The Children and Family Ministries’ Committee was formed in the late 1980s and spearheaded by the Rev. Jonathan Coffy, then Rector of St. James the Less in Scarsdale, in an effort to meet the needs of Children and Family Ministries in the Diocese. Originally called the Diocesan Christian Education Committee, the name was changed to its present one with Bishop Catherine Roskam’s support to reflect the fact that the committee’s focus is children and their families, not the full spectrum of children, youth and adult education/formation.

The Committee, comprised of clergy and laity, meets monthly to plan and implement our vision and goals for the Diocese in regards to Christian formation for children and their families. It is accountable to the newly formed and much welcomed Christian Formation Commission and to the Bishop of New York.

The Co-Chairs of the committee are the Rev. Philippa A. Turner, Associate at Heavenly Rest in Manhattan, and Vicki Hall, Director of Children and Family Ministries at St. James’, Manhattan. Other committee members are Dr. Marianne Conway, Director of Christian Education at St. James the Less in Scarsdale; Kay Grant, Director of Youth at St. Andrew’s in the Bronx; Mindy Haynes, Director of Christian Education at Heavenly Rest in Manhattan, the Rev. Timothy Holder, Rector at Trinity Church of Morrisania in the Bronx; Stephanie Johnson, Coordinator of Sunday School at St. Peter’s in Peekskill and the Rev. Kristen Kopren, Chaplain of St. Hilda’s & St. Hugh’s School in Manhattan.

Our Mission is to promote the spiritual and educational development of children and families in the Episcopal Diocese of New York. Through our programs and resources, which include conferences, workshops, regional educational dinners, a quarterly newsletter and a Web page on the Diocesan Web site, we strive to offer support to our congregations and encourage connections within the Diocese. The overall goal is to build community within the Diocese and to support parishes by connecting them to one another in order to strengthen communication, skills and resources. We hope to share our various resources with parishes and people involved in Christian formation in the Diocese. The committee is also in close contact with the Children’s Advocacy Committee, joining forces when we are able and supporting each others’ mission and programs.

Each fall the Committee offers Regional Resource Evenings for those who work in Children and Family Ministries. At the meetings we provide supper, fellowship and a place to share ideas, hear new ones and learn about different curriculums for different parishes needs. It’s not too late to attend the Resource Evenings being held in the Bronx, Mid-Hudson and Manhattan. They are all held in October from 6:30-8:30 pm: in the Bronx at Trinity, Morrisania, on Thursday, October 14; in Mid-Hudson at St. Anne’s, Washingtonville, on October 20; and in Manhattan at St. James’, on Tuesday, October 26. To attend, RSVP to 212-289-3400 ext. 213 or pturner@heavenlyrest.org.

The committee also offers a variety of workshops at the Doing Church conferences that are held at the Cathedral every other autumn. The following are samples of last year’s workshops: “And the Teacher Gets to Play Too! Imagination and Joy in Sunday Morning Classrooms,” led by Gina Bria; “Bible Play: Having Fun Acting out and Retelling the Stories,” led by former committee member the Rev. Suzanne Guthrie; and “Church School 101: Everything that you need to know to have an effective Church School Program,” led by committee members Kopren and Turner.

The committee publishes a newsletter three times a year for Lent, Easter and Pentecost: Getting Ready for Fall, Advent and Christmas, and Epiphany. We make every effort to have the newsletter reach the appropriate people at every parish. Now it is also posted on the Diocesan Web site, www.dioceseny.org.

Our past conference keynote speakers have included such luminaries in the Episcopal Church as the late and much missed the Rev. Canon Joseph P. Russell, a visionary in lifelong Christian Formation, who was author of Sharing our Biblical Story and editor of The New Prayer Book Guide to Christian Education, both invaluable resources for anyone working in Christian Formation; Bishop Roskam whose ideas regarding the integration of children into full inclusion in the life and worship of the Church and particularly her wisdom in making liturgy accessible to children, are vital; the Rev. Caroline Fairless, Director of “Children at Worship: Congregations in Bloom” and author of a book with the same title which shows us all how to include children and youth into full participation with the worshipping community, who is a such an asset to liturgical design teams all over the country; the Rev. Klara Tammany, author of Living Water: Baptism as a Way of Life and Missioner for Christian Education and Formation in the Diocese of Maryland whose excellent ideas and skills in working with children include a “how to” of Biblical storytelling, challenging all to learn the stories by heart rather than memorizing them; and the Rev. Canon Anne E. Kitch, Canon for Christian Formation at the Cathedral of the Nativity in Bethlehem, PA, preacher and teacher who engages all our senses and invites us to expand our vision of children’s ministries by bringing it beyond the parish into the home. She is also the author of three books for children as well as a prayer book for families.
We look forward to the positive change that the Christian Formation Commission will provide to the diocese and are excited about a future permanent presence in the Diocese in the form of a Diocesan Christian Formation office.

For further information on our work or to contact the committee, visit the Children and Family Ministries’ Booth at Convention or contact the Rev. Philippa Turner at 212-289-3400 ext. 213 or pturner@heavenlyrest.org or contact Vicki Hall at 212-774-4232 or LVH@stjames.org.

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