Tapestry of Faith: Creating Home: A Program on Developing a Sense of Home Grounded in Faith for Grades K-1

Faith In Action: Our Faith Home Timeline - Short-term

Part of Creating Home

Activity time: 15 minutes

Materials for Activity

  • A roll of plain paper or several pieces of poster board
  • Yardstick
  • Color markers and tape

Preparation for Activity

  • Gather information about your faith home's history and founders, including information you may have collected while leading Session 9 or 10 of Creating Home.
  • Identify a place in or near your Creating Home meeting space to display a long timeline poster.
  • Make a six-foot timeline poster using a length of paper from the paper roll, or by taping several sheets of poster board together. Using the yardstick to make a straight line, draw a horizontal line across the paper. Make vertical marks along the horizontal line to represent years, beginning with the year your congregation was founded or the building you meet in was built. If more than 50 years are involved, consider representing the earlier years in decades instead of single years. Specifically mark recent years and the current year. Leave ample space for noting events over the past few years, as each child's family may have more than one to add.

Description of Activity

Children see their place in their faith home’s history as they help build a timeline that charts the life span of your congregation and the events that mark different families’ involvement.

Show the children the timeline you have begun. Explain that the first date is when your congregation was started (or when your building was built). If any founding members of your congregation are still active, let the children know who they are and put their names by the founding date.

Tell the group the year you started attending or teaching at the congregation. Write your name by that year. Ask the children how long they have been coming, and add their names. Some children might not know. If you know, explain to them that you remember when their family started coming, and add the family’s name(s) to the timeline. Put guesses in pencil.

When families come to pick up their children, ask them to fill in their names by the correct date. They may also like to note the year of a child dedication, a marriage, or another family milestone, if they marked that occasion in your congregation.

Post the timeline where children and adults can reach it to add information. Invite children and guests visiting for the first time to add their names.