Final Day in New Orleans

The NAECED conference ended yesterday afternoon, but I had decided to book another night at the hotel at my own expense so that I didn't have to rush out of the last workshop to catch my plane. I remember having to do that in San Antonio and it kind of defeats the purpose of why I'm here to begin with.

The last workshop I attended was "Tween Ministry" and it was presented by Stacy Holley who is the Christian Formation Minister for Children and Youth at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

I chose this one because Claire Hart and I had been talking about curriculum and what other churches do for their Middle School kids. Tweens are generally 4, 5, 6 graders, and we struggle at Grace with how to divide up the grades around that age. We used to be K-2 in one classroom, 3-5 in another, 6-8 in JYG and 9-12 in SYG. But our population of kids K-5 is small right now, so I made the decision to merge K-4 into one classroom and move the 5th graders up to JYG. It is a challenge to bridge that gap of maturity. For the 5th graders to be downstairs with K would be hard for them to get what they need out of Church School. To move them upstairs to JYG, they are dealing with Middle School kids and Middle School issues.

What I found in this workshop is that Tweens are a unique age group that really and truly do bridge that gap between wanting to be children and play, but also anticipating being a teenager. There were some wonderful ideas of play/learning for this age group, and also some discussion points that I think are worth passing along to Claire to bring up in JYG.

Stacy's church runs a very comprehensive faith and sexuality workshop for tweens called, "He, She, We and God" which has had great success at her church. It is a weekend workshop that gives parents and children a chance to learn together, practice communication skills, laugh, have fun and worship together while celebrating the connection between faith and sexuality. I'm wondering if something like this would work at Grace. Stacy goes all over the country facilitating these workshops...because as you can imagine...it is discussion topic that needs to be presented by someone trained to do so.

My overall feeling of this conference? This is my third conference, and I would say, that although it has not been my favorite one...I have learned a lot. There were so many workshops I wished I could have gone to, but unfortunately you have to choose only one per time slot and you never know what you are going to get until you get in there. As I said in a previous post--Episcopalians like to think a lot. And then they like to talk about what they are thinking a lot. And I needed more practical ideas in some of these workshops. But each workshop did teach me something I did not know, or think about, before, so in that sense it was wonderful.

I belong to an email listserv for NAECED (now called Forma) and making the connections to people I talk to regularly is always great. The listserv is always a great place for resource and support. When I filled out my survey yesterday about the conference I stated my concerns that Forma, with all its partnering with places like the Episcopal Camp and Conference Centers and Youth Ministry centers and now ordained clergy joining...that the "little" people like me--the volunteer Christian Education Director, Youth Group Director and teacher--are not forgotten. That is why NAECED was formed.

Forma's tagline, is "Partnering to Inspire Christian Formation." The word is not an acronym like NAECED. It derives from the Latin word "formare," meaning to "form or to shape." Forma's philosophy is that we are now an association of individuals with various ministries, committed to the ministry of Christian Formation, each bringing our own unique gifts and knowledge.

Many small parishes wish to send their volunteer leaders to this conference, but don't have the budget to do so. I feel very fortunate that Grace Church pays my conference fees and hotel out of my Christian Ed budget. I am happy to donate my own money for the airfare and expenses because I see what a difference it makes to be here and learn from others.

Next year the conference will be held in Albuquerque, NM. We will see where we are in my budget if I can once again attend, but I hope to be able to.

By the way...Mardi Gras is beginning here and I so wanted to bring back some King Cake for everyone. But I can't fit it in my suitcase, unfortunately! After the conference ended, I did take a walk down Decataur Street for the world famous beignets at Cafe Dumonde. I couldn't leave here without trying one. Delicious!

Episcopalians Think...A LOT

I meant to write yesterday but by the time I got back to my room it was after 9pm and my mind was on overload and I needed some time to process all I heard and all I learned yesterday.

I'll post later today about today's workshops.

They have a great Spirituality Room here with different stations of activities. One of my favorite stations was about Baptism. The photo to the right doesn't do justice to the serene atmosphere the entire room had (we were allowed to take photos later), but at this station the action posted was to reach into the water,take a piece of shell, make the sign of the cross and reflect on our Baptismal promises (there was a BCP there as well.)

We talk about this a lot in Confirmation class...and if you haven't looked at them lately...they are pretty heavy duty promises. I won't retype them all here, but there is a lot about sin and wickedness and evil and your promise to renounce it and put your whole trust in God. I think it is important to tell our Confirmands that fulfilling these promises can be a life-long journey. That even as adults...we need to be reminded about the promises we made (or that our godparents made on our behalf) and that we are going to stumble and fall, but that God loves us and forgives us no matter what.

We had a really moving Worship service after the first session of Workshops, and I must confess that music can be very, very different from church to church and state to state. There was a combination of traditional, contemporary, praise/gospel--and everyone knew at least one, if not all of those songs. I was not one of them. I knew the traditional one, of course. But I really enjoyed seeing the differences in how we worship--yet are the same.

My first workshop was by Sharon Pearson (formally from the Diocese of CT for children's formation, but now with Church Publishing), called "All Generations Learning Together." What I love about Sharon is that she has some of the best resources to hand out for churches of all sizes. I have a packet of papers from her with some wonderful ideas that I am really anxious to share with our Evangelism and Fellowship committees, especially.

We talked about how, not only it is important for all ages to worship together, but to also learn together in an activity not inside the sanctuary. To connect older parishioners with younger ones through seasonal activities like Advent wreath making or having a grandparent pen-pal (similar to our Prayer Buddy idea, but to have communication going on both ways so that the adult benefits from the connection just as much as the child does).

One idea I really loved, was sending care packages from the Church School to our college students. Once our SYG graduate--we lose contact with them unless they come back to church at Christmas time or on weekends home. I really want to put this into place at Grace to keep that connection with our SYG.

After Worship and then lunch, the afternoon workshop I chose was "Formation Based Youth Ministry" by Andrew Kellner from the Diocese of Philadelphia. Andrew is young man in his 20's and is so dynamic, you can't help get excited about teaching youths. I was a little disappointed there were no real practical suggestions in this workshop, quite honestly. But, we did talk about what role Youth Ministry should be playing in our churches. He talked quite a bit about how many of our Christian Ed programs have fallen into the same trap of what is termed, the "default religion." And it actually has a name for it...Moralistic Therapeutic Deism (MTD). I'm not making it up. It seriously is called that. Google it if you don't believe me

So what is MTD? The easy answer is that it is a watered down faith belief that people fall back on that is more about a moralistic approach to life...not a faith based one.

What does your community want from Youth Ministry, he asked. Are we not attracting families because we are too MTD in our Christian Ed programs? It made me think a lot about our program at Grace and what we can do to improve it.

I had many ideas swimming in my head after these two very full and interesting workshops, so while others had social time, I opted to take the walking tour around the French Quarter and get some fresh air. I will admit that I had preconceived notions of New Orleans as being a rowdy, carousing kind of place. But I really found a wonderful energy in the French Quarter. After a full day of Episcopalians thinking everything to death...it was refreshing to see people living--however it was they chose to do that.

More later about the workshops today and the rest of my stay. I fly home tomorrow afternoon.

Welcome Dinnner, Words and Worship

The theme of NAECED overall goal is the same...to bring Christian Educators together for exceptional workshops, spirit-strengthening worships, opportunties for networking and building relationships with colleagues from all over the country.

In full disclosure...this is also a time to renew spiritual reserves, and to reboot our ideas and thoughts and bring new ones back with us. That means something different for everyone. Outside of the workshops and speakers and resource vendors, there are other things offered here throughout the weekend like, small group meals, morning prayer, silent meditation areas, walking tours of the city, 10 minute chair massages...and yes--cookies. Chocolate chips ones. Right out of the oven.

In the elevator up to my room I ran into Linda Snyder from Connecticut whose title changed a few times at the Diocese of CT after she took over for Sharon Pearson, but Linda was in charge of Youth Formation for the Diocese. She came to Grace a few years ago when I talked to her about feeling burned out and out of fresh ideas. She was encouraging and compassionate and gave me some wonderful ideas to try at Grace. Recently her position was eliminated and for the moment there is no one filling that specific Youth Formation due to budget cuts. She is here as a speaker representing her church, St. John's in Barkhamsted. It was so good to see her again, and we plan to talk more tomorrow. She is anxious to hear about all the wonderful things going on at Grace. Things were pretty grim the last time she and I spoke.

The Rev. Lisa Flores, NAECED President, dropped a bombshell during her opening remarks. After 15 years of struggle to and reorganizations, The Board of Directors of NAECED has voted to change NAECED's name. No longer is this organization just about Christian Education Directors. Represented here are indeed Christian Education Directors, Youth Minsters, Diocean Formation Directors, Resource Formaton Leaders, Youth Group Directors, and more ministries involved with both adult and youth Christian Education.

There was an audible gasp in the room when she announced it. I think it took people by surprise because NAECED has had to fight some uphill battles to be recognized at the General Convention many years ago and had finally, and firmly, become known and respected.

So the NAECED Board has voted to change NAECED to FORMA. They prayed long, discussed much and decided it was time to move ahead and expand on the foundation NAECED had worked so hard to build. I will get you the particulars of the new tag line when they give us the particulars, but it really made sense to me as they starting talking about it. More and more churches are getting away from the term Christian Education and more are using Christian Formation. Formation--thus the name FORMA. What's the difference between Education and Formation? I like to think that education is more about knowledge. Formation is more about an overall development of knowledge and faith and going out and living those things in God's name. I remember a similar shift when the term Sunday School gave way to the term. Church School.

Tomorrow is a full day of workshops and I crashed and burned somewhere around dessert tonight. I stayed for worship and now I'm getting some rest for the busy day tomorrow. I'll tell you more about my workshops then.

How to go from flat hair to poof-head in a 3 hour flight

When I woke up at 4:30am this morning to fly to New Orleans for the NAECED conference, I left Connecticut with my usual flat-ish coif, took a nap on the flight and when I emerged from the plane in New Orleans a mere 3 hours later, my hair was the volume and size of a small bush on my head.

Yes. It’s kind of humid here.

The weather is expected to be in the 60’s and 70’s while I’m here, which of course I am not complaining about, but since it really hasn’t been too bad at home as far as winter yet…I don’t entirely appreciate it, quite honestly.

I took a nice walk along Canal Street earlier and I’m finding an interesting mix of corporate and historical buildings side by side. This looks like a nice place to explore, although they are going to be keeping us pretty busy with only one late afternoon free for any exploring time.

Anyhow…I am in the lobby of the Double Tree hotel at the moment, waiting for my room to be ready. I’ve seen many familiar faces from other conferences from past years, and we’ve welcomed each other warmly, even if we can’t always remember each other’s names. There are 4 of us here from Connecticut., and over 160 conference attendees. It is quite funny sitting here, while people are checking in, though, checking each other out as we pass by each other to see if the other “looks like a Christian Education Director.” It’s not like we have T-shirts announcing it. Although in retrospect I’m kicking myself for not wearing my Grace Church T-shirt. Once we check in, we get a lanyard and name tag, so that will help tremendously.

There are a surprising (to me) number of men here. I think we all have it in our heads that mostly women are involved in Children's Christian Formation, but I noticed at the last conference I attended in San Francisco, that men are increasing in numbers in this ministry and I think it is wonderful to see. Many years ago one of our SYG teachers was a male and I felt he was a wonderful role model and mentor to our young men in the SYG.

Once I get into my room in a few minutes, I’ll unpack and head down to the NAECED registration to pick up my packet and say hello. At 4:30pm is an ice-breaker gathering and then at 5:30 is a social hour with some appetizers. Dinner is at 6pm, then an opening program, worship service and then by 9pm we can go back to our rooms for the night, or I’ve heard plans of another informal gathering in the lobby. I, for one, will most likely go back to my room to crash since we need to be up early tomorrow for a full day of workshops. I’ll post more about those later once I get my packet. I’m embarrassed to say I can’t remember what I signed up for! All the workshops sounded wonderful and I wanted to attend so many of them, I can’t remember what I eventually chose. I’ll find out as soon as I get my packet. LOL.

All of my meals are included in the this conference except for lunch today so because I was so early I checked my bag with the porter and had a nice lunch in the adjoining restaurant here. The waitress suggested I try the gumbo and a friend shrimp and Cajun coleslaw sandwich. “Do you like spice?” she asked me. “Of course! I love spicy food.” Which I do.

Spicy food in Connecticut, apparently. What us lightweights in CT consider spicy is no match…just trust me. The first several bits of the sandwich were absolutely delicious. And when I can feel my mouth again I will tell you how the rest of it actually was. I’m guessing that will be sometime tomorrow.

I am so looking forward to tonight’s activities and being amongst like minded women and men who have chosen to make Christian Education their ministry and passion—whether by profession, calling, faith, inspiration, curiosity or love.

More later after tonight’s events.