BELOW, YOU WILL FIND RESOURCES FOR:
CHILDREN’S FAITH FORMATION
YOUTH FAITH FORMATION
ADULT FAITH FORMATION
SUNDAY LECTIONARY & WORSHIP FAITH FORMATION
Digital Faith Resources
Children’s Faith Formation (and Parents)
Illustrated Ministry https://www.illustratedministry.com/flattenthecurve
During Covid-19, Illustrated Ministry is supporting local congregations and families by providing free, weekly, faith formation resources for all ages (including coloring pages, aka children’s worship bulletins!). Resources are free, downloadable, and easy to access a simple but meaningful ways to engage faith. You can also order giant coloring posters for a fee.
Bible App for Kids: https://bibleappforkids.com
The Bible App for Kids is a free app for Android, Apple, and Kindle devices, available in over 50 languages. The App introduces children to 41 of the “big” Bible stories and helps them understand the overall story that the Bible is telling. Throughout each story, fun, interactive animations keep children engaged, and select stories even include games designed to help them learn, understand, and retain important Bible story concepts.
Lesson Plans that Work: https://lessonplansthatwork.org
Published by The Episcopal Church and designed to follow the Revised Common Lectionary, these lesson weekly plans include sessions for young children, for older children, and usually a lesson plan for adults. Intergenerational lesson plans are available for many major feast days throughout the liturgical year. Most lesson plans are based on the Gospel, and some also have an Old Testament Lesson Plan.
Life.Church Open Network Resources for Young Children: https://open.life.church/categories/301-early-childhood
Created to work in tandem with the Bible App for Kids, the Life.Church Open Network curriculum features interactive videos, leader training, in-class activities, and all support materials. This 23-unit, two-year curriculum teaches young children about Jesus and allows them to reinforce what they learn in church at home through the app.
Life.Church Open Network Resources for Elementary Age Children: https://open.life.church/categories/301-early-childhood The Life.Church Open Network elementary curriculum includes colorful, Bible-based series for elementary students of all ages. You'll find free lessons, videos, art, teacher guides, and in-class activities for children in 1st grade through 4th grade.
Ministry to Children: https://ministry-to-children.com
Ministry to Children provides free lessons, activities, and printables. Download a single lesson plan or choose a curriculum series. There are thousands of Bible lesson plans and activities. You can search by Scripture, Bible story, or theme.
Saddleback Kids Videos: YouTube Channel
On this channel you'll see some of the videos Saddleback Church produces for Saddleback Kids curriculum, including a variety of Bible story videos that can easily be organized into a Bible program for children.
The Religion Teacher: https://www.thereligionteacher.com
The Religion Teacher provides a large collection of Catholic religious education activities for various liturgical seasons, topics, and age levels. The activities include crafts, worksheets, prayer ideas, etc.
Youth Faith Formation
d365: The best quick, daily devotional app for adults and youth, period. Available as an app or on the web: https://d365.org
Faith Lens (ELCA): Faith Lens: https://blogs.elca.org/faithlens
Faith Lens provides weekly Bible studies that engage youth and young adults in connecting world events with the Bible, faith, and everyday life.
Life.Church Open Network Resources for Grades 6-12: https://open.life.church/categories/267-6-12th-grade
Life.Church Open Network makes available engaging video dramas and Bible-based topics from the Switch curriculum for middle and high school series—complete with leader guides, youth pastor notes, video promos, and activities. There are over 100 topical sessions available for download.
Saint Mary's Press Resource Center: http://www.smp.org/resourcecenter
The Saint Mary’s Press Resource Center presents hundreds of free activities, videos, and teachings organized by theme (church, Jesus, morality, prayer, sacraments, Scripture, social justice). liturgical resources (liturgical events, prayer, and seasonal activities), activities, and media.
Adult Faith Formation
d365: The best quick, daily devotional app for adults and youth, period. Available as an app or on the web: https://d365.org
Bible Gateway (Bible versions/translations online - we use the NRSV and CEB): www.biblegateway.com.
BibleProject (https://bibleproject.com) and The Bible Project TV (https://bibleproject.com/stream)
BibleProject is a nonprofit animation studio that produces short-form, intelligent animated Bible videos, podcasts, and Bible resources to make the biblical story accessible to everyone, everywhere. It has a great app for smartphones/tablets, and people can now stream BibleProject videos on their television at home using Roku, Amazon Firestick, and Apple TV.
The Work of the People—Films for Discovery and Transformation: https://www.theworkofthepeople.com
The Work of the People is an eclectic, ecumenical, and growing collection of provocative short films and interviews with spiritual leaders and thinkers, authors, practitioners, and theologians. Films are available individually, in multi-session thematic series, in contemplative themes (visual prayers, poems, and benedictions), and as e-courses. There is a small fee for purchasing the films.
Chuck Knows Church (Videos): https://chuckknowschurch.com
Chuck Knows Church who helps people learn more about our church while inviting them to have deeper conversations. The Original Series is all the objects, symbols and terms we often hear in church. There are more than 100 episodes (2-6 minutes in length) available on a variety of topics.
Church Next - Online Adult Faith Formation: https://www.churchnext.tv/p/churchnext
ChurchNext provides a wide variety of adult faith formation courses from expert teachers in Scripture, liturgy, and important Christian topics for a small fee. Adults can interact in a safe, online environment that’s convenient, engaging, and affordable. They also have videos on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/ChurchNext.
Daily Discipleship and Daily Faith Practices (ELCA): https://www.elca.org/Resources/Bible-Studies
Daily Discipleship and Daily Faith Practices are downloadable Bible studies based on the lectionary used at Sunday worship (Revised Common Lectionary). These two-page Bible Studies connect the Word of God with daily life experiences and strengthen faith practices in everyday living.
Life.Church Open Network Small Group Studies: https://open.life.church/categories/319-smallgroups
Life.Church Open Network makes available the entire library of Life.Church resources for adults including over 100 small group studies on a wide range of topics.
Living Well: Christian Practices for Everyday Life (LifelongFaith Associates): https://www.lifelongfaith.com/faith-formation-in-christian-practices.html
Living Well: Christian Practices for Everyday Life presents twelve essential practices for a Christian way of life: Caring for the Body, Celebrating Life, Discernment, Dying Well, Eating Well, Forgiving, Keeping Sabbath, Managing Household Life, Participating in Community, Praying, Reading the Bible, and Transforming the World. Each chapter presents the Biblical foundation of the Christian practice and a variety of practical suggestions for living the practice in everyday life.
Theology Live Podcast: https://theologylive.podomatic.com
Once a month, the 20s and 30s community of Grace-St. Luke's Episcopal Church gathers over food and drinks to engage Memphis' most compelling theological minds. The Theology Live Podcast incorporates the presentation and interaction for each program.
Sunday Worship & Lectionary-Based Faith Formation
Daily Discipleship and Daily Faith Practices (ELCA): https://www.elca.org/Resources/Bible-Studies
Downloadable Bible studies based on the lectionary used at Sunday worship (Revised Common Lectionary).
Lectionary Sunday School Lessons for Kids (Ministry to Children): https://ministry-tochildren.com/toc/lesson-plans/lectionary
Lessons for children according to the schedule of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Lesson Plans that Work: https://lessonplansthatwork.org
Weekly sessions for young children, for older children, and usually a lesson plan for adults for the Revised Common Lectionary.
StoryPath (Union Presbyterian Seminary): http://storypath.upsem.edu/lectionary-links
Resources connecting weekly passages from both the Revised Common Lectionary and the Narrative Lectionary with stories from children’s and youth literature.
Sunday Connection (Loyola Press): https://www.loyolapress.com/our-catholic-faith/liturgicalyear/
Background and activities from grade 1 through 8 and the whole family to better understand the Sunday Scripture readings and connect them to daily life in a meaningful way.
The Sunday Website at St. Louis University: https://liturgy.slu.edu
Resources for every Sunday in the Catholic lectionary that includes praying toward Sunday, the spirituality of the readings, and getting to know the readings.
The Text This Week: http://www.textweek.com
Lectionary, Scripture study, worship links, and resources for every Sunday of the year for the Catholic, Revised Common, and Narrative lectionaries.
Virtual Church School: http://churchschool.info
Lessons for every Sunday of the Revised Common Lectionary using easily-accessible resources and hands-on projects that can be done with limited resources.
Working Preacher (Luther Seminary): http://www.workingpreacher.org
Scripture commentary on each of the Sunday readings from the Revised Common Lectionary and the Narrative Lectionary.