Faith Formation 2020
Lifelong Faith Formation Network
How can congregations design the future of faith formation using the four scenarios as a guide for addressing the life situations and spiritual and religious needs of a wide diversity of people? The future of faith formation will, in large part, be determined by how well churches provide comprehensive, lifelong faith formation that is inclusive of all ages and generations and responsive to the diverse life situations, and spiritual and religious needs of people in all four scenarios: people of vibrant faith and active engagement in a church, people who participate in church life but are not spiritually committed, people who are spiritual but not engaged in a church community, and people who are uninterested in the spiritual life and not affiliated with a church community.
The design process and tools will assist your church in finding practical ways to expand the scope of faith formation to reach and engage people in all four scenarios. One way to provide comprehensive faith formation for everyone, anytime, anywhere, 24x7x365 is by developing a Lifelong Faith Formation Network of programs, activities, and resources that incorporate a variety of ways to learn in a blended approach to faith formation integrating physical face-to-face settings and virtual online settings and utilizing utilizes a wide variety of faith formation resources and programs, people and communities. The design process integrates your church’s current faith formation programs, activities, and resources with the creation of new initiatives—strategies, programs, activities, resources—specifically designed to address new spiritual and religious needs of people in each scenario.
Key Features of a Lifelong Faith Formation Network
Read about the Six Key Features of a Lifelong Network.
Designing a Lifelong Faith Formation Network
The design process and tools will assist your church in finding practical ways to expand the scope of faith formation to reach and engage people in all four scenarios. One way to provide comprehensive faith formation for everyone, anytime, anywhere, 24x7x365 is by developing a Lifelong Faith Formation Network of programs, activities, and resources that incorporate a variety of ways to learn in a blended approach to faith formation integrating physical face-to-face settings and virtual online settings and utilizing utilizes a wide variety of faith formation resources and programs, people and communities. The design process integrates your church’s current faith formation programs, activities, and resources with the creation of new initiatives—strategies, programs, activities, resources—specifically designed to address new spiritual and religious needs of people in each scenario.
Key Features of a Lifelong Faith Formation Network
- A Lifelong Faith Formation Network is a way to provide faith formation for everyone, anytime, anywhere, 24x7x365. The Network approach to lifelong faith formation has six key features:
- A Lifelong Faith Formation Network addresses the diverse life tasks and situations, spiritual and religious needs, and interests of all ages and generations in the four scenarios by offering a variety of content, programs, activities, and resources.
- A Lifelong Faith Formation Network guides individuals and families in discerning their spiritual and religious needs and creating personal learning pathways—a seasonal or annual plan for faith growth and learning.
- A Lifelong Faith Formation Network incorporates informal learning, as well as formal learning in faith formation.
- A Lifelong Faith Formation Network utilizes a variety of faith formation models to address the diverse life tasks and situations, religious and spiritual needs, and interests of people: learning on your own, at home, in small groups, in large groups, in the congregation, and in the community and world.
- A Lifelong Faith Formation Network blends face-to-face, interactive faith formation programs and activities with virtual, online faith formation programs, activities, and resources.
- A Lifelong Faith Formation Network incorporates communities of practice to connect individuals and groups throughout the congregation.
Read about the Six Key Features of a Lifelong Network.
Designing a Lifelong Faith Formation Network
The goal of the
design process is to guide your church in developing and implementing a plan
for a Lifelong Faith Formation Network, utilizing a wide variety of programs,
activities and resources, that builds
on the current faith formation offerings of your church and expands faith formation to address the
religious and spiritual needs of people in the four scenarios of Faith
Formation 2020. The design process includes nine planning tasks. Customize the
process for your church’s context and priorities. (All of the Tools for the design process can be downloaded in a Microsoft Word file. See the link below.)
Read about the 9 Steps in the Design Process.
Download the reproducible tools and worksheets.
- Form a Lifelong Faith Formation Network Task Force.
- Prepare a statement of your church’s vision and goals for lifelong faith formation.
- Develop an inventory of your church’s current faith formation programs, activities, and resources using the four scenarios.
- Describe the diverse life tasks and situations, spiritual and religious needs, and interests of age groups and families in each of the four scenarios; and develop a profile of the most important needs.
- Research people, programs, activities, and resources to address the priority life issues and spiritual/religious needs.
- Design new initiatives to address the new spiritual and religious in each of the four Faith Formation 2020 scenarios.
- Develop an Integrated plan for the Lifelong Faith Formation Network with all of the programs, activities, and resources organized according to the four scenarios and the six faith formation models.
- Develop an online faith formation center for connecting people to each other and to the resources of the Lifelong Faith Formation Network.
- Develop a marketing/promotion plan to promote the Lifelong Faith Formation Network.
Read about the 9 Steps in the Design Process.
Download the reproducible tools and worksheets.
