BUILDING A CHURCH FAMILY

INTRODUCTION

Fall is the time when many churches gather together again after summer vacation. It's a good time to explore what membership in the family of God bestows on us and requires of us.

Our membership begins at Baptism, our full initiation by water and the Holy Spirit into the Church, the Body of Christ. The bond that God establishes with us at baptism lasts forever and cannot be broken. Baptism also forges our bond with other members of the Church. This bond unites us despite all such distinctions as race, sex, culture, and even age. Our children are as much members of the Body of Christ as we are.

The ancient and dramatic baptismal rite of the Church, designed for adult converts, made these bonds unforgettable. Three years of instruction and preparation culminated in days of fasting and prayer. At dawn, after an all-night vigil, the converts were plunged naked into running water as they affirmed the faith. They were clothed in robes, brought into the Church for the kiss of peace from their new family, and welcomed to participate in the Eucharistic celebration of sharing one bread, one cup.

A New Way of Life

Even children who had been baptized as infants could see by the annual reenactment of the initiation of converts that to be a member of God's family was to be committed to a radically new way of life. This understanding did not always survive the transformation of Holy Baptism from the central liturgy of the Church to a private ceremony for parents and godparents. Private celebrations shifted the emphasis from God's family to the nuclear family. Now that baptism has been restored as a public rite of the Church, celebrated in the context of the Sunday Eucharist or at other feasts, children can once more begin to witness something of the mystery of God's adoption, enacted in baptism.

In this chapter, you'll find that many activities celebrate our relationship with the Church — both our present church family and the Church throughout history — that began with our baptism. Many suggestions give participants time for conversation and an opportunity to get to know each other better. Additional activities challenge participants to think of concrete ways to love and serve others as members of the Body of Christ.

Renewing Ourselves, Renewing Our Church Family

With the end of summer's lazy days, many of us — adults and children — feel renewed in purpose and energy. Now is the time, in an intergenerational session, to examine our baptismal calling. To what does God call us? How can we support one another in answering God's call?

Activities in this Celebration have been included to help think through these questions and provide opportunities to join others in the church family as we answer God's call. Seeking answers to these questions together can draw us closer to each other and to God, renewing us as the family of God.

Another opportunity, which may be a separate celebration, is to hold a church fair. This can be a festival of games, food, and fun hosted by organizations in your congregation or it can be a ministry fair in which organizations and individuals can highlight their ministries with displays, interactions, teaching, and invitations for others to join.

Whatever you choose to do as you "kick off" the start to your fall programming, this Celebration is a great way to reunite everyone for a new beginning after having been away on summer vacation, camp, or weekends away. Whether it is a Sunday or weekday evening, start your "academic" year claiming your roots and identity as part of the family of God in your neighborhood or community.

Tips for Leaders

Do not try to aim a large group discussion at the very youngest participants. Instead, try to ask open-ended questions, for example, "What do you think? What do you feel?" Such questions allow all ages to respond. Be aware of different needs of the various age levels when they answer.

• Young children, seeking pleasure and excitement, often give imaginative and fantastical answers.

• Older primary and intermediate children, seeking approval, often give whatever answers the questioner seems to want.

• Teenagers, seeking to hide their identity struggles, may not want to answer at all, lest anyone in the group disagree.

• Some adults, seeking to reconcile new information with an orderly worldview, may give systematic and logical answers.

• And some adults, seeking to explore ambiguities, may answer with another question!

WORSHIP

Opening Prayer

Almighty and ever living God, ruler of all things in heaven and earth, hear our prayers for this church family. Strengthen the faithful, arouse the careless, and restore the penitent. Grant us all things necessary for our common life, and bring us all to be of one heart and mind within your holy Church, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Alternatively, you could also read aloud Genesis 28:10–22, Jacob's dream at Bethel in which he woke from his sleep and said, "Surely the Lord is in this place — and I did not know it!"

CRAFTS

Name Tags

This activity helps the participants become better acquainted and more aware of each member's uniqueness.

Materials

• large blank name tags
• scissors
• markers or crayons
• assorted small stickers
• masking tape

Directions

1. Ask each participant to find a partner, encouraging older participants to pair with younger ones.

2. Give everyone 10–15 minutes to find out as much as possible about their partners and then make nametags for each other.

3. To include toddlers and preschoolers in this activity, have them join a pair with one of their parents so the adults can make nametags for each other and then make one for the preschool child.

4. Each nametag should use pictures or words to convey as much as possible about the person for whom it is made. Some may choose to do an acrostic, using each letter of the name to describe a quality, gift, talent, or interest of that person.

5. Use masking tape to attach nametags. After everyone has a nametag, serve punch and cookies and ask people to circulate to read each other's tags.

Suggest the following questions to help kick off the discussion:

• What do you like to eat?

• What is your favorite color? Why?

• What games do you like?

• What's your favorite part of the day?

• What work do you like to do?

• What animals do you like?

• What's your favorite song?

An acrostic example

Makes photographs as hobby
Always on time
Reads mysteries
Is a teacher
Artistic
Helping Hand Cut-Outs

Materials

• 9" x 12" construction paper, assorted colors, 1 sheet per participant
• markers
• clear tape
...