Applications now open for new Connecting Children ministry

Local churches in the South Carolina Conference of The United Methodist Church now can apply to be part of the first cohort of leaders to participate in the new “Connecting Children in Worship and Prayer” ministry.

The new intergenerational ministry—designed to help churches become more fruitful in ministry with children—is made possible by a $1.1 million grant from the Lilly Endowment. The conference is collaborating with Messy Church USA, Narrative 4 and the West Virginia Conference UMC via its Portico online learning system.

Churches that wish to apply to be part of the first leadership cohort can do so online at https://bit.ly/ConnectChildren or by scanning the QR code with this story.

The Connecting Children Ministry involves multiple layers of involvement:

• Leadership Development: Training for pastors and lay leaders from congregations large and small, beginning with an initial cohort of 12 churches. Each year after, leaders from 12 more churches will be added to this leadership cohort, until lay and clergy from a total of 60 churches will have been trained and as many as 500 children reached. Program leaders will ensure diversity within the cohort.

• Messy Church: Messy Church is a way of being church that allows all ages to join in, experiencing fun and faith-formative activities. Messy Church USA will walk alongside the conference in developing a family retreat program that empowers parents as spiritual leaders. It will help the conference create a children’s worship day camp, where children can learn to design, plan and lead worship for the community using creative arts. These congregations will model and teach children ways to pray in these “messy” experiences.

• Narrative 4 Story Exchange: Narrative 4 offers creative tools to teach compassion and develop strong student leaders in the classroom and community. It will train church leaders in story exchange, a practice that encourages participants to deepen their engagement with narratives, exercise curiosity, extend empathy and internalize wisdom. This process encourages a deeper connection among participants.

• Online Learning through Portico: The collaboration with the West Virginia Conference will make its powerful online learning management system, Portico, available to the leadership cohort to provide courses, videos, Bible studies and webinars in support of these programs.

To watch a promotional video about the ministry, go to https://umcsc.org/children. For questions, contact Toni Taylor at [email protected] or Nona Woodle at [email protected].