Karis Parenting
Karis Parenting equips parents and caregivers of 0-3
year olds with easy-to-use tools for incorporating faith
into early childhood development.
Learn more by signing up for our newsletter. We’ll email you once or twice a month.
Finding Resilience in Recovery
Surely we have all experienced making plans, and then found life had its own ideas. Those of us who live in Western North Carolina (along with others in Helene’s path) have experienced and continue to experience the type of disruption that shatters our routines and...
Press Release
Karis Worship Press Release Sam Rogers, Grants Director, Laura Bratton, Grants Co-Director, October 14, 2024 First Baptist Church of Asheville has received a generous $1.25 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. to establish Karis Worship, a digital...
Parents Under Pressure
New Report on Loneliness and Parenting "Raising children is sacred work. It should matter to all of us." In his report, Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy sets the above quote over the rest of his text. As you can see from his words above, he chose to highlight both...
Peek Behind the Curtain
Hi folks! Sam here again with a look behind the scenes here at Karis Parenting. Laura and I have been busy laying the groundwork for what will be an incredibly busy Fall and Winter for us. We're continuing to create content for our first product (codenamed "Nature...
New Karis Parenting Booklet
We are thrilled to announce the release of our first resource, a concise booklet introducing Via Karis and Karis Parenting. You can download the PDF using this link. In the booklet, you'll find a welcome letter from the Karis Parenting directors and an overview of...
May 2024 Update: Design Sprints and Roadmaps
Last month, we welcomed two consultants from Ministry Incubators to help us develop Karis Parenting resources. We enjoyed several days of planning and dreaming with our consultants Trey Wince and Rev. Dr. Kenda Creasy Dean. Around a dozen parents and grandparents came...
Karis Parenting Survey Results
One of our first steps has been listening to families’ needs and values. In January and February, we surveyed 93 people from 8 Cooperation Baptist Fellowship (CBF) churches alongside First Kids and Child Development Center (CDC) parents to gauge their preferred...
Our Mission and Goals
We equip parents and caregivers of young children with tools to seamlessly weave their faith into scientifically sound activities designed for early childhood development.
When caregivers of 0-3 year olds use our tools and resources, we hope that they…
-
- Gain confidence in parenting
- Increase their theological knowledge and vocabulary
- Gain knowledge of children’s developmental milestones and appropriate expectations of 0-3 year olds
- Engage one’s own faith during daily parenting routines with prayer, songs, and books
- Increase faith-filled practices in daily life that involve young children
- Learn to create secure attachment between caregivers and child
- Develop parenting skills as spiritual formation
Our Values
The identity of Karis Parenting is centered around these core values:
- Faith and science, together: Weroot all resources in faithful language and peer-reviewed, scientific data.
- Via Karis: We live out FBCA’s “Way of Grace” (or Via Karis), combining essential teachings of the Christian faith with five spiritual practices: water, word, table, body, creation.
- Sacred Worth of Each Person: We uphold the uniqueness of all people as beloved children of God.
- Beautiful Belonging: We affirm FBCA’s vision that the wide range of humanity and their gifts belong to God and to one another in a beautiful tapestry reflective of God’s creativity.
Our Advisory Team
We are proud to share the members of the Karis Parenting Advisory Team for 2024-25.
- Rev. Kelly Belcher
- Jonathan Blackmon
- Megan Hughes
- Cindy Price
- Rev. Tambi Swiney
- Bree Welmaker
Who We Are
Dr. Sam Rogers
Director of Karis Parenting
Sam and his wife Katie moved to Asheville after pursuing degrees in Boston and England. They are the proud parents of Hildie who is nearly 2 years old. Sam holds a PhD in Religions & Theology from the University of Manchester.
Rev. Laura Bratton
Assistant Director of Karis Parenting
Laura has served as a minister of music in several churches and as an instructional assistant in public elementary school. She enjoys spending time with her three adult children. Laura holds a Masters of Theological Studies from Candler School of Theology at Emory University.