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What If. . . is where you will find feature articles on the future direction of faith formation with practical strategies and ideas. 
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New: Three Collections of Lifelong Faith Articles

In 2021 and 2022 I wrote a series of articles on lifelong learning and faith formation, on planning faith formation, and on the importance of Christian practices for all ages and generations. I have organized the articles into three collections to make it easy to use and download. 
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how_shall_we_live_now_collection.pdf
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lifelong_learning___faith_formation.pdf
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planning_faith_formation_collection.pdf
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Planning Faith Formation for 2022 and Beyond
​A Time for Creativity, Experimentation, Innovation

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This Guide to planning faith formation helps you think systemically about what we need to do in faith formation to address the challenges of today. The Guide suggests three perspectives to guide planning: #1. Think Systemically about Faith Formation, #2. Plan in a Three-Year Timeframe, and #3. Build Capacity. The Guide presents five examples of systems-level suggestions for creating faith formation that addresses the big challenges we face today: 
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  1. Expanding hybrid approaches to involve more people with time- and schedule-friendly programming, reach more people through different learning formats, promote more engaged learners, and find multiple ways to use the programming we create. 
  2. Creating seamless family faith formation from birth to high school graduation we strengthen the primary faith forming community and support parents in providing religious socialization at home. 
  3. Strengthening the intergenerational fabric of the faith community to create relationships and faith forming experiences among all generations, providing an important context for all ages to grow in faith and discipleship. 
  4. Creating a menu of faith forming experiences to address the diversity of people’s learning needs and religious-spiritual needs, overcoming the limitations of the one-size-fits-all approach. 
  5. Building “front porch” experiences to provide spaces to engage with people and build relationships out in the community. ​

​Download and read the article in PDF. 

Planning Faith Formation for 2022 and Beyond.pdf
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We Need to Become System Thinkers ​

How can a lifelong and life-wide approach to faith formation provide a systemic response to addressing the challenges of religious change and post-pandemic life?
 
Systems thinking is a way of helping us view a church’s faith forming systems from a broad perspective that includes seeing the whole life span and the context of people’s lives today, rather than seeing only specific issues or concerns (e.g., we’ve got to solve the youth problem). By focusing on the entire system of faith formation, we can attempt to identify solutions that address as many problems as possible in the system. The positive effect of those solutions leverages improvement throughout the system. Thus, they are called “leverage points” in the system. This priority on the entire system and its leverage points is called whole systems thinking. 

Download and read the article in PDF. 
A Systemic Approach.pdf
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​Networks of Lifelong Learning – Parts One & Two

We live in the age of networks. We are all part of networks—families, schools, workplaces, religious congregations, social circles, and more. Networks— collections of people (and their resources) connected to each other through relationships—aren’t new. They are as old as human society. Over the past two decades, facilitated by digital technology and tools, societies have become more connected. Network thinking and design now permeate social life. Increasingly education is being viewed and designed as a network of learning resources— people, experiences, content, activities, and more—fashioned around the learning needs of people.
 
We now have the ability to construct our own networks of learning, utilizing a variety of new technologies and the abundance of high-quality print, audio, video, and online resources that are readily available to us. Learning networks not only provide access to a virtually endless array of opportunities that also offer us multiple points of entry, providing individualized pathways of learning and faith growth.
 
How can lifelong faith formation be developed as a network of learning for all ages and generations? ​
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Read the Two- Part Article Online.

Download the Articles in PDF. 
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Networks of Lifelong Learning - Part 1.pdf
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Networks of Lifelong Learning - Part 2.pdf
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Becoming a Center of Lifelong Learning

Read the following description of what one organization does. Can you name the organization that I’m describing? 
  1. It provides resources, programming, and live events for all ages from young children through older adults. 
  2. It provides resources, programming, and services in physical locations and online formats for all ages. 
  3. Its resources, programs, and services are provided in multiple languages and in ways that are inclusive of people with special needs and disabilities. 
  4. It offers after-school programs for children and teens, including help with homework.
  5. It provides in-person and virtual career services and mentoring. 
  6. It provides Wi-Fi access for all ages and assistance in using technology. 
  7. It offers resources, support groups, and programs for parents beginning with babies and toddlers and moving through the high school years. 
  8. It offers family-centered programs throughout the year, and a variety of programs and experiences for children and families during the summer time—in person and online. 
  9. During the height of the pandemic, its parking lot was filled most days with families, jobseekers, telecommuters, and students taking advantage of free Wi-Fi to participate in Zoom meetings, distance learning, job interviews, and telemedicine appointments.
  10. During the pandemic it distributed materials such as free craft supplies and STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics) kits, supported distance learning, and offered Wi-Fi hotspots.
 
Did you figure it out? 
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10-19_what_if_article_-_center_of_lifelong_learning.pdf
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Fashioning Faith Formation around the Faith Journeys of People - Part One & Part Two

​You may be thinking that the title of this article is stating the obvious: Isn’t all faith formation fashioned around the faith journeys of people? To fashion faith formation around the faith journeys of people means putting people at the center of all that we do. It means addressing the actual lives of people—their struggles and joys, needs and hungers, life tasks and issues, social and cultural context, and more. It means addressing the diversity of their spiritual and religious commitments, engagements, and practices. There are churches that have made this vision the guiding light for all of their faith formation practice. Unfortunately, this is not the common practice. 

Part Two of the article provides a practical process and examples for personalizing faith formation. ​

Read the Part One and Part Two Articles Online.

Download the Part One and Part Two Articles in PDF. 
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Part One - fashioning_faith_formation.pdf
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Part Two - fashioning_faith_formation.pdf
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How People Learn Today

An important element of embracing a lifelong learning paradigm is to design faith formation experiences that reflect our best understanding of how people of all ages learn. Over the last twenty years we have been blessed with substantive research on how learning happens and how people learn best. In a recent study, How People Learn II: Learners, Contexts, and  Cultures (2018), The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine updated their 2000 report with new research and conclusions. This article presents the major conclusions of the study organized into the following categories: 1) The Influence of Culture, 2) Types and Processes of Learning, 3) Knowledge and Reasoning, 4) Motivation to Learn, 5) Implications for Learning, 6) Learning Technology, and 7) Learning across the Life Span.
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9-21_-_what_if_article_-_how_we_learn_today.pdf
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Envisioning Lifelong Maturing in Faith

​The shift to a lifelong faith formation paradigm in churches begins with a vision of maturing in Christian faith. In order to develop a lifelong paradigm a church needs of lifelong vision of faith maturing that can guide its practice of faith formation. I would suggest that this vision be expressed through goals for maturing in faith that apply to the whole life span. Faith formation in each stage or season of life would be guided by one vision of faith maturing expressed through specific goals and life stage appropriate faith formation. 

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9-14_what_if_article_-_lifelong_maturing_in_faith.pdf
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​Embracing a Lifelong Learning Paradigm

The paradigm of education has shifted over the last several decades. Most fundamentally it has moved from an instructional, schooling paradigm focused primarily on children and youth in age-graded classroom settings to a lifelong learning paradigm focused on people learning in a diversity of settings for the whole of life. 

I believe that the shift to a lifelong faith formation paradigm can enable churches to become centers of lifelong learning for every season of life from young children through older adults—providing a way to engage people in learning and practicing their faith at every stage of life. This if the first of a series of  What If. . .  articles that will to explore how to make the paradigm shift to lifelong faith formation for churches who are just beginning the journey, and how to enhance and expand the shift among churches who have already begun.

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9-1_what_if_article_-_the_lifelong_paradigm.pdf
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Building Capacity for Faith Formation

One of the essential roles of all pastoral leaders today is to develop the mindset, the processes, and the skills for becoming capacity builders. Capacity building is designed to improve and enhance the church’s ability to achieve its mission and sustain itself over time. Among the essential capacities needed in churches today are leadership (professional and volunteer), financial sustainability, facilities, communication, technology, collaborations with other churches and community organizations, and programmatic resources in all forms—print, audio, video, digital, and online. This article explores how to develop a capacity-building mindset and two essential skills for building capacity for faith formation: curating resources and developing leaders. 

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what_if_article_-_building_capacity.pdf
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what_if_article_-_building_capacity.docx
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How Shall We Live Now? – Part Five
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Forming Habits of Christian Practice

It wasn’t too long ago that children were socialized into the habits of faith by parents, grandparents, and extended family. The daily, weekly, and annual patterns (routines) of families nurtured habits of prayer, Bible reading, celebration, rituals, participation in community life, and much more. Small habits of prayer upon rising, before meals, and closing the day were built into the fabric of daily life. Living in a society that makes our lives much more complex has made sustaining the habits of faith much more difficult. The pandemic has disrupted every aspect of life and disconnected people from the benefit of the habits of faith which give their life meaning and purpose. If “habits are not born but created,” then how do we form people of all ages in Christian practices that become habits of daily Christian living, drawing them more deeply into a life with God in whom we “live, and move, and have our being” (Acts 17:28).  

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5-3_what_if_article_-_how_shall_we_live_-_part_5.pdf
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How Shall We Live Now? – Part Four
Designing a Christian Practices Learning Program

The fourth article focuses on designing learning programs and the processes (methodology) of teaching and learning Christian practices. The dynamic of forming people of all ages in a Christian practice incorporates four movements, which become the template for designing Christian practices learning programs. 
  • Movement 1. Reflecting on Our Lives 
  • Movement 2. Exploring the Christian Practice
  • Movement 3. Experiencing the Christian Practice
  • Movement 4. Living the Practice 
The article presents a design example for the Practice of Prayer to illustrate the four movements in an age group program, intergenerational or family program, small group, and retreat/extended time program. 

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4-26 What If - How Shall We live - Part 4.pdf
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How Shall We Live Now? - Part Three
Designing a Christian Practices Curriculum

This third article in the series focuses on building a curriculum to form people of all ages in Christian practices. The article describes six ways to develop a plan for your church: 
  1. Engage in the Christian Practices of Your Community
  2. Embed Christian Practices into Existing Formation Programs.
  3. Develop an Annual or Seasonal Christian Practices Plan.
  4. Align Christian Practices with the Lectionary.
  5. Connect Christian Practices to Milestones and Life Transitions. 
  6. Create Christian Practice Apprenticeships. 

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4-19 What If - How Shall We Live - Part 3.pdf
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How Shall We Live Now? - Part Two
Practices of a Christian Way of Life

Christian practice is about walking with God, becoming kind, and doing justice: “what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8). It is not about believing in God and being a good person; it is about how one becomes a good person through the practice of loving God. This second article in the series explores "What do we mean by Christian practice?" and "What practices are central to forming a Christian way of life?"  

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4-11 What If - How Shall We Live - Part 2.pdf
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​How Shall We Live Now? - Part One

​I believe that faith formation (and the whole church) in the emerging post-pandemic world will need to help people of all ages answer the question “How shall we live now?” The pandemic has disrupted our lives in ways that we have only begun to name. We are searching anew for meaning and purpose – now in a post-pandemic world. We are trying to process our losses and the grief that brings. We are struggling to build a world of  justice, peace, care for creation, and respect for the dignity of all people. We are starting to rebuild our network of relationships and our resiliency as families and communities. We are all looking to answer the question, “How shall we live now?” in a post-pandemic world. What are the approaches, resources, people, and wisdom we need to address this question? 

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4-5 What If - How Shall We Live - Part 1.pdf
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​Becoming “Anticipators of the Future”

We need to develop the mindset and skill of anticipating. We need to become “anticipators of the future”—embracing a role as keen observers of what is happening in our communities and churches—imagining in advance what shape life will take as the pandemic winds down and a new way of life emerges, and planning to take action. I am practicing being an “anticipator” by listening to the pandemic experiences and questions of a wide spectrum of people, including colleagues, pastors, faith formation leaders. I’ve been watching and reading some of the best thinking on post-pandemic life and what this new life will mean for individuals, families, and communities. I’ve started my own list of “anticipations” for the future of church and faith formation to guide my thinking. Here are my five anticipations (in no particular order):
  1. Promoting the wellbeing of people, especially the young and parents
  2. Forming new life routines and habits
  3. Addressing the injustices and inequalities in U.S. society
  4. Embracing hybrid lives and hybrid Christian communities
  5. Reconnecting the generations 

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3-22 What If - Anticipating the Future.pdf
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Photo by Leon on Unsplash
March 15, 2021

​Learning from Faith Formation during the Pandemic:  Reflection and Evaluation

​There’s much to be learned from your pandemic creativity and innovations. Many of the new approaches you launched—at home faith formation, digital methods and media, online learning, to name a few—can become permanent features of faith formation in your church for years to come. 
Now is a good time to reflect and evaluate while everyone’s experience is still fresh. This is the time to capture your personal learning and engage all those participating in faith formation in sharing their stories and experiences. This article presents three types of evaluation: Personal, Team, and Participant. I have created worksheets for each of the three types of evaluation that can be easily adapted for your church and setting. 

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3-15 What if - Learning through Evaluation.pdf
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Research Guide.docx
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March 1, 2021

​A Vision for Maturing in Faith

This article proposes ten goals for maturing in faith that can guide the development of faith formation at each stage of life so that we can (re)direct our attention to people growing in faith and discipleship. Guided by the ten goals we can ask what we need to be doing to help faith and discipleship flourish in the lives of our people from childhood through older adulthood. 

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3-1 What if - Faith Maturing Vision.pdf
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February 1, 2021

​New Approaches to Faith Formation ​in the Midst of the Pandemic

What are we discovering and learning about faith formation, about our community, and about ourselves during these long months of the pandemic?

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2-1 What if - New Approaches.pdf
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February 8, 2021

Planning Faith Formation in a Post-Pandemic World

How do we plan a new future for faith formation that addresses the adaptive challenge of recognizing the changing conditions caused by the pandemic and then designing creative and innovative initiatives to respond to people's lives today. 
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2-8 What If - Post-pandemic Planning.pdf
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Research Guide.docx
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February 15, 2021

Creating Innovation in Faith Formation

This article explores how to create innovation in faith formation by presenting two types of innovation, strategies for continuing to innovate, and five suggestions for moving forward with innovation into the future. 

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2-15 What if - Innovation.pdf
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Photo by Brooke Cagle on Unsplash
February 22, 2021

A Hybrid Future for Faith Formation

I believe the future of faith formation is hybrid. Hybrid models hold together two important values in faith formation: the importance of in-person relationships and faith forming experiences, and the importance of being responsive to the complexity of people’s lives and their religious-spiritual needs. Hybrid models expand faith formation opportunities for everyone. 
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2-22 What if - Hybrid Faith Formation.pdf
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This website is developed by John Roberto as a service of Lifelong Faith Associates - committed to helping churches develop lifelong faith formation for all ages and generations.
John Roberto
 Lifelong Faith Associates
133 Old Towne Road, Cheshire, CT 06410
203-232-1129
​  jroberto@lifelongfaith.com 
  • Home
    • About John Roberto
    • Lifelong Faith Team
    • FORMA Conference
    • Lifelong Faith Course - Presbyterian Church in Canada
  • Faith for a Lifetime
    • Course Registration
  • Lifelong Vision & Practices
    • Goals
    • Intergenerational
    • Family
    • Networks
    • Hybrid
    • Pathways
    • Playlists >
      • Digital Tools & Apps >
        • Learning Apps
    • Models
  • Christian Practices
    • Caring for the Body
    • Celebrating Life
    • Discernment
    • Eating Well
    • Forgiveness
    • Keeping Sabbath
    • Managing Household Life
    • Participating in Community
    • Prayer
    • Reading the Bible
  • Digital Ministry
  • Library
    • Lifelong Faith Articles
    • Books
    • Journal
    • Virtual VBS