RESOURCE HIGHLIGHT – Faith Trail
Welcome to the Faith Trail Ministry Resource. This resource is designed to be used as an intergenerational ministry tool. Faith Trail Ministry is a powerful way to engage all members of your congregation in nurturing their faith and spiritual growth. Faith Trail Ministry offers an opportunity to bring God’s presence into the home and connect the rituals of daily life with the life of the congregation, therefore creating a vital partnership between home and church.
Faith Trail Ministry is a way to celebrate with families in your congregation the promises made in baptism. Parents and children are invited to attend a Faith Trail Ministry event each year following their child’s baptism. These spiritual marker events help to equip families with resources for sharing their faith stories.
Each Faith Trail marker resource is based on the following outline:
NAMING
Naming the spiritual marker in the lives of children in your congregation helps to create rituals and traditions that shape them and give them a sense
of belonging to the family of God.
EQUIPPING
Equipping provides an opportunity for learning related to the trail marker, builds community, invites conversation, and brings generations together. It
equips families with take-home resources to use in their everyday lives.
BLESSING
Blessing the child and marking the occasion in worship communicates that faith and life are woven together. God is present in all of daily life, making the ordinary sacred and the sacred ordinary.
GIFTING
Gifting is a tangible way of providing a symbol and a reminder of the occasion being marked. Gifting serves as a resource for the ongoing nurture of faith in daily life.
Each Faith Trail Ministry event runs for approximately 1-2 hours, depending on how much of the resource you choose to use. Faith Trail markers are also celebrated in worship through prayer and blessing. Each child receives a small gift from the congregation as a reminder of God’s constant love and care for them.
It is suggested that the Rite of Gifting follows as soon after the trail marker event as possible. Don’t feel overwhelmed by the list of trail markers. Prioritise. What is the average age of the children in your congregation? This may help you choose where to start. What trail marker does your congregation already mark? You may like to incorporate some of the Faith Trail Ministry resource in what you are already doing. Ask for help.
Faith Trail Ministry helps families place all of life in God’s care. It helps to remind parents to celebrate and bless their children at every new beginning or transition in life. It equips parents to talk about their own faith and life experiences as they weave their stories with God’s story in every way, in every place - all the time.
If you would like to learn more about how to intentionally minister to ALL generations, please contact the team at Grow Ministries. Register your interest by emailing growministries@lca.org.au and a member of our team will contact you.
