Sharing the Easter Faith with Children: Helping Children Observe Lent and Celebrate Easter

Carolyn Brown has done it again! As with all of her books, Brown writes clearly and helpfully, with conviction and passion for what to share and how to share one's faith with children. Sharing the Easter Faith with Children is theologically sound, biblically focused, educationally on target, and developmentally appropriate. It should be required reading for every parent, educator, and pastor who wants to communicate and celebrate the Easter faith with children. Brown packs a lot of practical suggestions, insights, and activities into this very readable resource. I am confident children will mature in their understanding and affirmation of the Easter faith when they have been nurtured in families and congregations that take seriously what Brown offers. –Donald Griggs, Author of Teaching Today’s Teachers to Teach   It is easy to share the Christmas story and faith with children. The story is beautiful and lends itself well to pageants and other celebratory events for children. It is not so easy to share the Easter story and faith with children because the message and images are complex. Many parents have trouble articulating what Easter means to them personally much less answering their children’s questions. In many congregations children are featured in palm parades on Palm Sunday, but they are not specifically planned for at other Holy Week services. When schools schedule an Easter break, many families go away and thus unintentionally bypass the whole Easter message for years. This book explores what the Easter message can mean to children as they grow up. The author helps congregations and families share the Easter message with their children and include the children meaningfully in Lent, Holy Week and Easter observances.  Included are materials for children from birth (in the church nursery) to age 12.  Also included are reproducible pages to create a booklet for parents.   The first section of the book describes the particular parts of the Easter faith that are important to children at different ages and comments on the biblical Easter texts from a child’s point of view. The second part of the book works through the Lenten season, describing ways congregations can include children and providing program and worship plans, including:   *Lenten disciplines for children and their families *Ash Wednesday *Celebrating Palm Sunday or looking ahead on Passion Sunday *Maundy Thursday: Recalling the Last Supper *Keeping Good Friday *The church-sponsored Easter Egg Hunt *Easter Sunday Morning   Another part of the book offers help to leaders who want to share the content with teachers, parents, or committees. Also included is a comprehensive list of related resources.   This carefully researched and well-grounded, practical resource from a highly regarded Christian educator will strengthen your educational ministry with children and support parents as they shape the faith of their children.