Book Review: Faithful families for Lent, Easter and resurrection

Faithful Families for Lent, Easter and Resurrection Title: Faithful Families for Lent, Easter and Resurrection Author: Traci Smith Published by: Chalice Press Price: £9.59 Best for: families looking for simple, spiritual ways to mark Lent and Easter together Best bit: by focusing on spiritual practice, Traci gives us a great range of options to try, while … Read more

Three questions for a connected Christmas

It’s December, the last month in what has been a pretty dreadful year in many ways. How do we celebrate Christmas? In order to work out our answer to that question, I’ve got three questions (I’ve put each in three different ways – make your choice!): What is your family like? / What do you … Read more

1000 hours outside

… is good for your faith! We’re currently in our second year of doing #1000hoursoutside. Whenever I tell people we’re doing it, they either say, Oh yes, we probably do about that each year. I then ask them really? It’s just over 3 hours a day EVERY DAY, including the days it’s super cold, windy … Read more

Breathing and praying

I once opened a workshop on prayer with the Bible quote: “Pray without ceasing.” I’ve always found this a very challenging command, after all, most of us usually manage a few minutes a day – how do we pray but also do all the other things we need to do each day? I used to … Read more

Pinwheel Prayers

This is a simple activity using pinwheels to think about God’s Spirit being like the wind and to pray using them. This is a great one for under 5s, but everyone might enjoy this very tangible way to pray. What do I need to begin Pinwheel Prayers? To begin, you will need a pinwheel! Perhaps … Read more

8 ways to get your family to stop fighting and be more generous

I wish I could tell you how to stop your children fighting. There’s probably something good about children developing social skills in the home and feeling safe so not restraining their behaviour to please others. But honestly, less fighting and arguing in our home would be quite nice! However, I do have an idea. When … Read more

10 Ingredients for a Successful All-Age Small Group

Due to Covid, many churches have been looking creatively at how to meet together, and I’ve been  encouraged to see many groups considering more inter-generational ways of meeting together. Recently, I heard of a small group looking at meeting with adults and children together once a month. As they discussed this, they realised they wouldn’t … Read more

The cheats way to grow faith at home this summer: read-alouds

Would you love to be able to grow faith in your family this summer, but are feeling low on energy and ideas? What if I could give you one simple idea which would help? Read a book together. Yes, just one good book. How does this work? 1 Connection Research into passing on faith has … Read more

Encouragement Cookies

This fun activity was created by my friend Caroline. Instead of ‘fortune cookies’, she made ‘encouragement cookies’ simply by writing out blessings on slips of paper then put them inside home-made fortune cookies. Warning: the folding bit is rather hot, so be careful! What sort of blessings you write will depending on who you are … Read more

Review: The Christmas Surprise

Title: The Christmas Surprise Author and Illustrator: Steph Williams Published by: The Good Book Company  Price: RRP £2.99 reduced to £2.54 or 10 for £2.10 each Good for: a gift for young children unfamiliar with the Christmas story Best bit: It’s funny! And it talks about what Jesus’ name means (rescuer) Worst bit: Not really anything. I probably wouldn’t have put … Read more

Review: Advent Journal for all ages

Title: Advent Journal for All ages Author: Nick and Becky Drake from Worship for Everyone Illustrator: Connie Buck Published by: Worship for everyone and Gas Street Church Price: Â£7.99 each, two for £15, or 3 for £20 Good for:  Anyone wanting a quick but real way to connect with God during Advent, especially those who would like four themed songs … Read more

Duplo Prayer

A really simple way to pray without using words is to build a Duplo house and give it a title such as: The House of Peace. Invite people to choose a Duplo person to represent someone they know who needs more peace / they’d like God bless with peace and put them inside the house. … Read more