this we need to create a culture-change: that re-orients Christian Formation towards relationship, that adds value to the lives of families, that meets children where they are and 'lights' their fire, igniting their passion for (the Christian) life. One our neighbors just up the lake is Chautauqua Institution-founded by the Methodists to train and support Sunday School teachers, and borrowing a page from their book...it is time for us to again gather around camp fires to tend to our Christian fires.

With business of life and all of the sports games on Sundays, getting to Sunday School can be difficult, but, there is still a need to teach children the sacred stories, to support families in Faith Formation, invite them into the wonder of Christian message and involve children in the life of the Church. The aim of this ministry with children and their families is healthy and loving relationships-with each other, with the church community and with the living God made manifest in Jesus Christ. Of course they will learn content and information, but our end and final goal should be relationship.

What does this look like? Well, I think we need to borrow a page out of one of the most successful children's ministers of all time: Fred Rodgers. He created a world and culture that spoke to children and the child in all of us that invited us to imagine and wonder while finding a safe place to work out and on our relationships-with our families, ourselves and our world. Simply by donning a sweater and pair of sneakers, he modeled a healthy, but intimate relationship that invited others to be vulnerable and strive to be their best possible selves.

A vital ministry to children at St. Luke's will change the very way that we function. By letting these "lights of ours shine" we'll transform whole neighborhoods-as following the path of Jesus: "we love God with all of our heart, soul and mind and our neighbors as ourselves." This culture change IS possible, but it will take our commitment.  In the next year, there will be plenty of opportunities to serve: teaching Sunday School, helping with the children choirs, leading children's chapel, facilitating the Lego Brick ministry, movie-making ministry, next summer's reading camp for children in the community and much more.  So, ... won't you be my neighbor?

                                            The Rev. Luke F. Fodor

                                             Rector, St. Luke's Church