Just What is Faith Formation?

How would you respond if a parishioner asked, “So what do you really mean by faith formation?”

I asked myself that question this week as I worked toward launching our new training program for congregational leaders: DO WHAT MATTERS! Faith Formation for a New Age. If we’re going to invite leaders to do what matters in their faith formation efforts, we need to be clear about what faith formation is, yes?

Problem is ‘faith formation’ has become a catch-all term that can mean just about anything a church or Christian community does—from the parish picnic, to Bingo nite, to team sports in the gym, to Sunday worship. It’s all faith formation, right?

Well, potentially yes, but there are some criteria that our programs and activities ought to meet in order to fall under the faith formation umbrella.

In a single line we could say faith formation is: equipping people to live as disciples of Jesus.

In his latest book, Generations Together, John Roberto reaffirms a traditional, but very rich notion that faith formation informs, forms, and transforms the person—whether child, youth, or adult—into a robust, vital, and life-giving Christian faith that is holistic: a way of the head, the heart, and the hands.

And faith formation does the very same for the Christian community as it immerses people into the particular practices and particular way of life that identifies them as followers of Jesus.

Roberto goes on to say, “While expressed in many different ways, faith formation seeks to help people:

• Grow in their relationship with God for the whole of life
• Live as disciples of Jesus at home, at work, in the community, and in the world
• Develop an understanding of the Bible and their faith tradition
• Deepen their spiritual life and practices
• Engage in service and mission to the world
• Participate in the life and ministries of their faith community”

So, faith formation may indeed occur at the parish picnic or on the gym floor, but it has little to do with eating hot dogs or sinking baskets, and whole lot to do with forming disciples. Much more on this when you join us for DO WHAT MATTERS! Coming to a city near you!

– Leif Kehrwald

Making It Sing!

I am a proponent of intergenerational faith formation. I am convinced that when we model good intergenerational patterns of faith interaction in the gathered setting (congregation), folks are more likely to do the same or similar at home.

But, of course, the intergenerational gathering must be done well. Here are twelve characteristics of an intergenerational session that “sings”, the subtle nuances that make the difference between an intergenerational program that limps, and one that hits the mark for fall ages.*

• Variety – keep the learning interesting and informative.
• Meaningful – it’s time well spent. Don’t gloss over the content.
• Goals – clear learning objectives lead to engaging session (know what, know how, know why).
• Timing – pay attention to ebb and flow of energy.
• Flexible – good planning leads to flexible implementation.
• Team – cooperation makes planning and implementation more solid.
• Welcome – genuine hospitality for all ages.
• Facilitation – keep it moving and “take care” of everyone.
• Audience – know them, and learn what resonates with them!
• Engage – all participate. Nobody sits on the sidelines watching. All activities have purpose.
• Resources – start with good intergenerational material, and then adapt to your needs.
• Alignment – all activities, including ice-breakers, games, prayer & worship, are aligned with the topic at hand.

If you want your intergenerational programming to “sing”, incorporate as many of these characteristics as you can.

*These characteristics emerged from survey data of more than 270 churches engaged in intergenerational faith formation as reported in Intergenerational Faith Formation: All Ages Learning Together by Mariette Martineau, Joan Weber, and Leif Kehrwald. Twenty-Third Publications, 2008.

– Leif Kehrwald

Ten Minutes or Less

A couple of times a year I do an in-depth analysis of the analytics of Vibrant Faith @ Home, our content-rich website filled with more than 600 faith-forming activities for families of all ages and stages. My logic is simple: while the research tells us what they ought to do to grow in faith at home, the analytics can show us what they’re willing to do.

My analysis is also simple. I look at the most popular activities on the site and determine what characteristics are common among those activities. From this I develop a list of characteristics of a faith-forming activity that will actually get used at home.

Perhaps the most important characteristic is that it can be done in 10 minutes for less. And even this requires developmental flexibility. By that I mean for young families with toddlers, 10 minutes is eternity. It really needs to be less than five minutes! A good example from our summer season is Lightning Bug Prayers. For families with teens or households with adults, you can stretch it beyond 10 minutes. See Hope Sustains Teen Life as an example.

Each activity needs to be short, yes. But you can do a short bit everyday for a week, or a month, or even a season. This is where good “curation” comes into play. The congregational leader selects and sequences a series of activities for families to do for a designated period. For example, many church leaders are sending a weekly email to their young families throughout the summer with the invitation to engage in a different form of outdoor prayer, based on activities they’ve “curated” from Vibrant Faith @ Home.

Each activity is short, but the cumulative effect throughout the summer is positive and tangible.

So, as you curate faith-forming activities for families in your congregation, make sure it is short, 5-10 minutes, but look for ways to provide a short bit everyday for a week, a month, or a season.

– Leif Kehrwald

Head, Heart, and Hands

The Faith Formation team at the Catholic Community of St. Peter in Charlotte, NC understands the importance and power of alignment. They’re working on a faith formation plan that will align head, heart, and hands.

Each month throughout the year, they will conduct a whole-community intergenerational learning program focused on some aspect of the Bible. Their “head” goal for the year is to enhance every member’s biblical literacy and help them see the relevance of God’s Living Word in their lives.

Following each intergenerational session, all parishioners will be expected to do an activity from Vibrant Faith @ Home, carefully selected to pertain to the topic of the month. Their “heart” goal for the year (and beyond) is to empower people to share about their faith at home.

Also, each month members will be encouraged to participate in a designated service/immersion activity. Their “hands” goal for the year is to get all members to recognize that learning about the Bible (head) and sharing faith at home (heart) should automatically lead to works of mercy and acts of justice for the sake of others (hands).

Here’s an example from their plan:

October
(Head) – Intergenerational Session on Introduction to Lectionary Year B
(Heart) – Vibrant Faith @ Home activity Sowing Seed
(Hands) – Refugee Event Serving with Catholic Charities
(Heart) – Vibrant Faith @ Home activity Welcoming the Stranger

That’s alignment.

As you plan your faith formation programming for next year, think about how you can align head, heart, and hands.

 -Leif Kehrwald

 

What about the Children?

I am working with a hand-full of congregations on the East Coast to help them shift the culture of their faith community from “faith formation is for children and teens” to “faith formation is a lifelong journey for everyone.”

They all agree on the need for such a shift, but as they work toward implementation, each congregation is encountering difficult and provocative challenges. They are wrestling with the right questions: what about the children? What is the role of children’s faith formation vis-a-vis this new (actually ancient) intergenerational approach for the whole community?

From the beginning of this project, I have espoused a vision of faith formation that is:

• lifelong — not just for children, but for everyone
• anchored in the community — not solely focused on the individual
• beckon vs. shove — adults beckoning children and youth into the faith rather than expecting church leaders to somehow shove God into the children and youth

When congregations catch this vision and implement it well, it transforms the community. They become a learning community as well as a worshiping community. Yet it has implications for children’s faith formation. Children remain important, but they no longer occupy the central focus of faith formation.

Their questions are important because they point to the natural resistance to change that these leaders need to recognize in themselves, as they can surely anticipate it also coming from parents and parishioners once the shift has been made.

My experience tells me that much of that resistance comes from those parents who are essentially doing church for the sole sake of their children. It’s tempting for leaders to think, “Well, at least they are coming.” Problem is, then, we only reinforce and perpetuate the mindset that we do church for the sake of children (which only promotes the graduation mentality already rampant). When, to a great degree, living the authentic Christian life requires maturity that comes only in adulthood. We need to structure and align congregational faith formation so that it leads people toward authentic Christian living.

There is a place for age-specific faith formation–for children, youth, and adults–but it’s not the central place. Age-specific faith formation should supplement and enhance the intergenerational efforts and the efforts in the home.

Like nearly every congregation I’ve worked with over the last ten years, I’m confident that my current East Coast group will only solidify their vision and passion for lifelong faith formation as they wrestle with the provocative question of what about the children?

by Leif Kehrwald