The Mitten Project

2026: Worship and Prayer with Children in Nature

The Mitten Project’s Origin Story

The Michigan Conference has received a grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. for $1,250,000.00 for the Michigan Conference Mitten Project: Knitting together children and adults in worship and prayer.

The future of the church depends on passing faith traditions down through generations and innovating to make traditions relevant in each new generation. Faith is caught as well as taught, and the Michigan Conference UCC is committed to using this funding for ongoing support in local churches to nurture and encourage multigenerational worship and prayer practices. To strengthen the future of our local churches, this 5-year program will invite congregations to engage children in worship, so that all of us, in each generation, can leave church more deeply connected with the spiritual and ready to find the sacred in our everyday lives.

The Mitten Project is just one resource for our youth ministry. For more resources, visit the Children, Youth, and Families Page.

How to get involved

2026 Worship Engagement Survey

Your responses are valued and will help shape our next steps

2027 Cohort Application

Design and implement programming in your Local Church with Grant Funding

2026 Mitten Project Resource Kit

Resources for Worship and Prayer with Children in Nature

2026 Worship Engagement Survey – LIVE NOW through October 11, 2026

For everyone in the Michigan Conference: 2026 Survey will be active from August 17 – October 11, 2026.

This survey is intended for pastors, church leaders, parents, youth (ages 13-18), children (ages 3-12), and all others in Michigan Conference UCC congregations. We hope you will share your experience of worship in your local church setting, and ask everyone in your church to fill it out too! The survey includes a mix of multiple-choice and open-ended questions and should take approximately 10-15 minutes to complete.

Your responses are valued and will help shape our next steps in creating worship and ministry that reflect the gifts, voices, and faith journeys of all generations. Your responses are anonymous. Please be honest and know that there are no right or wrong answers. As we continue to implement programming and support local churches, we thank you for taking the time to complete this survey about the roles of children and youth in worship and congregational life.

Take the 2026 Survey

2027 Cohort and Grant Application – Deadline November 13, 2026 5:00pm ET

Local Church Implementation Teams selected to participate in the 2027 cohort will receive support to finalize their program design, move forward with implementation, and evaluate their own program. Each of the cohort teams will be awarded $5,000 to assist with implementing their project. Additionally, expenses to attend two onsite cohort trainings will be covered for Implementation Team church members, and all expenses for Implementation Team adults will be covered for the overnight celebration retreat in October.

Please make sure to clarify with Implementation Team members during the application process that they are expected to attend all 2027 Cohort Experiences.

Proposed programs in local churches must address one or both of the following objectives:

1) Strengthen worship and intergenerational prayer practices that attend to and respect how children (age 0-12) experience God and express their faith
and/or
2) Enhance worship and intergenerational prayer practices that more intentionally connect with the daily lives of children (age 0-12) and their families

Grant applications should demonstrate programs with an opportunity to co-create with children and families, deep curiosity regarding what is possible, and readiness to engage in innovative approaches.

If selected, teams will be expected to collect data from their programming, along with stories that capture failures and successes that will inform how other churches can learn from their experiences.

APPLICATION INCLUDES TWO SECTIONS:

Section One – Local Church Information – Google Form

Section Two – Grant Application – pdf Proposal uploaded in the Google Form

2027 Program Proposal Instructions 2027 Mitten Project Calendar for Cohort and Wider Church Events

Engagement Opportunities

2026 – 2029

Engagement opportunities range from passive to deeply committed, with targeted learning for five unique audiences each year – parents, children, children’s ministry leaders, pastors, and churches. Yearly programs will include:

1) Themed resource kits for all Michigan Conference UCC churches

2) On-site one-day events for parents, caregivers, children, pastors and ministry leaders to learn together

3) Online training for Pastors

4) Online training for Children’s Ministry Leaders

5) Online training for parents & caregivers

6) 12 local churches will receive $5000.00 in grant funding to implement Children’s Ministry research in their setting, and up to an additional $5000.00 for their implementation-cohort team to participate in additional training and a weekend retreat. Pastors, Children’s Ministry Leaders, parents, children and supportive adults from the 12 cohort churches will also be required to participate in onsite and online learning/training events listed above.

As we move through the 5 years of the program, there will be new and relevant content that encourages and invites continued participation from all settings in the Michigan Conference. Yearly Themes are:

2026: Worship and Prayer with Children in Nature

2027: Worship and Prayer with Children through Music and Art

2028: Worship and Prayer with Children through our Bodies

2029: Worship and Prayer with Children by Storytelling

2030: Worship and Prayer with Children in Mission and Community

Program Objectives

The two main objectives of the

Michigan Conference Mitten Project are:

1) to strengthen worship and prayer practices that attend to and respect how children (age 0-12 years old) experience God and express their faith

2) to enhance worship and prayer practices that more intentionally connect with the daily lives of children and families in the Michigan Conference UCC

Our goal is to inspire a deep cultural shift in the Michigan Conference UCC to include children in worship and prayer. We wish to nurture the gifts and leadership skills of children, and to equip ministry leaders, parents, and caregivers to invest in training for forming faith in children under the age of 12. The relationships that will be built in the congregations of cohort churches, among pastors who learn together, children’s ministry leaders who support one another, and parents & caregivers who can more deeply engage with their children, will each have a sustainable impact on the worship and prayer practices of children in the Michigan Conference UCC.