Synod’s mandate to Thrive, the Christian Reformed Church’s congregational support agency, calls the agency to equip and encourage CRC congregations “to practice lifelong faith formation and missional discipleship from a Reformed perspective, across all ages and stages of life, with particular attention to children, youth, and emerging adults.”
Jill Benson’s work with Thrive centers around implementing that call. We asked her to share reflections on her faith formation role, the resources or events that excite her, and the impact she sees throughout CRC congregations.
In your role, much of your energy is dedicated to supporting parents and children’s ministry leaders in faith formation for children and youth. Can you elaborate on what your day-to-day looks like?
As a resource developer focused on curriculum, I primarily work with DWELL, a children’s ministry curriculum for preschool through grade eight. I am mainly writing and editing materials to keep DWELL current and providing support to leaders. I’m currently working on updating our sixth- to eighth-grade materials with the DWELL refresh team.
I also serve as the project manager for our endeavors within the Christian Parenting and Caregiving Initiative through a grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. As a part of that work, I’m overseeing an update of Thrive’s Spiritual Characteristics of Children and Teens resource and supporting parent listening sessions throughout the United States and Canada.
In addition to Sunday School curriculum through DWELL, what types of resources or opportunities for connection are available to parents?
The Faith Formation page of Thrive’s website has a variety of helpful resources. I think a great starting point is the Family Faith Formation Toolkit, particularly the Resource page, which includes resources for Lent, Easter, Christmas, Technology, and Parenting. The Children’s Ministry Toolkit also has a lot of great information, and I love the Faith Practices Project resources.
DWELL also has a specific set of resources for at-home faith formation, including a free Jesse Tree Advent devotional. The Advent devotional was one of the first projects I worked on after starting my role, and it’s one of my favorite resources to use with my own family. We have around 478 churches using our DWELL materials, with 191 of those being Christian Reformed churches.
What do you find meaningful in your role?
There’s a lot I find meaningful about my work, but recently it’s been really meaningful to lead Sunday school at my own church using our DWELL Flex materials that I helped to put together. It’s great to see how the children engage with those materials and to have a front seat to the impact of our work.
DWELL curriculum is available to all CRC churches at a discounted rate through Faith Alive, with the DWELL Assist grant program available to congregations who might need more financial assistance for materials. Churches can apply or donate to this fund here.
Listening sessions for parents through the CPCI grant will be hosted at various churches throughout the U.S. and Canada in 2025.
About the Author
Kristyn DeNooyer is a communications specialist at Thrive, the congregational support agency of the CRCNA. She lives in Grand Rapids, Mich., with her husband and daughter.