Redefining Church

It has been a long, difficult time this spring. Not only has the COVID-19 pandemic threatened our health and economy, but it has closed the doors of our church buildings. Depending on when things started going badly in your area, it’s probably been about three months since you’ve met in person. One thing that this situation has reminded us of is that the church is not a building and it’s not only about gathering physically. Those things are important, but they do not and should not define “church.”

We are the church, the body of Christ united by the Holy Spirit. So, the church is wherever we are. And for many of us, where we are is home. Home has always been the central location of our lives; now it’s possibly the only location. It may be this way for a while.

The Church at Home

For the past 11 weeks, I have added a second blog series to my normal one to share a devotion and provide a link to our product Living the Word: Sharing God’s Story @ Home. If you are not familiar with it, it is a half-page, double-sided resource to assist household devotions each week including prayers, conversation starters, and a list of daily Bible readings. The size was chosen because many congregations print it out and put it in their bulletin. This product is based on the calendar of Bible readings called the Narrative Lectionary. As the Narrative Lectionary is designed to give people an overview of the Bible over a nine-month period, it also works for people who just want an overview of the Bible.

Quandary & Opportunity

So, I’ve run into a bit of a quandary.

1. The Narrative Lectionary is only a nine-month calendar. We don’t have Sharing God’s Story @ Home bulletin inserts for summer.
2. People have told me how much they have appreciated these inserts as a faith formation resource during this time of “safer at home.”

This has also come as an opportunity for two reasons:

1. It is my habit to create a free faith formation resource each week to distribute through my blog.
2. We are just launching our first product for the Revised Common Lectionary: Living the Word: Cross+Gen Education (RCL).

New This Summer

With all this in mind, I have decided to create a weekly resource that’s a combination of our Sharing God’s Story @ Home insert and our new RCL product’s weekly take-home sheet. Thus, we have a summer series of The Word @ Home devotional resources.

Download the first one below!

Also, if you are interested in getting more information and a coloring/picture book related to Holy Trinity Sunday, check out the second half of my blog from 2017.

Peace be with you,

Gregory Rawn (Publisher)

Sneak Peek!

We are still finalizing the details, but we are hard at work creating two products designed to be sent home and used by families, one for the Narrative Lectionary and one for the Revised Common Lectionary. Like our Facebook page, subscribe to our e-newsletter, or follow this blog to get up-to-date information!