The Vision
The Nurturing Childhood Faith Through the Arts (NCFTA) initiative is designed to assist congregations, ministry professionals, volunteers, and families in developing creative, intergenerational worship experiences specifically designed for children.
BU’s NCFTA initiative will enrich the worship experiences of children specifically through the arts: music, drama, visual artistry, and embodied experiences with prayer and scripture reading in nature. These resources and activities will facilitate the development of faith in the context of artistic, musical, and theatrical expression.
Through these avenues, BU will provide opportunities and experiences for children to express themselves in worship and cultivate new and sustainable faith and prayer practices.
These practices will be made sustainable by way of a cohort model and framework. Each cohort will engage in immersive artistic worship practices and be provided with opportunities for peer-learning and relevant curricular
Meet the team
Dr. Cami Brubaker
Co-Investigator, NCFTA Lead Team
Professor of Old Testament + Hebrew, Bethel University
Becki Graves
Artistic Director, NCFTA Lead Team
Worship Pastor, Restor Church
Dr. Nicole Nusbaum
Project Director, NCFTA Lead Team
Next Generation Director, Elkhart Faith United Methodist Church
Dr. Stephen Martin
Co-Investigator, NCFTA Lead Team
Music Department Chair, Bethel University
Josh Maurer
Director of BYFA, NCTFA
Director of Acting, Bethel University
“Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.”
Mark 10:14
“For children, imagination is common and glorious. It is play and creativity on steroids. It is one-way children embody the image of our God, who is effortlessly and endlessly imaginative.”
—Lacy Finn Borgo, Faith Like a Child: Embracing Our Lives as Children of God
