Please visit these pages to find resource suggestions and formation tools for all age groups.
If you have a resource you would like us to include, contact Katelyn Kenney.
- A Christian Life of Faith: Signs and Thresholds along The Way: This booklet is for individuals seeking to deepen their understanding of themselves and God as well as those responsible for passing on the teachings of the Church.
- Building Faith: Published by Lifelong Learning at Virginia Theological Seminary, with a mission to equip and inspire churches and individuals for the ministry of Christian education and faith formation
- Church Publishing: Offers a number of print resources for purchase
- Episcopal Church Foundation
- Episcopal Church Foundation's Spanish-language resources
- [email protected]: Developed by Forward Movement and Forma, [email protected] offers resources to help build at weekly discipleship practice of Reading, Reflecting, and Responding to scripture in the context of community is so important.
- Faith Formation Learning Exchange: Organized by different ages and groupings, offers current research, effective practices, and models in faith formation
- Forma, the network for Christian formation professionals
- Forward Movement: Offers numerous formation resources and curricula
- Grow Christians: An online community of discipleship focused on the practical details of life at home. Gathering reflections, stories, images, and recipes from diverse Episcopalians, this group blog inspires generations to come together as they celebrate the presence of God through the Christian year.
- Lesson Plans that Work: Each week, you will find a lesson plan for young children, a lesson plan for older children, and usually a lesson plan for adults. Inter-generational lesson plans are available for many major feast days throughout the liturgical year. Most lesson plans are based on the Gospel, and some also have an Old Testament Lesson Plan.
- Ministry Architects: Ministry Architects is a team of almost 90 pastors, teachers, executives, youth workers, children’s pastors, writers, and professors seeking to help ministries find clear direction and sustained momentum backed up by properly aligned resources.
- Preparing for Sunday is an easy and affordable way to post weekly NRSV lectionary readings on your own church website.
- Traveling the Way of Love: This resource comes straight from Presiding Bishop Michael Curry. While meant for group discussion, this one can be studied individually or used as journal prompts.
- United Thank Offering: The United Thank Offering (UTO) is a ministry of The Episcopal Church for the mission of the whole church. Through UTO, individuals are invited to embrace and deepen a personal daily spiritual discipline of gratitude. In addition to grant opportunities, UTO also provides formation resources for children and adults.
- VTS Lifelong Learning: Lifelong Learning provides continuous opportunities for theological education in the service of faithful leadership. Lifelong Learning at VTS is a multi-faceted program grounded in theology and research-based practices to provide transformational learning for courageous leadership in a changing church.
- Vibrant Church Communications: Beautiful seasonal resources available for free or for purchase.
- Vibrant Faith helps Christian churches develop effective faith forming approaches that embody both historic practices of Christian formation and address changing cultural realities.
Children's Formation
- Love First: The Love First program (and now its own organization, The Love First Project) was started by a husband and wife team – a family therapist and Episcopal priest – and the busy parents of young children who wondered if the busyness was helping them raise the loving, kind children they’d intended. Families are finding that Love First works to increase the volume on love and kindness, teachers are finding it intuitive and rewarding to teach, children are hearing and seeing that love is important, that their love matters, and that they can have a positive impact on the world, and, the Church has found a way to make religion, God and faith an integral and meaningful part of children’s everyday, busy lives. What started as a Sunday school program in a mid-sized parish in the Diocese of Massachusetts has grown to 20+ churches in more than a dozen dioceses.
- StoryMakers NYC is dedicated to creating new ways to share God’s redemptive narrative found in the Bible. Their hope is to equip families and churches to be able to share the Gospel with kids in a way that is meaningful, healthy, and ultimately draws children into God’s story through magazines, memory cards, playbooks, and vibrant visuals. StoryMakers gives kids and grown-ups the chance to connect while exploring the greatest story ever told. Together with a team of artists and writers, StoryMakers creates content that engages the minds and imaginations of children and adults. StoryMakers is partnered with Mockingbird Ministries.
- God's Word, My Voice: A Lectionary for Children by Lyn Zill Briggs. This collection of the Revised Common Lectionary readings is paraphrased for children. Read aloud in Sunday morning worship, it will help kids read the word of God and understand its meaning for their lives.
- Children Formation Curricula Overview: A simple comparison chart of a variety of curricula; developed by Sharon Ely Pearson, the Christian Formation Specialist for Church Publishing and updated annually.
- 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.”
Youth Formation
- Confirm not Conform: Confirm not Conform is a confirmation program that celebrates questions and choices. It provides a safe place for young people to explore the breadth of the Christian tradition, to ask questions and express their doubts, and to discover what they truly believe.
- Faith @ Home: 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.
- 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.
- 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.”
- How2charist: A digitally instructed Eucharist and could be a great activity to learn about all that goes on during a church service.
Adult Formation
- The Work of the People: The Work of the People is a series of videos on topics ranging from beauty and justice to identity and vocation. Many of the presenters are well-known: Barbara Brown Taylor, Brené Brown, Brennan Manning, Richard Rohr. The videos provide thoughtful reflections that can be used as content for a faith formation series. The Work of the People starts at $7/month for a personal subscription and goes up from there. Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark is a six-part series for Lent and includes a discussion guide.
- ChurchNext: ChurchNext provides engaging and convenient online learning from Episcopal experts on liturgy, evangelism, welcome, discipleship, stewardship, and other important topics. To help individuals and congregations stay rooted and grounded in Jesus during the Corona Virus pandemic ChurchNext has launched Prayer and Worship in Our Homes, a free five-course class open to anyone who would like to take it.
- Good Book Club: This Forward Movement initiative invites organizations of all kinds to read a particular book of the Bible throughout a liturgical season.
- Education for Ministry: Lay persons face the difficult and often subtle task of interpreting the richness of the church's faith in a complex and confusing world. They need a theological education which supports their faith and also teaches them to express that faith in day-to-day events. As the emphasis on lay ministry has grown, Education for Ministry has come to play an important role by providing a program that develops an informed and knowledgeable laity.
Living Well Through Advent
A free, downloadable devotional from Living Compass. It's also available in Spanish, in print, and has marketing and images for social media available to download.
Make Something Beautiful (SALT)
A customizable short film that can be tailor made with your church name and worship times, making it easy to extend the invitation to your community. See al…
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