The past four months have been a meaningful journey with the five families in our Parenting Circle. Together, we explored ways to nurture faith practices at home and along the way, we watched a beautiful sense of community grow among both parents and children. We are deeply grateful for the support of the Family Faith Every Day Grant, which helped make this experience possible. Recruitment for next year’s group will begin in January, and we look forward to welcoming our next cohort!
—Bridget Kokolis, Minister to Children
“As parents of a young toddler, we loved the chance to connect with other nursery-hall families while learning simple, meaningful ways to establish family faith practices at home. Though we initially wondered how practical this would be for a 15-month-old, the practices were wonderfully scalable and encouraged us to be more intentional about infusing our family’s values into our daily routines. Bridget’s thoughtful facilitation, along with shared meals and authentic conversation with our cohort, made the experience especially meaningful.”
—Lauren Luneckas
“It was incredibly meaningful to spend time with parents who are in a similar life stage and navigating many of the same joys and challenges. Having the space to talk openly about everything we’re juggling as adults—while also thinking about how faith can be entwined with our daughter’s upbringing—was truly insightful. I also found the exercises in the book especially helpful. They gave my wife and me a chance to pause and reflect. It’s something we both valued and hope to continue!”
—Anthony Luneckas
“Andrew and I appreciated this group for the ways it has allowed us to pause amid the busyness of our family’s life to think together with Bridget and other families about how we seek to pass on our faith to our children. We’ve gotten to know other families much better than we would have in passing on the nursery hallway as we have together considered the values we most prize and the practices by which we can help our young children know God in their own ways.”
—Elizabeth Jemison
“Having grown up in the church, I thought that implementing our faith at home as parents would come instinctually, but after having kids, I found it more difficult than anticipated to incorporate our faith into everyday rhythms that would be sustainable for our family and meaningful for our children. This group has empowered me to turn simple moments into faith practices that enrich our faith formation and relationships and align with our values as parents. We have also grown close to a group of wonderful families, who will remain friends long after this cohort ends.”
—Caroline Hiatt