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The Christian Formation Committee serves the 87 worshipping communities in the Episcopal Diocese of West Texas. Our goal is to provide Christian formation resources and guide congregations in forming disciples of all ages.
In May 2024 Suzanna Green was appointed as the Director of Christian Formation. She previously served as Bishop’s Deputy for Christian Formation. She is responsible for encouraging strong Christian formation for all ages and creating a diocesan-wide support system for the churches, in collaboration with the Rt. Rev. Dr. David G. Read, D.D., Bishop of West Texas, and the Christian Formation Committee. Contact Suzanna Green, at formation@dwtx.org and (210) 816-1949.
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Diocesan Backpack tags are back for 2025! Many churches do a backpack blessing either the Sunday before school starts or a Sunday in August nearest to most of your community's school start dates. Backpack blessings can be just for students or for all-ages! You can invite children, youth, and college students to bring school bags, and adults to bring their work bag for a blessing and to receive a tag to put on their bag as a reminder of the blessing and God's love for them.
Click here for the printable backpack tags.
Here are a few ways to use them:
Click here for some options of prayers to use for backpack blessings and a prayer to pray over your church's school or the schools in your community.
The Christian Formation committee has put together a list of helpful resources to welcome new members to your church.
Click here to see the list of resources.
I am excited to announce that this year's Advent study will be in a podcast format so even if Sunday school or Bible studies take a break in your congregation during Advent your church can encourage folks to listen to the 25-30 minute Advent podcast episodes during the week.
For those who have regular Sunday school each week there will be a discussion guide for each episode.
The study will be 6 weeks long and will include an introduction episode available prior to Christ the King Sunday (November 23) and an Epiphany Episode to close out the series.
There will be two diocesan-wide zoom discussions on the following dates:
December 4, 6:30 p.m.
January 6, 6:30 p.m.
Look for more information to come!
The diocesan Christian Formation Committee has put together Bible study recommendations for James and 1 & 2 Peter for Adult groups based on their ease-of-use for Formation leaders (i.e. low prep and planning to high prep and planning). These recommended studies can be used during Sunday school, mid-week formation, or anytime a church gathers to study the Bible together. For bilingual or Spanish-speaking congregations a few resources “En Español” are available in the low and medium-prep sections.
The Letter of James study written by Rev. Julie Hoplamazian includes a 1-page reflection on a passage from James and a set of questions for each week. The reflections are short enough that you can read the Bible passage and reflection and have time to discuss the questions all in one hour making this a great low-prep Bible study choice for your congregation. The Bible project videos on each of the three books of the Bible we are studying in 2025 are a great concise overview of each book. You could use one video a week along with the provided discussion questions for a 3-week low prep study for adults or youth in your congregation:
The NT Wright and Elsa Tamez books are great for groups and facilitators who are willing to do a little more prep work before each study session. The NT Wright books each include 9 study sessions although the 1 & 2 Peter book also includes one chapter on Jude. There are suggestions for group use and for group leaders included in each book. Elsa Tamez’s book includes discussion questions at the end of the book. The Bible project guides contain a lot of resources that could add greatly to a study of James and 1 and 2 Peter and stretch over the course of a few weeks but require a facilitator to go through the material ahead of time and put a study together.
The Rev. Jamie George has put together an amazing guide for individuals and groups that want to do a deep-dive into James. This resource includes daily reading and reflection and outlines for group leaders for a once a week discussion time. It would be a great resource for seasoned Bible study groups or groups that want to start a daily Bible study practice. For group facilitators that want to put together their own study on James or 1 & 2 Peter we have also included a few recommended commentaries to use to research and plan a class on one or all of these books.
To engage children in the work our diocese does around the world, the diocesan World Missions Department wrote several 4-lesson studies for children, highlighting children from Kurdistan, Uganda, Guatemala, Navajoland, and Mexico. Each lesson includes a song, a Bible story, information about the country, and activities. These units can be used for Sunday school, children’s chapel, Vacation Bible School, or a family study at-home.
Click here to save a copy of the World Missions Children's Curriculum.
Suzanna Green, Bishop's Deputy for Christian Formation, the Rev. Nancy Springer, Carter Huber, and the Rev. Reagan Gonzalez share insights on how to start, plan, and host a bible study group at your church. In this :30 minute video they walk you through how to pick and use a curriculum, best practices for leading and facilitating, and resources for you to get started.
The Wisdom Years is an emerging ministry created by a small working group of over-70 adults. We believe – and our lives attest – that these are the years when we have the time to look deeply at our relationship with God, to finally live into all that God is calling us to become, and to see blessings even amidst the diminishment of aging. Click here to learn more.
Click here to receive the Christian Formation newsletter, sent four times each year with events and seasonal resources.
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