Review: Vibrant Faith at Home Website

As a household with two pioneer parents (a term I stole from Mary DeMuth meaning that we were not raised with Christian parents), I'm always looking for resources to help me live out our faith within our family. When my sweet friend Anna from Girl With Blog directed me to the Vibrant Faith @ Home website and asked me to review my experience there, I was astounded by the wealth of topics and resources to be had. Curious who was contributing and what "slant" they may have doctrinally, politically, etc., I clicked over to their authors page and was happy to find a true variety of contributors from a wide range of denominational backgrounds, including a few female pastors (yes!).

The site is all about experience, bringing families together through shared experiences and conversation, whether they are just a young couple starting out or seasoned grandparents. I found more than anything that this site was big on encouraging thoughtful communication and intimacy within the family, something I highly agree with.

Here are a few of the resources our family personally enjoyed (the arrows will direct you to how to access these resources within the site under their proper categories). Most activities feature a video with a resource "do it" type document to help you put the knowledge into practice or have a specific experience with your family.

Summer Camp à Go In Peace

With two kids attending sleepaway summer camp for the first time ever this summer, this was a great resource to help us launch conversations that would alleviate fears and encourage learning and fun while away. I love that the Scriptures suggested for reading were included right on the document which made it easy to print and use.

Just for Kids à Media Spot à Aliens!

With a sci-fi nut in our household, I had to give this one a shot. This talks about the popularity of aliens in the movies and I thought it was a great way to open a dialogue with my kids about where we all stood on our beliefs about life on other planets, as well as media/entertainment considerations and what we chose to watch. I was particularly impressed that the writers didn't assume you held a certain perspective but just gave you the tools to open the conversation for yourself.

Articles à Hannah's Blessing

A sweet and encouraging article about the wisdom of a child's simple message in the middle of a hurried, rushed day. Ironically, it took me about an hour to get through this article, even though it is short and sweet, because I had constant interruptions from children while trying to read. A timely word? I would say so!!

Adult Couple à Serving Others à Lend a Hand

This video had some great ideas about how to practice the service of mercy and hospitality in various ways, and what the importance is of doing so. I enjoyed the reminder to practice works of justice and not just works of mercy, and the encouragement to make this a part of your family life in order to truly live the message that we love our neighbor as ourselves.

All in all, this is a great site.  I have a harder time watching the videos than I do with articles, so I would love to see more articles or more videos with content rather than Power Point style formats, but the wealth of encouragement at Vibrant Faith @ Home is worth checking out for families of all ages and stages.