Category Archives: Blog

Advent Two: An Interactive Living Room

By Tori SmitDecember 5, 2020Blog, Christian Education ArchiveAdvent Living Room, Devotions, Family, Interactive

Welcome to your Advent Two Living Room; a place to hear and read the stories of Advent, sing a song, make a tasty treat, do a craft, and have an outdoor adventure.

This week we meet Mary and Joseph on the road to Bethlehem and discover what amazing thing God has planned for them.

To access the Living Room click on the link at the end of this article. This will take you to an interactive version of the picture you see at the beginning of this article. Once there, click on the candle first to hear and see our Advent story. After that click on the other objects you find in the room. Each will open up a new, fun thing to do. Check out the nativity scene, the mixing bowl, the musical instrument and papers, the cup of crayons, and the window to the outdoors. Have fun!

Then, don’t forget to come back next week for the Advent Three Living Room waiting for you filled with new adventures.

Click here to enter into the Advent Two Living Room.

Considering A Longest Night Worship Service

By John-Peter SmitDecember 4, 2020Blog, Congregational Development ArchiveAdvent, Christmas, Grief, Longest Night, worship

Monday, December 21 is the longest night of the year. In 2020 we have had many long nights and this year, perhaps more than ever, it is important to have a Longest Night Christmas worship service at your church.

Also called Blue Christmas, a Longest Night worship service is traditionally held to acknowledge that for many people Christmas is not a happy time of the year. Typically it is held for those who have lost loved ones over the course of the year, and for those who are lonely or separated from friends and family.

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Advent One: An Interactive Living Room

By Tori SmitNovember 28, 2020Blog, Christian Education ArchiveAdvent Living Room, Devotions, Family, Interactive

Welcome to your Advent One Living Room; a place to hear and read the stories of Advent, sing a song, make a tasty treat, do a craft, and have an outdoor adventure.

This week we start our journey to Bethlehem with the prophet Isaiah as he describes a world of light and hope that is yet to come.

To access the Living Room click on the link at the end of this article. This will take you to an interactive version of the picture you see at the beginning of this article. Once there, click on the candle first to hear and see our first Advent story. After that click on the other objects you find in the room. Each will open up a new, fun thing to do. Check out the nativity scene, the mixing bowl, the musical instrument and papers, the cup of crayons, and the window to the outdoors. Have fun!

Then, don’t forget to come back next week for the Advent Two Living Room waiting for you filled with new adventures.

Click here to enter into the Advent 1 Living Room.

For Church Leaders

If you would like the links to all five of the Living Rooms to upload to your church website, facebook page or weekly email, just email me at torismit@gmail.com and I will forward them on to you right away.

May you be filled with hope this Advent as you anticipate the coming of Jesus.

Tori

How’s It Going? A Sunday School Leader Check-in

By Tori SmitNovember 17, 2020Blog, Christian Education ArchiveCE Committee, Ministry with children, Sunday School, Zoom

Back in September I hosted a number of Zoom meetings to talk about hybrid options for Sunday schools this fall. We had some great conversations about all of the possibilities, but perhaps even more, we enjoyed the opportunity to check-in and care for each other as we shared what we all were planning to do in this new context.

As one of these meetings finishing up a person who had been pretty quiet throughout the gathering asked, “Could we do this again? Maybe later this fall? Just to find out how we all are doing?”

What a great idea!

So, let’s do it.

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COVID-19 Updates for Churches in the City of Toronto and Beyond

By John-Peter SmitNovember 12, 2020Blog, Congregational Development ArchiveChurch Buildings, COVID_19, Virtual Worship

I recently wrote the following letter to the churches of the Presbytery of West Toronto to encourage them to consider resuming Virtual Worship solely as we face a disturbing number of new cases of COVID-19 , and the prospect of increased restrictions within the city of Toronto.

As much as the specifics of the letter apply to churches within the City of Toronto, I am also deeply aware that these concerns equally apply to Peel Region, as well as other regions of Ontario and other provinces in Canada, including Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Even though the language of this letter might be local, the issues are not. Thus I would invite you to use this letter as a resource for your session as you consider in-person worship in your own community.

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Looking Forward to Christmas

By John-Peter SmitOctober 29, 2020Blog, Congregational Development ArchiveChristmas, Congregational Care, worship

In December of 2013, a week before Christmas, a major ice storm hit the Canada from Ontario to the Maritimes. This storm resulted in 27 deaths, loss of power to over a million residents and millions of dollars in damage. The strongest memory I have of that week was the anxiety over Christmas Eve services. Many churches cancelled altogether. Some, like ours, got power back just in the nick of time. Others chose to go ahead with candlelight services in coats and hats. For many of them, Christmas Eve 2013 was one of the most memorable ever experienced.

This Christmas, 2020 we face another storm, different in its scope but unique because we see it coming. We already know that this coming Christmas will be unlike any other in memory. The only question is how?

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An Incredible Opportunity to Attend APCE 2021 for Free

By Tori SmitOctober 28, 2020Blog, Christian Education ArchiveAPCE, Christian education, Christian Education Committee, Christian educators, Event

ARE YOUR CHURCHES BEFUDDLED BY COVID DISRUPTIONS?

LET US INSPIRE AND SUPPORT YOUR EDUCATORS AS THEY SERVE NOW AND ANTICIPATE CONGREGATIONAL LIFE AHEAD!

The Association of Presbyterian Church Educators (APCE) hosts an annual educational event each year that is attended by hundreds of professional and lay Christian educators from across Canada and the United States. These events present a wonderful opportunity to hear the best researchers and practitioners in the field of educational ministry, experience transformative worship, and attend practical and cutting edge workshops.

Like so many significant events, the APCE 2021 event that was to be held in Chicago this February had to be cancelled in light of the pandemic. But, the APCE planning team also knows that we are all in the midst of one of the most challenging times our churches has experienced in this era. And APCE cares; they care deeply about how our educators might respond well in their approach to faith formation given all of the changes and issues our world presents today. And so, APCE has rejigged their 2021 theme and made their annual event virtual. With a cup of tea of tea and your computer you can attend APCE 2021 from the comfort of your home, and you can attend for FREE!!!!

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Five Interactive Advent Living Rooms for Families @ Home

By Tori SmitOctober 24, 2020Blog, Christian Education ArchiveAdvent, Children, Family, Google Classroom, Interactive, Website

What shall we do while we wait?

Advent is all about preparing for the coming of Jesus; preparing by doing things that help us get ready, and preparing in ways that are great fun! There are so many amazing stories to hear and fun things to do over these four special weeks.

I want to share with you a exciting collection of Advent activities you and your church can easily connect with over this Advent season; a collection of five cozily decorated living rooms that open up to wonderful world of videoed stories and music, family friendly devotions and outdoor adventures, tasty recipes and fun Christmas crafts.

These living rooms have been created for churches to request and then upload to their church website each week of Advent and on Christmas Eve.

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How Will We Tell the Christmas Story? A Hybrid Service of Lessons and Carols for a Children’s Pageant or Christmas Eve Service

By Tori SmitOctober 23, 2020Blog, Christian Education ArchiveChildren, Christmas, COVID_19, Family, Lessons and Carols, Pageant

I’ve been getting lots of questions about how we will celebrate Christmas in our churches this year.

“Will our children be able to present their annual Christmas pageant, with their much-loved costumes and wonder-filled way of telling us the story?”

and,

“We will be able to gather on Christmas Eve, in candlelight, and lift our voices in praise as we light the Christ candle and welcome the Jesus into our world?”

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How to Make an Advent Wreath

By Tori SmitOctober 22, 2020Blog, Christian Education ArchiveAdvent, Family

As we think about Advent, we often think about waiting. We’re just hanging around. Waiting for something important that hasn’t quite happened yet. And, if we wait long enough, it will happen. And it will be great!

If we’re entirely honest with ourselves, we sometimes feel like Advent is season designed to fill time and space until we get to the real event – Christmas.

The Christian year begins four Sundays prior to Christmas Day. It’s seems a bit odd, why don’t we start with the main event? After all, Advent just sits there as a non-season kind of season, or at least a pre-season. It feels like the games that are played before the real season of baseball or hockey actually begins. They are nice enough, they just don’t count, so why have them at all?

Let me just say, “Advent counts!”

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