Have you heard of the popular online trend of monthly box subscription services? Amanda Monroe, a director of children’s and family ministry at Grace Lutheran Church in Loves Park, IL, applied the concept to develop faith formation at home. Her online store is faithfixbox.com. Faith Fix Boxes can be purchased by families or congregations to use.
The idea is to provide devotional materials and faith-based activities for families to use and work on together to strengthen their individual commitment to Christ and build relationships of faith with one another.
I like the idea because it helps to gather the family together for a purpose and something fun related to faith. Statistics show, of course, that families are not eating meals together very much anymore. A program like Faith Fix Boxes creates an event that causes the coming together of people in the home for upbuilding in the faith.
Instead of gathering around the TV or staring at our electronic devices, we need to develop ways to be in one-on-one conversations with each other and interacting with one another in a more personal way.
Something along the same lines has helped with this is the rise in many circles of the “family game night.” Regularly setting aside a time to play a board game as a family takes us out of our heads and away from our work and school schedules (and angst) and helps us just enjoy each other’s company. This concept later led to faith-based boardgames like Bible Bingo, which Creative Communications offered for a time several years ago.
No matter what the event is, the point is that we in our homes need to make an effort to engage in activities that involve us all and help us to grow as a family unit. Our households of faith will be better for it.
