An invitation from Associate Conference Minister, Rev. Dr. Barb Doerrer-Peacock:

How will faith be formed in the future? How and where will it be nurtured?

Who will be the teachers and mentors, how and what will they teach? Where will they learn it?

These long-term questions are beginning to emerge as our time of social distancing and home quarantining lengthens. But, it's also not just about the immediate time. As with many other things, this pandemic is pushing us to examine the ways we do things, and our vulnerabilities and challenges as congregations moving into the future.

I invite those in our churches who are interested in looking at, discussing, sharing ideas, thoughts, practices, resources with each other on how we might use our present crisis to shift our paradigms for faith formation - particularly of children and youth. We are discovering many challenging and exciting things about our worship experiences as we have to shift away from in-person worship. Faith formation for children and youth, families - in all their many variations, and multiple generations has been changing in its needs and models for a long time. I know we have some very creative practitioners, ministers, educators, and spiritual formation folk in our conference. I'd like to begin the dialog.

We'll begin with an hour Zoom meeting, WEDNESDAY, MAY 20, 4 pm-AZ and 5 pm NM/EP. Then, we'll see where that takes us. If you or people in your congregation you know who would like to be a part of this conversation, but can't make it at that time, just email me and let me know, so I can make sure they stay in the loop of communication for future meetings.

Please email Barb for the Zoom credentials.