Learning Centers For Advent And Lent

What a delightful and informative way for children and their families to learn about Advent and Lent, the two of the Churchs most celebrated and significant liturgical seasons! Doris Murphy offers thirteen creative centers for learning about Advent, twelve for Lent, five for Holy Week, and eight seasonal centers for everyone in the parish. For Advent her topics include The Jesse Tree, the O Antiphons, and The Church Year. For Lent, her topics include The Cross, Making Choices, and Lenten Practices. For Holy Week, she offers Symbols of Lent, The Last Supper, Stations of the Cross, Christ the Light, and Easter. All of these learning centers offer children and their families the opportunity to experience the Church seasons in a unique, inviting, and fun learning environment.

What does Advent taste like? What does Christmas feel like? What does Ordinary Time smell like? What does Lent sound like? What does Easter look like?This collection of activities will help people of all ages explore and experience seven significant periods of the liturgical cycle: Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, Pentecost, and Ordinary Time. Each chapter features one of these periods, offering one learning center activity for each of the five senses. Use them in the classroom, for family or intergenerational events, in worship settings such as Children's Liturgy of the Word, or at any other time when you can invite believers to enter the church year experientially. These creative activities will remind learners to get ready for the Messiah during Advent, celebrate the birth of the Savior at Christmas, rejoice in God's gift of the Christ Child throughout Epiphany, remember the life and ministry of Jesus in Lent, commemorate the Savior's death and resurrection at Easter, share the Good News of God's love during Pentecost, and grow as disciples throughout Ordinary Time.

If, as common wisdom suggests, young people learn best when they are fully involved in the process, it makes eminently good sense to use Learning Centers with candidates preparing for the sacrament of confirmation. Here Doris Murphy offers fifteen creative and formative centers. At each, young people and their families share church teaching, Scripture, prayers, conversation, and fun activities that reinforces the teaching. Topics covered here include the sacraments of initiation, the gifts and fruits of the Spirit, The spiritual and corporal works of mercy, Catholic social teaching, Church laws and moral choices, and mystagogia or living in the Spirit. These Learning Centers have been successfully used in a variety of parishes, with excellent results, because they accommodate a variety of learning styles and offer a unique opportunity for adults and young people to learn about confirmationtogether.

The older teens in your parish want a youth ministry program that exposes them to relevant, real-world topics in an active, engaging way. Horizons is an innovative, comprehensive approach to religious education. Its foundation is teacher-led, creative learning strategies that give students ample opportunities for discussion, reflection--and fun! Designed for grades 9-12, Horizons utilizes a module system so that you can combine courses and topics to meet the specific needs of your parish. Seven core courses set the stage for discussing central and foundational themes. Then choose from a wide selection of age-appropriate minicourses to round out your curriculum and craft summer courses, retreats, and youth-group activities. The Youth Ministry Strategies component features more than 65 creative youth activities to complement the Horizons curriculum. And on top of all that, Horizons includes outstanding training resources. You'll be able to create the most engaging and relevant youth ministry program for senior high that is available anywhere.

This new book on worship by renowned hymn writer and professor Ruth C. Duck provides theological foundations for worship and explores the variety of ways Christians have adapted worship to various cultures to help them live faithfully and to communicate the Gospel to others. The author celebrates the many languages and cultural settings in which the Gospel has been, and is, preached, sung, and prayed. The goal of this volume is to support good pastoral and congregational reflection on what worship is and does. Consequently, Duck discusses many different forms of worship from several cultures (African-American, Asian, Euro-American) and offers advice on how to read a congregation and define its culture in order to plan culturally appropriate worship. Although the book does not offer prescriptive formulas or advise a single pattern of worship, it includes many practical suggestions for preparing and leading worship, including diverse ministries of music, movement, and visual arts that are becoming more popular today. From worship's theological underpinnings, the book turns to worship leadership, forms of prayer, preaching, the sacraments, ordination, and various liturgies. Because of its emphasis on Spirit-led worship, this comprehensive book on Christian worship will be used for years to come not only as a core textbook for seminarians and ministry students from a variety of cultures and traditions, but also as a resource for local church pastors and laity who are dedicated to the enlivening of Christian worship.

When the church of the home and the church of the parish work together, lasting faith formation is the result. Families and Faith: A Vision and Practice for Parish Leaders offers readers a wealth of ideas and strategies for helping families grow in faith. It focuses on practical steps for connecting faith and life, family faith and spirituality, families and Christian practice, and families and serving others. Excellent for catechetical leaders, youth ministers, and coordinators for whole community catechesis.

This revised edition of the popular textbook on worship by renowned hymn writer and professor Ruth C. Duck provides theological foundations for worship and explores the ways Christians have adapted worship to various cultures to help them live faithfully and to communicate the gospel to others. The author celebrates the many languages and cultural settings in which the gospel has been, and is, preached, sung, and prayed. The goal of this volume is to support good pastoral and congregational reflection on what worship is and does. Consequently, Duck discusses many different forms of worship from several cultures (African American, Asian, Euro-American) and offers advice on how to read a congregation and define its culture in order to plan culturally appropriate worship. She includes many practical suggestions for preparing and leading worship, including diverse ministries of music, movement, and visual arts that are becoming more popular today. From worship's theological underpinnings, the book turns to worship leadership, forms of prayer, preaching, the sacraments, ordination, and various other liturgies. Because of its emphasis on vital and Spirit-led worship, this comprehensive book on Christian worship will be used in years to come, not only as a core textbook for seminarians and ministry students from a variety of cultures and traditions but also as a resource for local church pastors and laity who are dedicated to the enlivening of Christian worship. In this new edition, Duck updates and expands the recommended resources, updates the section on worship trends, enhances the section on multicultural worship, and revises marriage information based on cultural and denominational changes. Highlights include stories of four churches that are developing creative ways to grow and meet the possibilities and challenges of these times, especially in seeking justice, serving people in their neighborhood, and building bridges among cultures and religious groups. In addition, a new appendix by David Gambrell addresses the theological and practical questions surrounding online worship in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic and beyond.