reaching
Reaching Across Traditions
A Guide for Pastors, Ministry Leaders, and Families of Every Christian Tradition
Reaching holds Scripture as the ultimate authority for faith and practice. The Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed serve as the ecumenical floor: the ancient consensual summary of what Scripture teaches that the whole church has held in every century. The creeds derive their authority from Scripture and point back to it.
Reaching is rooted in the shared historic faith of the global church, built from the ancient consensual core of Christianity that Christians across every tradition and every century have held together.
This page answers the question every pastor, ministry director, and theologically serious parent will ask: can a family in my tradition use Reaching without compromising what we believe? The answer, in almost every case, is yes. Select your tradition below to see what Reaching offers and what each tradition will want to supplement from its own resources.
What Every Tradition Will Find
Common Ground Across the Whole Church
Scripture as Ultimate Authority
Scripture is the final authority for faith and practice. The creeds are the ancient consensual summary of what Scripture teaches. Nothing in Reaching contradicts either standard.
Strong Christ-Centered Arc
Every level points toward and through Jesus. Level 4 is devoted entirely to the incarnation, cross, and resurrection. Jesus is not background. He is the center.
Sin and Human Participation in Brokenness
Level 3 names human participation in brokenness explicitly. Sin is described as rebellion, turning away, and relational fracture, not merely as making mistakes.
Repentance Named Throughout
Repentance appears in Level 3 prayer formation, Level 4 cross theology, and in the governing sentence: the Spirit forms our emotional lives toward truth, love, repentance, and holiness.
The Cross Accomplishes Something Real
Level 4 names the cross as accomplishing forgiveness, reconciliation, the defeat of death, and the beginning of new creation, not only as a demonstration of love.
Mission Includes Witness
Level 6 sends the child as salt, light, and witness. The Christian life has a public and proclamatory dimension, not only a presence dimension.
Serious Treatment of Lament
Level 3 gives children and families the language of Psalm 22, Lamentations 3, and Romans 8:22. Grief is honored. The world's brokenness is named honestly.
Feelings Governed by Scripture
Feelings are real and welcome before God, but they are not ultimate. Scripture is the authority. Some feelings need comfort, some confession, some correction, some healing.
Reaching by Tradition
Select Your Tradition
Evangelical and Non-Denominational Families
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Evangelical families will find a curriculum that takes Scripture seriously as authority, centers Jesus explicitly and personally, treats the cross as accomplishing real reconciliation, and calls children toward a living relationship with God rooted in prayer and formation.
On feelings language: feelings are real and welcome before God, but they are not ultimate; Scripture is the authority, Christ is the center, and the Spirit forms our emotional lives toward truth, love, repentance, and holiness. This curriculum is not therapeutic spirituality. It is formation in honest prayer before an authoritative God.
On feelings language: feelings are real and welcome before God, but they are not ultimate; Scripture is the authority, Christ is the center, and the Spirit forms our emotional lives toward truth, love, repentance, and holiness. This curriculum is not therapeutic spirituality. It is formation in honest prayer before an authoritative God.
What to Supplement
Specific evangelism training and decisional conversion theology. Level 6 includes witness and proclamation, but families whose tradition emphasizes altar-call or decision theology may want to add that language explicitly from their own resources.
Reformed and Presbyterian Families
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Reformed families will find the covenantal arc of Scripture honored. Creation, fall, redemption, and new creation are the backbone of the seven-level progression. Level 3 names human participation in brokenness explicitly. Sin is described as rebellion and relational fracture. Repentance is named throughout.
The lament practices in Level 3 reflect the full canonical witness of the Psalter. The adult formation guides in Level 3 engage the doctrine of sin with theological precision. The publicly-facing arc does not use total depravity language, but it does not contradict it.
The lament practices in Level 3 reflect the full canonical witness of the Psalter. The adult formation guides in Level 3 engage the doctrine of sin with theological precision. The publicly-facing arc does not use total depravity language, but it does not contradict it.
What to Supplement
Explicit teaching on election, covenant membership, and the Westminster or Heidelberg Catechism. Reaching's floor is Scripture as ultimate authority, with the Apostles' and Nicene Creeds as ecumenical summary, not the Westminster Standards. Presbyterian churches may use Reaching alongside their confessional catechesis.
Anglican and Episcopal Families
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Anglican families will find sacramental imagination, liturgical sensibility, and formational depth. The three-layer architecture mirrors the Anglican understanding that formation happens at multiple levels simultaneously and that the adult is always being formed alongside the child.
The contemplative prayer practices in Reaching are rooted in the desert fathers, the fourth-century tradition of the early church, and the historic contemplative tradition that Anglican spirituality draws on deeply. Each practice is historically grounded in the parent-facing materials.
The contemplative prayer practices in Reaching are rooted in the desert fathers, the fourth-century tradition of the early church, and the historic contemplative tradition that Anglican spirituality draws on deeply. Each practice is historically grounded in the parent-facing materials.
What to Supplement
The liturgical calendar, the Book of Common Prayer, and explicit eucharistic formation. Reaching does not address sacramental theology. Anglican families can use Reaching as the literacy and formation spine and supplement with their own liturgical and sacramental practices.
Baptist Families
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Baptist families will find a curriculum that takes Scripture as sole authority, centers individual relationship with Jesus in prayer and formation, and does not require any particular ecclesial structure or sacramental practice.
On contemplative practices: breath prayer, listening prayer, and the prayer of silence are ancient Christian practices rooted in Psalm 46:10, Acts 17:28, and Romans 8:26. They are grounded in the fourth-century desert tradition of the early church. They are not mysticism. They are Christians being quiet before God. The parent-facing materials explain this history directly.
On contemplative practices: breath prayer, listening prayer, and the prayer of silence are ancient Christian practices rooted in Psalm 46:10, Acts 17:28, and Romans 8:26. They are grounded in the fourth-century desert tradition of the early church. They are not mysticism. They are Christians being quiet before God. The parent-facing materials explain this history directly.
What to Supplement
Believer's baptism theology, the Lord's Supper as memorial ordinance, and church membership formation. Reaching is designed to support the local church's formation work, not to replace it.
Catholic Families
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Catholic families will find a curriculum that is deeply incarnational, takes the Imago Dei seriously as the ground of human dignity, honors lament and contemplation, and draws on the patristic tradition that the Catholic Church also claims as its own.
The language "rooted in the shared historic faith of the global church" is chosen deliberately to honor the Catholic tradition's understanding that the Church itself matters and that tradition is a living form of revelation. The contemplative practices are congruent with Catholic spiritual traditions from the desert fathers through Teresa of Avila.
The language "rooted in the shared historic faith of the global church" is chosen deliberately to honor the Catholic tradition's understanding that the Church itself matters and that tradition is a living form of revelation. The contemplative practices are congruent with Catholic spiritual traditions from the desert fathers through Teresa of Avila.
What to Supplement
The sacraments, Eucharist, baptism, reconciliation, confirmation, are absent because Reaching is ecumenical. The liturgical calendar, Marian devotion, and communion of saints in the Catholic sense are also absent. Catholic families can use Reaching as a literacy and formation foundation and supplement richly from their own tradition.
Orthodox Families
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Orthodox families will find Scripture honored as ultimate authority and the Nicene Creed honored as the ancient consensual summary of what Scripture teaches. The incarnation is treated with theological seriousness, and the formation approach is embodied, developmental, and attentive to the whole person, congruent with the Orthodox understanding of theosis.
The distinction Reaching makes between Imago Dei as the ground of dignity and self-esteem as a secular concept resonates with Orthodox theology's understanding of personhood. The breath prayer and prayer of stillness echo the hesychast tradition of the Eastern Church.
The distinction Reaching makes between Imago Dei as the ground of dignity and self-esteem as a secular concept resonates with Orthodox theology's understanding of personhood. The breath prayer and prayer of stillness echo the hesychast tradition of the Eastern Church.
What to Supplement
The Divine Liturgy, the liturgical calendar, iconography, the Jesus Prayer in its full hesychast context, fasting, and the sacramental life of the Church. Reaching is creedal formation, not Orthodox formation. It is designed to support the parish's catechetical work, not replace it.
Pentecostal and Charismatic Families
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Pentecostal and charismatic families will find a curriculum that takes the work of the Holy Spirit seriously, honors emotional honesty before God, and treats prayer as genuine encounter rather than rote performance. The governing sentence explicitly names the Spirit: the Spirit forms our emotional lives toward truth, love, repentance, and holiness.
The listening prayer and the prayer of availability have deep resonance in charismatic spirituality. The understanding that prayer is genuine two-way communication with a living God is fully compatible with what Reaching teaches.
The listening prayer and the prayer of availability have deep resonance in charismatic spirituality. The understanding that prayer is genuine two-way communication with a living God is fully compatible with what Reaching teaches.
What to Supplement
Explicit teaching on the gifts of the Spirit, speaking in tongues, healing prayer, and the baptism of the Spirit. These are absent because they are specific to the Pentecostal tradition and contested within the broader church. Families can supplement from their own tradition's resources.
Families Outside a Formal Tradition
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Reaching was built for families who love God and do not always know what to do with that love. Families who have been hurt by institutional church, who are outside any formal tradition, or who are reconstructing a faith that has been damaged by narrow or toxic formation experiences.
The curriculum does not recruit families into a denomination. It does not assume any prior theological vocabulary. It gives children and parents direct access to the living God through the shared historic core of Christianity. The Jesus who came in a body, wept at graves, calmed storms, and rose from death, and who is not done with the world yet.
The curriculum does not recruit families into a denomination. It does not assume any prior theological vocabulary. It gives children and parents direct access to the living God through the shared historic core of Christianity. The Jesus who came in a body, wept at graves, calmed storms, and rose from death, and who is not done with the world yet.
A Note
If Reaching sparks a desire to find a faith community, that is something we celebrate. Reaching is not a replacement for the church. It is a preparation for it.
Section Three
How to Use Reaching in Your Church or Home
For Churches
Use as a children's ministry supplement, take-home family resource, or vacation Bible school alternative. Built on the creedal core with no denominational distinctives. Safe to recommend across the full congregation spectrum.
For Homeschooling Families
Integrates reading instruction with faith formation in the home environment. The Science of Reading foundation provides the most evidence-based literacy methodology available. Formation guides give parents the theological depth to engage honest questions without seminary training.
For Families Outside a Tradition
Reaching does not recruit families into a denomination. It gives every family, wherever they are standing, direct access to the living God who made them and knows their name, through the oldest and most widely held convictions of the Christian faith.
The Bridge
Not a compromise. A foundation.
Reaching does not water down the Christian faith to avoid offense. It builds on the oldest, deepest, most widely held convictions of the faith, strong enough to hold the weight of real questions and wide enough for families from every tradition to walk across. What each tradition adds to that foundation is their own. Reaching gives every family direct access to the God who made them and knows their name.
"Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" Here am I. Send me.
Isaiah 6:8