The Jesse Tree Project is an initiative organized by Allie Colp, Youth and Family Ministry Coordinator, and the Youth and Family Ministry Vision Strategy and Support Team. At the heart of the project lies the simple but profound reminder that impactful spiritual formation often happens at home. In Colps’ own words, “When families show their children that their faith matters in their day-to-day lives at home, it has a bigger impact on how they will practise their faith throughout their lives than anything else.”
The idea behind the project is a sort of Advent calendar.
Each participating household is responsible for crafting 24 ornaments representing one day of Advent. These handmade symbols are sent to the Synod Office, sorted into complete sets, and redistributed in Jesse Tree boxes. The sets also contain a booklet of readings and prayers, and some treats.
Families, then, unveil the ornament for the day at home, follow the reading for the day, and then add the ornament to their tree.
The Jesse Tree families had an Epiphany Party on January 18 at Church of St. Andrew, complete with snacks, a nacho bar, art, games, and other activities. It was a chance to connect with the other families that participated in the initiative. Bishop Sandra Fyfe was present too.
Here are excerpts from a brief chat with Colp about the Epiphany Party and the project.
The Jesse Tree Project was inspired by the Hemorrhaging Faith report’s findings on faith at home. What’s one story or piece of feedback you heard from a family that proves the Jesse Tree actually changed their daily rhythm during Advent?
One family shared that they knew that this kind of project would be good for teaching and learning stories of faith, but that they really appreciated the ritual of it, and the invitation to connect with their family. Another family shared that they did the reading and reflection every morning during breakfast, partly because their kids couldn’t wait any longer than that to open the ornament, but also because it meant that they started each day with an intentional time of being together and being with God.
How did seeing everyone else’s handiwork at the Epiphany Party help these families feel like they were part of something bigger than just their own living room?
At the Epiphany party, we set the tree up so that it was the first thing that you saw when you entered the sanctuary, which is where we had the party. Almost everyone paused for a moment [near] it when they came into the space, and several times throughout our gathering, I saw people gather at the tree, point out what they had made or what ones they loved, and chat about the ornaments.
Through Advent, I emailed each family early in the morning on the day that their ornament was going to be opened, to let them know that it was their day and to thank them for their specific and unique contribution. I got lots of replies back to that message. [Some said that] knowing that others were opening the ornament that they made really did help them to feel connected to others beyond their own living rooms! In the prayer for each day, we also prayed for one of the participating families by name, and I hope that helped with the sense of being connected and part of something bigger, too!
You mentioned that some participating families included three or more generations. What was the energy like at the party, seeing toddlers and grandparents connecting over the same Jesse Tree stories?
We didn’t really have that intergenerational aspect present at the party (the pending storm that evening kept some people safe at home!), but it was so lovely to see grown-ups connecting with kids from other families. It felt like even though much of this project happened in our own homes, we were still a community.
Bishop Sandra Fyfe joined the festivities. Why was it important for the families—and especially the children—to share an unstructured meal and crafts with their Bishop?
The structures of our church can feel rigid and impersonal, so having informal opportunities to hang out with Bishop Sandra Fyfe helps people – especially children and families – see that all of the systems and structures of our church are really just people. It was a delight to have Bishop Sandra and Jim at the party, not for any formal reason, but just to be present and have some fun together. When your Bishop isn’t just a person who you see leading services every now and then, but is a person who you have made a craft with, or listened to a story with, or chatted to while you ate super duper yummy cupcakes, it changes how you think of them, and can change how you think of the structures of the church.
The Jesse Tree Project was supported by the Growth for Ministry Fund. Based on the success of this Epiphany Party, how do you see this 'at-home' ministry model growing or evolving for other seasons of the church year?
We are working on pulling together a Lenten version of the Jesse Tree Project, called Pictures and Prayers, and are thinking ahead to how we might also do something for the Season of Creation. The challenge of this particular model is the timing of having families contribute something to the project, when we didn’t have much lead time for either the Jesse Tree project or Pictures and Prayers – hopefully we will for the Season of Creation though! Even though the time-crunch of family contributions has been a challenge, I think it’s also part of the magic of this model. Kids and families aren’t just passive recipients of something; they are an active part of creating something special.
Anything else you'd like to add?
Yes! A priest in our diocese, Rev. Cate Ratcliffe, connected me with my counterpart in the Diocese of Waikato and Taranaki in New Zealand, to talk about day camp, but in sharing about other aspects of our respective ministries, I told her about the Jesse Tree Project, and she was able to run the project with families in her diocese as well! I sent along our reading and reflection guide, and we prayed for all of the families participating in their Jesse Tree Project one day, and they prayed for the families participating in ours one day. It was a real gift to me in preparing for this project to have someone else share in it, and it felt like a really cool added layer of connection for it to not only be families in our diocese, but all of their families, too!
By Jennifer Anandanayagam