By Ben Fisher ’27 from an interview with Pastor Teresa Stewart

In a recent interview with Pastor Teresa Stewart from Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Spring Hill Florida, I learned about her church’s Elemental Ministry project and its goal of including families that aren’t used to worship. During the pilot, 20-50 kids participated in twice per month arts encounters that led up to monthly intergenerational worship. Through art projects and campfire worship, the congregation reached into their community, expanded beyond the traditional methods of worship and used art and music to teach kids about the new stories. 

Through the use of art, Pastor Teresa said, kids are “attentive to the story at the worship service, because now they can show everybody the art that they created.” A few of these projects included making stained-glass windows using Karo syrup and having the kids paint their feet and walk on an altar cloth that would be hung up during congregational worship.

Not only do I feel like we are engaging the children in ways that they are sharing and loving Christ, we are engaging the children in ways that perhaps they will be the voices to speak to the parents that have stopped listening.

Pastor Teresa Stewart

Pastor Teresa had this to say about the art projects: “Not only do I feel like we are engaging the children in ways that they are sharing and loving Christ, we are engaging the children in ways that perhaps they will be the voices to speak to the parents that have stopped listening.” It is Pastor Teresa’s hope that this can help mend the generational gap between worshipers and build a more developed congregation overall. 

Elemental Ministry also includes songs and dances to teach the kids the stories of the Bible and share with the rest of the congregation. A favorite song tells the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. 

Later in the interview, Pastor Teresa also shared the transformative impact that Elemental Ministry has had on the kid’s leadership abilities and social skills. In one story, she told me how kids cried when they weren’t able to come forward during the Voluntary Prekindergarten (VPK) graduation service. As a solution, she had all the kids that weren’t getting their Bibles help distribute them, giving them a leadership role and making the process more inclusive and engaging. In another story, she shared how she “had kids that cried when they got dropped off. And now they’re crying to come up front in front of everybody.” 

Significantly, Pastor Teresa also told me about the curriculum’s impact on kid’s love for God by teaching them how to engage with the Bible in different ways. She told me this story:

“A mother said she was at a wedding, and she couldn’t believe it, because when they started praying the Lord’s Prayer her child started praying, and she had never taught it to them, and she was just so surprised, and then she was so happy, and it was so moving to her. ” 

A mother said she was at a wedding, and she couldn’t believe it, because when they started praying the Lord’s Prayer her child started praying, and she had never taught it to them, and she was just so surprised, and then she was so happy, and it was so moving to her.

Pastor Teresa Stewart

Near the end of our discussion, Pastor Teresa said how, in the future, she hopes to have the Elemental Ministry materials be more aware of the reasons that people won’t want to participate in the church, which may be due to previous bad experiences or a lack of familial history with participating. She also said, “You can’t assume that they know something,” and emphasizing the importance of being open minded and seeing the big picture of the reasons for people’s hesitancy in attending church. By taking these factors into account, she hopes to make the congregation feel like a safe place that people can bring their kids to to find a community, and thereby a relationship with God. 

I look forward to seeing how Elemental Ministry will continue to develop and provide new opportunities for people of all ages to find a relationship with God.