Families at the center of Faith Formation - Designing

Families at the center of Faith Formation - Designing
John Roberto LifelongFaith Associates

Design Process Establish goals for family faith formation.
Develop a profile of family faith formation. Research parents and families and identify needs. Build the family faith formation network design. Generate programming for the network. Design a season of family faith formation programming. Build the digital platform for family faith formation. Test the seasonal plan and web design. Launch the family faith formation network. Evaluate the season of family formation programming. Design the new season of programming.

One stage of family life incorporating multiple strategies
Focus One stage of family life incorporating multiple strategies Across stages of family life with a strategy (e.g., milestones) Plan Read/research strategies Create a plan for using the strategies Build Build the faith formation network to integrate your plan Design Generate programming Use digital strategies Launch Design a Fall season of programming Evaluate Surveys, embedded feedback, focus groups

Empathy Map SAY What do you hear your target group saying? DO
What actions and behaviors do you notice in your target group? THINK What might your target group be thinking? What does this tell you about their beliefs/convictions? FEEL What emotions might your target group be feeling?

Option: Research (Using the “Research Guide”)
Tasks Gather demographic information about the congregation and its surrounding community. Observe the people in the wider community. Interview selected church leaders. Conduct two or more focus groups of people in your target audience(s). Produce a summary report of the 1) observations, 2) interviews, and 3) focus groups. Identify the most important needs of the target audience(s) to be addressed.

Option: Research Compile the responses for each question from all of the interviews. Review the responses for each question to identify related themes. Group these items together by giving identical or similar items the same number beginning with #1. The #1 item should have the most responses, the #2 item the second most responses, and so on. Name in one phrase or sentence each of the most mentioned responses—themes. Develop a summary report for each question that includes only the top priority themes.

Option: Research Produce summary reports:
Compile one report of the major insights from your community observations. Compile one report of your interview findings—identifying the major themes for each interview question. Compile one report of your focus group findings—identifying the major themes for each focus group question.

Research: Compiling the Themes
Observation Interviews Focus Groups

Research: Interests/Concerns
Learn how to nurture the faith of my children Join with a group of married couples for support, storytelling, and faith sharing Gather with other families for family-centered experiences and activities of eating together, praying, sharing stories and faith, and supporting each other Develop a strong marriage and learn how to grow as a couple Develop family faith and spirituality that helps all family members experience God and grow in the Christian faith Learn how to care for aging parents Learn how to be a better parent and develop skills and practices for teens today Learn how to be a better parent and develop skills and practices for parenting children today Learn how to raise my children as Christians and practice our faith at home Participate in a support group with those experiencing divorce or separation

Design Considerations
Diversity of family forms and living arrangements Diversity of parent generations (Xer and Millennial) Diversity of ethnicities Unique setting of our families: location, economics, education, etc.

Family Faith Formation Network
Family Life Parents God in Daily Life Home Milestones Seasons Sunday Worship Church

Generate Ideas to Address Needs
What new programming do we need to address the needs that surfaced in the research? What would our target audience like to see the church offer them through faith formation? How can we address the audience’s needs through age-specific programming? How can we address the audience’s needs through intergenerational and/or family programming? How can we develop missional outreach programming and strategies with this target audience?

Generate Ideas to Address Needs
How can we utilize multiple environments: self-directed, mentored, at home, in small groups, in large groups, church-wide, in the community, and in the world? How can we utilize digitally-enabled strategies?

Generate Programming Content Areas Current Programs Redesign Ideas
New Ideas Caring Relationships Celebrating Church Year Seasons Celebrating Milestones Praying & Spiritual Formation Reading the Bible Serving, Working Justice, Care for Creation Worshipping with the Faith Community Life Stage Issues Missional (outreach)

Programming on a Network
A variety of relationships, content, experiences, and resources New methods: immersive, multimedia, multi-sensory, highly visual, participatory, experiential New formats: episodic, micro-learning, on demand, mobile, 24x7, New digital media and digital platforms: websites, apps, video, podcasts, social media Multiple environments: self-directed, mentored, at home, in small groups, in large groups, church-wide, in the community, and in the world.

Programming with Digital Strategies

Church Event or Program
Extend the Event Church Event or Program At Home & Daily Life

Offer in Multiple Formats
Website Digital Content to Extend & Deepen Event Social Media Interaction Connection Communication Demonstration Multiple Formats Offering the Event in New Formats Event

Video Recording Events
Stream live presentations at church Offer webinars as an alternative to a church-based program Record live presentations and webinars to create a home-grown library of video content Develop multiple versions of a program: design and conduct a gathered program – record it Edit the video in segments Design individual, mentored, or small group study with a guide and resources

Build on an Event/Experience (Sacraments, VBS, Mission Trip, and much more)
Preparing What types of experiences, programming, activities, and resources will you develop to prepare people for the event? Experiencing How will you design the event? How will you engage age groups, families, and the faith community? Living How will you sustain/extend the event? What types of experiences, programs, activities, and resources will you offer people?

Flip the Model @ Home / Daily Life @ The Program
Exploring the Content - print, audio, video, activities @ The Program Applying the Content: Create – Practice - Perform - Participate

Integrate Online & Gathered 40-Day Lent Curriculum
Church  Daily & Home  Online Ash Wednesday Lenten Sunday liturgies Stations of the Cross Lenten prayer Lenten retreat Lenten service Lenten soup suppers Fasting Praying Service/Almsgiving Lectionary reflection Family Lenten activities Lenten learning resources Lenten calendar Daily Lenten prayer Weekly table prayer Video resources Online retreat experience

Fully Online

Website Platform for Faith Formation
Other Platforms

Build a Website Choose a domain name.
Select a website template that is “mobile” responsive. Create the primary navigation system (main menu) from the network content areas. Build each webpage to incorporate all programs, activities, and resources for each content area. Design the webpage for your target audience—write the website content to your audience.

Build a Website Things to Remember…
Don’t make the user think—make web pages self-explanatory so the user hardly has any perceived effort to understand them, for example, clear choice of labels, clearly “clickable” items, simple search. People generally don’t read web pages closely; they scan, so design for scanning rather than reading. Create a clear visual hierarchy and menu system (main menu, submenus). Make it very clear how to navigate the site, with clear “signposts” on all pages. Omit needless words. The home page needs the greatest design care to convey site identity and mission. Promote user goodwill by making the typical tasks easy to do, make it easy to recover from errors, and avoid anything likely to irritate users.

Digital Platform Website Social Media Communication

Plan a Network Season Fall Season: September 1 – January 1 Winter/Spring Season: January 1 – May 1 Summer Season: May 1 – September 1 Fall Winter-Spring Summer

Design a Network Season
Add currently scheduled programming for this season (age group, family, and/or intergenerational) in the appropriate Network content areas and month(s). Use digitally-enabled strategies to redesign current programming (extending programs with online content, offering online-only programs, etc.) Select new programming ideas for this season from the ideas generated in Step 3. Where appropriate, schedule the programming (e.g., a monthly focus). Develop playlists of content, programs, and experiences. Develop the final version of the seasonal plan and design the seasonal faith formation website.

Develop a Seasonal Plan & Calendar
Content Area (examples) Programming & Dates Month 1 Month 2 Month 3 Month 4 Scripture Enrichment Faith Enrichment Spiritual Enrichment Service & Mission Life Issues

Faith Formation Playlists
Playlists are thematic learning plans that integrate a variety of ways to learn, multiple learning environments, and online and physical spaces—from which people can create their own faith formation plan.

Family Faith Formation Network

Personalizing Faith Formation
1. Assessing Learning Needs & Competencies 2. Working with a Mentor to Develop a Plan 3. Finding Programs and Resources 4. Engaging in Learning 5. Sharing with the Others 6. Reflecting on Growth and Identifying New Needs

Personalizing - Pathways
Program Path 1 Mentors/Small Groups Resources Path 2 Path 3

Test the Plan & Website Let your user experience the network online. Show don’t tell. Let them review the website and the programming. Just the minimum context so they understand what to do. (Have computers or tablets available for people to use or ask them to bring a device.) Have them talk through their experience, e.g., “Tell me what you are thinking as you are doing this.” Actively observe. Watch how they use (and misuse!) the website. Don’t immediately “correct” what your user is doing. Follow up with questions, such as: “Show me why this would (or would not) work for you.” “Can you tell me more about how this made you feel?” “Why? “ “Do you find things that interest you and connect with your life?” “Are there things you would have liked to see?”

Launch the Network Be sure to pay careful attention to the titles and descriptions so that they capture people’s interests. Develop descriptions that are positive in tone, indicate clearly the content or focus of an activity. Describe how your offerings respond to something within the lives of people. Highlight the relationship between the content and the particular spiritual or religious needs, interests, passions, concerns, or life issues of people. Describe the 2-3 benefits of participating or engaging in faith formation. Explain to people how to use the Network and how to access the activities and resources.

Promotion Ideas Connect to (or extend from) a gathered event.
Use personalized invitations. Establish a Facebook page for faith formation for announcements, updates, stories and photos from people engaged in faith formation, etc. Use Twitter to announce updates, events, and invite reflections from people on their experiences. Send or e-newsletters to targeted groups (use a service like Constant Contact, Mail Chimp, Flocknote). Provide ways to share experiences using blogs, Twitter, Facebook: videos, reports, photos, etc.

Marketing in Four Steps – Seth Godin
The first step is to invent a thing worth making, a story worth telling, a contribution worth talking about. The second step is to design and build it in a way that people will actually benefit from and care about. The third one is the one everyone gets all excited about. This is the step where you tell the story to the right people in the right way. The last step is so often overlooked: The part where you show up, regularly, consistently and generously, for years and years, to organize and lead and build confidence in the change you seek to make. (

Connect to Social Networks
Our social network is made up of all the people we’re connected to, all the people they are connected to, all the people they are connected to, and so on. You Your Friends Your Friends’ Friends Your Friends’ Friend’s Friends

Evaluate Programming

Things to Remember about Change
Follow the bright spots: investigate what’s working and clone it. Script the critical moves: don’t think big picture, think in terms of specific behaviors. Shrink the change. Point to the destination: change is easier when you know where you’re going and why it’s worth it. Find the feeling: knowing something isn’t enough to cause change. Make people feel something. Build an emotional and rational case for change.

Develop Project-Centered Teams
Coordination Design Curation Technical Marketing Communication

Eight Strategies for Families at the Center Faith Formation

Eight Strategies Discovering God in Everyday Life
Forming Faith at Home through the Life Cycle Forming Faith through Milestones Celebrating Seasonal Events through the Year Encountering God in the Bible through the Year Connecting Families Intergenerationally Developing a Strong Family Life Empowering Parents and Grandparents

Strategy Settings Home Church Community Online

Strategy Connections Home Church Community Online

#1. Discovering God in Everyday Life
Everyday experiences are the core resources of spiritual narratives, even for those affiliated with traditional religious institutions “The 4Fs” of contemporary spirituality: Family, Friends, Food, and Fido. “People feel most connected to whatever they understand as God, the divine, a Higher Power when they’re deeply engaged in the fabric of everyday life, spending time with family, with friends, preparing and sharing food, enjoying their pets.”

#1. Discovering God in Everyday Life
Spiritually meaningfully practices: enjoying time with family enjoying time with friends enjoying time with pets or other animals preparing and/or sharing food/meals praying enjoying nature listing to/playing music enjoying/creating art physical activity/sports yoga and meditation On the list of 25 items, the last three items were reading/studying scripture, attending worship, and attending a non-worship activity, event or meeting at church.

# 1. Discovering God in Everyday Life
Spirituality “may be the name for a longing for more meaning, more feeling, more connection, more life. When I hear people talk about spirituality, that seems to be what they are describing. They know there is more to life than what meets the eye. They have drawn close to this ‘More’ in nature, in love, in art, in grief. They would be happy for someone to teach them how to spend more time in the presence of this deeper reality ” “ the last place most people look is right under their feet, in the everyday activities accidents, and encounters in their lives the reason so many of us cannot see the red X that marks the spot is because we are standing on it”.

# 1. Discovering God in Everyday Life
To make bread or love, to dig in the earth, to feed an animal or cook for a stranger—these activities require no extensive commentary, no lucid theology. All they require is someone willing to bend, reach, chop, stir. Most of these tasks are so full of pleasure that there is no need to complicate things by calling them holy. And yet these are the same activities that change lives, sometimes all at once and sometimes more slowly, the way dripping water changes stone. In a world where faith is often construed as a way of thinking, bodily practices remind the willing that faith is a way of life.”

Discovering God in Everyday Life

Discovering God in Everyday Life
Embed and Equip Worship, learning, sacraments, retreats, and more Create and Sponsor Family/intergenerational programs Small group experiences Equip and Resource Print, audio, and video resources for discovering God and for living practices in everyday life Connect and Engage New settings for spiritual conversations

A Household Curriculum
#2. Forming Faith at Home A Household Curriculum Content: Eight Faith Forming Processes Settings: Home, Intergenerational, Church Life, Parents Home: What are families doing to grow in faith and discipleship in each of the eight faith forming processes? Intergenerational: How are families connected to the other generations at church? Church: How are congregations empowering, resourcing, and supporting families to grow as disciples & practice their faith? Parents: How are congregations empowering, resourcing, and supporting parents as faith formers?

2. Faith Forming at Home Developmentally-Appropriate: Content accommodated to the needs and interests of each stage and to the way young people think and assimilate information and values at each life stage. young children (0-5) older children (6-10) young adults (11-14) older adolescents (15-18) emerging adults (19-29)

2. Faith Forming at Home Stage: Home Intergenerational Church Parents
Caring Relationships Celebrating Seasons Celebrating Rituals & Milestones Learning the Christian Tradition Praying & Spiritual Formation Reading the Bible Serving/Working for Justice Worshipping God Together

#3. Forming Faith through Milestones

#3. Celebrating Milestones
Birth / Baptism Starting School Year First Communion Receiving a first Bible Confirmation Graduation (HS, College) Engagement Wedding Retirement Death / Funeral

#3. Celebrating Milestones
a ritual celebration or a blessing marking the milestone with the whole church community a home ritual celebration or blessing marking the milestone a learning program, often for the whole family or intergenerational, that prepares the individual and the whole family for the milestone and for faith practice at home a tangible, visible reminder or symbol of the occasion being marked resources to support continuing faith growth and practice after the milestone

#3. Celebrating Milestones: Baptism
Church Home Mentors/Coaches Parent preparation Family gathering Ritual Intergenerational connection Celebration of Baptism Reunion Baptismal anniversaries Caring conversations and storytelling Celebrating rituals Learning Praying Reading the Bible Serving Worshipping together

Build on an Event/Experience (Sacraments, VBS, Mission Trip, and much more)
Preparing What types of experiences, programming, activities, and resources will you develop to prepare people for the event? Experiencing How will you design the event? How will you engage age groups, families, and the faith community? Living How will you sustain/extend the event? What types of experiences, programs, activities, and resources will you offer people?

#4. Celebrating Seasons Calendar Year Church Year
New Year’s Eve and Day Martin Luther King Jr. Day Valentine’s Day St. Patrick’s Day Earth Day Mother’s Day Memorial Day Father’s Day July 4 – Independence Day Labor Day Start of School Halloween Thanksgiving Advent Christmas Epiphany Ash Wednesday Lent Holy Week Easter Pentecost St. Francis Day–Blessing the Animals (October 4) All Saints and Souls (Nov 1-2)

Example: 40-Day Lent Curriculum
Church Life  Daily & Home Life  Online Life Ash Wednesday Lenten Sunday liturgies Stations of the Cross Lenten prayer Lenten retreat Lenten service Lenten soup suppers Fasting Praying Service/Almsgiving Lectionary reflection Family activities Lenten learning resources Lenten calendar Daily Lenten prayer Weekly table prayer Video resources Online retreat experience

Example: Earth Day Community Church Home Community cleanup
Planting a community garden All ages workshop on caring for creation Story time at the library on environmental awareness Ecumenical prayer service Intergenerational program on theology of caring for creation Church audit Global project for whole community Recycling activities Planting a family garden Meal time creation prayer Daily Bible verses for April Children’s activities Storybooks and videos Home audit

#5. Encountering God in the Bible
Scripture in Sunday Worship Lectionary Sermon Series Exploring the Bible—Family or Intergenerational Programs A Tour of the Old Testament A Tour of the Gospels Walking with Jesus Journeys of Paul

Scripture in Sunday Worship Intergenerational & Home Faith Formation September: 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time October: 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time November: 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time December: 2nd Sunday of Advent January: Baptism of the Lord Sunday February: 1st Sunday of Lent March: Palm Sunday April: 4th Sunday of Easter May: Holy Trinity Sunday

Going Deeper Family Convers-ation Children’s Bible Activities Table Ritual Prayer/Devotion Daily Bible Verses Serving/Action Ideas

Sunday Worship Tri-Saints Lutheran Church

#6. Connecting Families Intergenerationally
Becoming Intentionally Intergenerational Identify ways families are current connected and engaged intergenerationally in the faith community Develop ways to strengthen IG connection and engagement Create new ways to connect and engage families Intergenerational and Family Learning Intergenerational Family Service

#6. Connecting Families Intergenerationally: Learning

Bible Study Family Time Worship Skills Recreation GenOn Ministries

A flexible, relaxed arrival time with drinks and snacks Creative exploration of a Bible story/theme through creative experiences for people of different learning styles and of all ages. Children and adults are not separated and are encouraged to explore the story/theme together A short but explicit time of worship with story, music and prayers that builds on the creative exploration. A generous welcome and hospitality is expressed through a delicious home-cooked, sit-down meal with others

Connect Intergenerational & Family
Preparation: knowledge & practices for participating fully Guided Participation: in the events of church life & the Christian Faith Reflection: on the experience and living its meaning in daily life

#6. Connecting Families Intergenerationally: @ Home
THEME Learning - Going Deeper Family Convers-ation Rituals Prayer/Devotion Reading the Bible Serving/Action Ideas

#7. Developing a Strong Family Life
Family faith formation strengthens family life by developing the assets/strengths and skills for healthy family life and providing a supportive context for forming faith, living the Christian faith, and promoting positive development in children and youth. Developing family assets or strengths Promoting character strengths in young people through developmental relationships.

Family Assets – Search Institute

Developing a Strong Family Life Developmental Relationships – Search Institute
Express Care Challenge Growth Provide Support Expand Possibilities Share Power

Create a Family Life Plan for Each Life Cycle Stage Using the Family Assets and Developmental Relationships, curate and create developmentally-appropriate programs, activities, and resources for families at each stage. Family website Parent programs Family programs Family mentors Life cycle support groups for parents

Parent Program (Keep Connected) Family Programming Communicating effectively Establishing family routines: family meals, shared activities, daily commitments Celebrating meaningful traditions and rituals Discussing tough topics Making decisions and solving problems as a family Learning how to build strong relationships and express care for each other Developing the strengths & potential of children & youth Supporting each other: encouraging and praising, giving feedback, standing up for each other Treating each with respect and dignity

#8. Empowering Parents & Grandparents
Twin Tasks Promoting the faith growth of parents Developing the faith forming skills of parents Content Theological and spiritual formation of parents Skills for parenting for faith growth Knowledge and skills for parenting

Guides for Developing Parent Programming Address diverse spiritual-religious identities of parents. Have parents practice new skills with their own children during program sessions. Give parents a plan for parenting. Give them a plan for parenting proactively. Show them how it works. Tell them what to do today.

Guides for Developing Parent Programming Address the levels of partnership with parents. Aware Involved Engaged Invested Design programs that engage parents in the learning experience. Use a variety of environments & methods to engage all parents. Use online platforms and digitally enabled strategies.

Ideas for Parent Programming Parent website Parent programs—a progression of workshops, webinars, and/or courses for each stage of the lifecycle Laboratory experiences—immersion/hands-on experiences through church events or family/intergenerational programs Parent mentors Lifecycle support groups for parents A parent catechumenate—around key milestone experiences and “moments of return”

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