Church on the Go

This post originally appeared on the Episcopal Church Foundation’s Vital Practices blog.

This week marks the end of school for many families across Texas, so summer begins. Schedules go wonky, people travel, kids go to camps, family comes to visit, and either we’re out of town on Sunday, or traveling, or it’s the one day we can breathe between one trip and the next camp.

This summer, the typical Christian formation offerings at my parish are on sabbath. Because… you know, schedules.

This year, we’ve created “Church on the Go” boxes to help bring faith to life this summer. Inside each box is a variety of ways to help us (and those we love) slow down, deepen relationships with one another, and grow closer to Jesus. Inside each box are coloring books for younger Christians, prayer journals for all ages, ideas for conversation starters, suggested books for every age, and more!

We’ve also created a Traveling Mary (with the help of an artistically-gifted parishioner). This is a way for us to take our St. Mary’s family with us this summer. We’ll share pictures of the places Traveling Mary joins us this summer, and hopefully we’ll have some great stories to share!

Church is not a building. Like Paul says in our reading from Acts this past Sunday, God “does not live in shrines made by human hands…” Church is wherever we gather, wherever two or three of us are together in God’s name. Church is wherever we go.

And in the summer, we know that people travel. So our goal was to help our families take Church on the Go!

How else can we help people live out their faith, and grow in relationship with Christ, outside of Sunday morning?