Insights & Practices

The Insights & Practices from Research and Theory Series explores the latest research and thinking on forming faith with families and age groups, and suggests practical strategies for forming faith that reflect the current research and thinking

Report #2. Practices for Forming Faith Intergenerationally

We have known for some time that a graded-level, schooling model of faith formation focused almost exclusively on children and youth, all by itself, fails to move the needle in the quest for effective faith transmission, i.e., passing faith to the next generation. Rather, a whole life approach that offers intergenerational programming and home/family learning options, along with age-specific efforts has a much greater chance of authentic and lasting faith transmission.

Research and other literature clearly indicate that intergenerational faith formation plays a crucial role in the faith transmission process, and every church should consider how to incorporate it in their faith formation efforts. This report can help. Our review of the literature on intergenerational faith formation can be capsulized in the following categories.

Benefits of intergenerationality. The literature points to the significant value of intergenerational faith formation through such factors as the following: it strengthens faith and involvement for all ages, provides relationships beyond family, utilizes gifts and abilities of all, forms caring community, and passes on faith traditions. It’s worth the work.
Research findings. In short, the research shows the importance of intergenerational connections, which benefits not just children and youth but emerging adults and all ages, and intentional intergenerational efforts which strengthen the vitality of church communities.
Practical applications. There are a host of ways intergenerationality can be infused into church life, including worship, mentoring programs, multi-age/family learning programs, milestone events, service projects, and parent formation and involvement. Creativity, outside-the-box thinking, is key to finding the right application.
Principles and strategies. What does it take to make it a reality? When a faith formation team is doing well with intergenerationality, they have embraced more than a few of these intentions: promoting Christian identity, building caring relationships, addressing developmental needs, employing varied and experiential methods, developing collaborative leadership, assessing current ministries, and starting small with experiments.
Becoming intentionally intergenerational. Some key factors to keep in mind: it requires commitment over time, it must focus on belonging, learning, and serving together, and it must see intergenerationality as integral to church life and ministry.

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Report #1. Practices for Forming Faith with Families & Parents

We seek to respond to several key questions that surface when considering faith transmission for children and youth. When it comes to passing faith to the next generation, in our minds, the key questions are:

What do we mean by faith transmission? In short, the faith transmission process culminates when a young person or young adult makes a conscious choice to take their faith and religious practice and make it an integral part of their identity and life.
What does the research show are the most important contributors to effective faith transmission? The answer—parents and family—has been known for decades, yet most congregations cling to programming models that harness the influence of neither parents nor family. It’s time to get serious about our partnership with the home and understand each other’s roles.
What does the research show are the activities, tasks, and behaviors that bolster faith transmission? While certain activities such as family faith conversation, and behaviors such as “warm” interactions between parents and children, have real impact over time, what’s more important is creating a faith-building culture that renders faith growth normative. “It’s what we do, and it’s who we are.”
What are the implications for faith formation leaders, and the church as a whole? Broadly speaking, the research has voiced the same conclusions for decades: parents and family matter most. Yet, for decades, faith formation programming has clung to variations of a gathered, graded-level, schooling model that perhaps was never as effective as we would like to believe, and has certainly become obsolete in the post-pandemic, digitally-enabled world of today.

Tapping into the research reports from more than a dozen recent studies, we offer a concise, cogent, and hopefully helpful response to each of these four questions. Our goal is to empower you to develop new and innovative approaches and strategies that engage, encourage, and equip parents for family faith transmission and formation. From that work, we are confident, will emerge best practices for the future of faith formation in churches.

There is no more urgent task for churches today than strengthening parental and family faith and practice. Use this information to assess your current practice, redesign ministry and programming, and create new initiatives that engage, encourage, and equip parents and the whole family at home, church, and school.

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