Category Archives: Congregational Development Archive

“Put On Your Oxygen Mask First”: Self-Care During a Pandemic

By Blog, Christian Education Archive, Congregational Development Archive, , ,

“Put on your own oxygen mask first.”

If you have ever travelled on an airplane you know the root of this phrase. On an airplane it means that in an emergency you can’t physically care for others if you don’t care for yourself first.

In March I first addressed the issue of self-care, assuming we would be at this COVID thing for two or three weeks; Easter at the latest. Here we are, week twelve, having celebrated Maundy Thursday,  Good Friday, Easter, Pentecost and now Trinity Sunday all under social distancing. Tori’s and my supervisory committee have told us that we aren’t to travel until at least the end of September and I am mentally preparing for the fact that many of us will not be back into our churches until 2021 at the earliest and even then, worship will be dramatically different than it was.

So what does this all mean?

(more…)

Session Resource on Re-Opening Church Buildings

By Blog, Congregational Development Archive, ,

We have been physically apart from our church families for two-and-a-half months now and we are excited that our government and health officials are beginning to consider how and when our communities might re-open down the road. In light of this, many of our sessions are beginning to wonder what re-opening their church building might look like. How will worship need to be changed to ensure that compassionate concern for the health of all of our members is ensured? Should nurseries and Sunday schools start back up right away? Can smaller groups meet in the meantime before our whole community of faith is allowed to gather together in our church building? These are all great questions.

(more…)

Leadership in a Time of Great Change: A Call To Lead

By Blog, Congregational Development Archive, , ,

Over the past fourteen years as Regional Minister for Congregational Health, the workshop I have most often been asked to present is entitled, ‘Eldership as Spiritual Leadership’. In this workshop I encourage elders (ruling and teaching) to embrace their calling as spiritual and physical leaders of their communities of faith. This challenge is not always easily received.

In order for the call to leadership to make sense, we need to understand what leadership is. An easy way to understand leadership is to contrast it with management. Management guru, Peter Drucker, famously said,

“Management is doing things right; Leadership is doing the right thing.”

(more…)

Some Thoughts on the Inclusion of Children and Youth in Online Worship

By Blog, Christian Education Archive, Congregational Development Archive, , ,

As our churches have made the transition to new ways of doing worship through online platforms, I wondered how our families with children were doing. Knowing that all of our churches are working hard to keep everyone engaged in worship and the life of the congregation, I thought I would ask some parents how it was going and what they would say are the best practices they have experienced that assist their children and teens in feeling connected in worship, and what they might recommend to their worship leaders to consider as they plan for worship services that are more inclusive of all ages.

(more…)

Pinwheels for Pentecost

By Blog, Christian Education Archive, Congregational Development Archive, WMS Archive, , , ,

As we move through Eastertide, we begin to anticipate Pentecost as the amazing conclusion to this season. At Pentecost the Holy Spirit was breathed into the disciples and they launched themselves out of the room they were closed up in and into the streets of Jerusalem, filled with energy and a story to tell. On fire (not literally), they spoke to those crowded in the marketplaces of Jerusalem in every language of the world, and all the people understood them. And what they heard from the disciples was the story of Jesus; his life, his death and his resurrection. And the Spirit didn’t stop with the disciples, the breath of God blew through all of those who listened and believed that day, just as the Holy Spirit has continued to blow through the church in every age and in every place since then. Pentecost is a great day in the church: it’s our birthday – so let’s celebrate!

(more…)

When Someone Dies in a Time of Social Distancing

By Blog, Congregational Development Archive, ,

Friends,

Greetings in the name of our Risen Lord! This week we are hearing news that the COVID-19 virus seems to have peaked in Ontario and other provinces. We fear that we are still far from a return to our usual routines but remain hopeful. We are especially encouraged that so far there are fewer deaths than many models had been predicting.

That said we are profoundly aware that friends and colleagues still have to face the reality of socially distanced deaths and funerals in their congregations. We are also aware of those who have family members, particularly in care facilities, who they are unable to visit or care for in person. For all of us, the big question is this, “What if my loved one dies and I can’t be there?”

(more…)

A Communion Service for Home Use

By Blog, Christian Education Archive, Congregational Development Archive, WMS Archive, , , ,

Marjorie Thompson, in Family: The Forming Center, says that “rituals are embodied ways of celebrating God’s presence in the midst of ordinary life.” Life doesn’t feel very ordinary these days, and the idea of celebrating communion in our homes instead in our church home with our church family feels just little bit strange. We wonder if we should hold off celebrating communion until we can gather in our churches once again. I wonder if these unusual days invite us to come to the table now more than ever before. We need to remember that God is with us and will not abandon us. Through the ordinary stuff of bread and wine we need to taste and see that the Lord is good.

And so we offer to you a communion service for celebration in your homes. It comes out of a request that John-Peter and I film a short, intergenerational communion service for Morningside-High Park Presbyterian Church for Easter Sunday morning. We filmed it in our home with Alex Fensham and Holly Boyne, also members at MHP, who live in an apartment in our home. So please, feel free to use it at anytime throughout our time away from our church homes.

Easter blessings, John-Peter and Tori

Easter Greetings

By Blog, Christian Education Archive, Congregational Development Archive, WMS Archive, ,

Friends and colleagues in the synod,

A week or so ago we had an email from a colleague who jokingly said he never thought he would give up church for Lent. Likewise, yesterday a friend said that after all the years of feeling that going to the Good Friday service was hard, she realized that not going was going to be even harder. It is difficult to know how to respond in these days. 

When everything else has been stripped away, even going to church itself, we are still left with the enormity and wonder of the resurrection. Recall that the resurrection did not happen in a church building and that the first witnesses were three frightened women. In many ways our story this year is their story, or the story of the disciples on the road to Emmaus; Jesus revealing himself by walking alongside us and identifying himself in the breaking of bread. 

This Easter season we are grateful for you. We are grateful that in the midst of uncertainty and fear that you continue to lead with courage and faith. We are thankful for church leaders, ordained and lay, who are serving their communities in countless ways. We are praying for you and for your churches, for health and safety, but especially for a profound sense of wonder at the love that enfolds us in the resurrection of Jesus.

May you and yours be touched profoundly this Easter by the simple and wonderful truth of our faith,

Christ has died

Christ is risen

Christ will come again.

May our risen Lord bless and sustain you,

With gratitude,

John-Peter & Tori Smit

A Palm Sunday Chapodcast for Families

By Blog, Christian Education Archive, Congregational Development Archive, WMS Archive, , , , ,

Families with children, join Crash and Zucchini for a special Chapodcast celebrating the joyful parade of Palm Sunday. Gather together your coats, a green wavy thing, and some paper and a marker and then open the attached video link to hear the wonder-filled story, sing out your loud Hosannas, and offer your prayers to God with all of your worries and thanksgiving.

(more…)