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Nurturing the Next Generation of Families. John Roberto (jroberto@lifelongfaith.com). Envisioning the Future. Key #1 - Targeted & ”Differentiated”. Shifting from. . . “ One Size Fits All” Programming to Personalized & Customized Faith Formation
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Nurturing the Next Generation of Families John Roberto (jroberto@lifelongfaith.com)
Key #1 - Targeted & ”Differentiated” Shifting from. . . “One Size Fits All” Programming to Personalized & Customized Faith Formation focusing on addressing people’s spiritual and religious growth by offering a wide variety of religious content and experiences “Differentiated Faith Formation”
Key #3 – • A Network Approach • Face-to-Face • Virtual
Family Influences • The single most important influence on the religious and spiritual lives of children, teens, and emerging adults is their parents.
Family Influence Children and teenagers “teenagers with seriously religious parents are more likely that those without such parents to have been trained in their lives to think, feel, believe, and act as serious religious believers, and that that training “sticks” with them even when the leave home and enter emerging adulthood” (Souls in Transition: The Religious & Spiritual Lives of Emerging Adults by Christian Smith with Patricia Snell)
Family Influence “Emerging adults who grew up with seriously religious parents are through socialization more likely (1) to have internalized their parents religious worldview, (2) to possess the practical religious know-how needed to live more highly religious lives, and (3) to embody the identity orientations and behavioral tendencies toward continuing to practice what they have been taught religiously.” (Christian Smith, Souls in Transition)
Family Influence “At the heart of this social causal mechanism stands the elementary process of teaching—both formal and informal, verbal and nonverbal, oral and behavioral, intentional and unconscious, through both instruction and role modeling. We believe that one of the main ways by which empirically observed strong parental religion produced strong emerging adult religion in offspring is through the teaching involved in socialization.” (Souls in Transition: The Religious & Spiritual Lives of Emerging Adults by Christian Smith with Patricia Snell)
Family Influence • Approximately 70% of youth who at some time or other before mid-emerging adulthood commit to live their lives for God, the vast majority appear to do so early in life, apparently before the age of 14. • Most make their first commitments to God as children or during the preteen or very early teen years. • Many religious trajectories followed in the course of life’s development seemed to be formed early on in life.
Family Influence What people have been in the past is generally the best indicator of why they are what they are in the present and what they will likely be in the future. That is a fact the needs to condition the understanding of emerging adult religion.
Importance of Family • Ask Americans what is most important in their lives, and it’s clear that families come first. Fully 76% of adults say that their family is the single most important element of their lives. It is a judgment that varies only moderately across most key demographic characteristics. • An overwhelming majority of Americans say their families are at least as close now as their families were when they were growing up. Four-in-ten (40%) say their family life is closer than it was when they were young and 45% say their families are about as close as when they were growing up. Only 14% say they are less close.
Importance of Family • Parents and children may be busier than ever, but they still make time to gather for a family dinner at least a few times a week. • For half of all families with children younger than 18, the family dinner is a daily ritual. • An additional 34% say their families eat together ―a few times a week. • Only about one-in-seven (14%) say they rarely or never share a meal with their children.
Target: First Decade of Life • Strengthen family religious socialization, especially in the first decade of life—by nurturing a vibrant faith in parents and equipping them with the skills and tools for developing faith at home. • Develop the home as a center of faith formation by promoting foundational family faith practices: caring conversations, rituals and traditions, prayer, Bible reading, and service.
Target: First Decade of Life • Educate and equip parents to embed foundational faith practices into the daily experience of family life. • Develop family programs: milestone faith formation, family learning, family service • Engage families more fully in the life and ministries of the church community.
Target: First Decade of Life • Family Socialization: Begin faith formation early in life – at Baptism and focusing on early childhood. • family faith formation at home – family faith practices • parent formation • parent support system / mentoring • resources for the first 5-6 years of life • milestone faith formation
The Wesley Playhouse Family Life Center
Children's Festival & Backpack Blessing Sunday, August 21, 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. Shake, rattle and roll on over to the big tent on the front lawn of the church for a 50’s sock hop the whole family will enjoy! • Doo-Wop Band • Contests • Cruise-In Classic Car Show • Games & Activities • Giant Inflatables • Festival Rides This is a FREE event. Food and snacks will be available at a nominal cost. Everyone receives a blessing for the new school year All are welcome! No RSVP necessary. Just show up with your backpack!
Milestones (Faith Stepping Stones) Stone 1: Raising a Healthy Baby • physical, emotional and spiritual needs of infants and their parents; nightly blessing as a family faith practice. Stone 2: Raising a Healthy Preschooler • physical, emotional and spiritual needs of preschoolers and their parents; add prayer to the nightly blessing as a faith practice
Stone 3: Entry Into School physical, emotional and spiritual needs of kindergarteners and their parents; share highs & lows with children and add it to their nightly prayers and blessing Stone 4: My Bible 120 key verses in young readers’ Bibles; reading a Bible verse nightly, continue with highs & lows, prayer and blessing nightly Milestones (Faith Stepping Stones)
Bibles & FF Activities
Parent FF E-Newsletter
Parent Website, Blog, & Support Group
Parent Website
Faith Formation Curator • Shifting from providing religious content and programming to curating religious content and experiences for all ages A content curator is someone who continually finds, groups, organizes, and shares the best and most relevant content on a specific subject to match the needs of a specific audience.
Faith Formation Curator What would you curate? • Congregational Programs & Activities • Community Programs & Activities • People Resources • Print Resources • Audio & Video Resources • Art, Drama, and Music Resources • Online Content: Websites, Courses, Blogs • Apps & Digital Resources
