Hello! Today this blog is coming to you from Shana Peachey Boshart, project facilitator for Shine Everywhere. Having wrapped up the 2024 year, I want to share with you what we did last year with Shine Everywhere.
I started in the role of project facilitator at the beginning of January 2024. In mid-March, Shine Project Director Joan Daggett and I hosted a webinar introducing Shine Everywhere. In the webinar, we introduced the “Six Practices that Grow Faith at Home” and the first “Follow the Peace Path” Cards. We also invited applications for “Follow the Peace Path” Roundtables and the ”Leaders Listening” Project. The roundtables were our method of hearing from users how they liked the card deck. The “Leaders Listening” Project is pastors initiating a project in which they learn what parents want from their congregation regarding their children’s faith formation. (You can still sign up to do the “Leaders Listening” Project here.)
Starting in April and continuing through October, we hosted six roundtable Zoom meetings to collect feedback on the card deck. During this same time frame, I met with about seven different “Leaders Listening” to coach them as they related to parents to equip them to grow faith in their children at home.
In July, we launched ShineEverywhere.com where you can learn ways to grow faith at home—from tips for families to details about becoming Shine Everywhere Partners.
In early fall, we invited congregations to apply to be Shine Everywhere Partners. Partner congregations receive a free monthly resource from Shine that they distribute to families. They also designate a contact person who will champion Shine Everywhere to the families. That person identifies one or two goals to work toward, and I meet with them at intervals to help them find practical ways to achieve their goals. Examples of goals are “parents are practicing faith at home with their children,” or “parents are supported by relationships in the congregation.” We found that having the free resource to give to families gives leaders an entry into the conversations that help them achieve their goals.
An important aspect of being a partner is helping Shine gather feedback on the free resource, which we consider a test product. Our goal is to continually improve the test product so that, ultimately, we are creating resources parents are happy to use to grow faith at home.
Next time, I’ll share stories we’ve heard from our partners about the impact of the at-home resources and of the “Shine Everywhere Partner” program.
Shana Peachey Boshart