Lifelong Faith
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Faith for a Lifetime


Part One

Lifelong Faith Course 

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Vision and Practices of Lifelong Faith Formation
A Self-Directed Course

In this self-directed course you will learn more about the vision and practices of lifelong faith formation, and how to create a plan for lifelong faith formation in your church. You will receive a weekly notice via email (February through April) to guide you in learning more about lifelong faith formation. Each week there will be a short article and activity to help you apply the vision and practices to your church. There will also be videos and resources online to assist you. 

In  
Lifelong Faith: Formation for All Ages and Generations I propose seven elements that I believe are essential for developing lifelong faith formation in the next decade and beyond—to transform faith formation in your church. These are elements that every church can contextualize and customize to their size, location, and diversity of their people. Using these elements to build lifelong faith formation requires committed leadership and a willingness to tap into the gifts and talents and energy of the whole faith community. Over ten sessions we will explore the seven elements and how to apply them to your church in subsequent articles. 

If you have questions or need assistance, email me at jroberto@lifelongfaith.com. 

Session 1. Lifelong Faith Formation in Your Church: 
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Three Reflection Activities

The first session and article (see below) provide three activities to help you reflect on and analyze lifelong faith formation in your church. You can do these three activities alone. However, I would recommend that you gather a team of people (e.g., church staff, faith formation leaders) to complete the three activities and to analyze what they tell you about the current state of lifelong faith formation in your church. These activities will provide a snapshot of lifelong faith formation in your church and what you can build on and what needs development. 

Activity 1: Characteristics of Lifelong Faith Formation
Activity 1 uses the seven elements of lifelong faith formation to create a series of characteristics of lifelong faith formation. Use this tool to explore the importance of each characteristic in the life of your church and how well each characteristic is present in your church today. 

Activity 2. Investment in Faith Formation
Imagine a pie representing 100% of your church’s investment in faith formation: people, time, energy, resources, money, and programming. What would the percentages look like for children, adolescents, young adults, midlife adults, mature adults, older adults, the whole family, and all ages together?

Activity 3. Lifelong Faith Formation Profile 
Develop a profile of your church’s current faith formation programs, activities, experiences, and events – at church, at home, online, and in other settings (in your community, at a retreat center, on mission trips, etc.) – for each stage of life. Incorporate intergenerational experiences and events, family programs and activities, and age group programming. 

Download the article in Word and PDF and feel free to make copies for your team and other leaders. 

Article #1

article_1_-lifelong_faith_formation_in_your_church.docx
File Size: 197 kb
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article_1_-lifelong_faith_formation_in_your_church.pdf
File Size: 382 kb
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Session 2. Goals for Maturing in Faith for a Lifetime 

Session 2 explores goals for maturing in faith and engages you in creating a vision of faith maturing for your church. 
  • What’s your church's vision for maturing in faith?
  • What does a vital Christian faith look like at each stage of the life span?
  • What are the characteristics of a committed, maturing Christian who is growing in faith and discipleship?
  • How does your vision guide the development of faith formation at each stage of life?  
 
In the Session 2 article, I propose ten goals for maturing in faith that can guide the development of faith formation at each stage of life so that you can direct your attention to helping people grow in faith and discipleship. Guided by the ten goals we can ask what we need to do to help faith and discipleship flourish in the lives of people from childhood through older adulthood. 

Use the article as your guide to help you identify and/or create goals for maturing in faith for a lifetime and how you can use these goals to develop faith formation with all ages and generations. 

Article #2

article_2_-_goals_for_faith_maturing.docx
File Size: 180 kb
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article_2_-_goals_for_faith_maturing.pdf
File Size: 264 kb
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Session 3. Introduction to Lifelong Faith Formation

The mission of making disciples and forming faith for a lifetime can seem over-whelming. Leaders want to make lifelong faith formation a reality. They want to nurture, sustain, and deepen the Christian faith for a lifetime. What if we could identify the essential elements that make lifelong faith formation work—key elements that could guide decision-making and planning in every single church? 

In my book, 
Lifelong Faith: Formation for All Ages and Generations, I present seven elements for developing lifelong faith formation. 
  1. Goals for maturing in faith
  2. Practices for forming a Christian way of life
  3. Intergenerational faith formation through Christian community
  4. Family faith formation with three generations
  5. Networks for forming faith with all ages
  6. Pathways for personalizing faith formation
  7. Playlists for engaging people of all ages in faith formation 

Chapter 1 in the book introduces lifelong faith formation. You have already been working on developing goals for maturing in faith. The next sessions we will explore each practice and provide ideas for applying that practice to developing lifelong faith formation in your church. 

Article #3

Lifelong Faith Formation for Today's World.pdf
File Size: 164 kb
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Session 4. The New Context of Faith Formation

It is not an overstatement to claim that the context of faith formation has changed more dramatically in the past 10 years than the prior 50 years. We now live in a world in which everyone has felt the impact of the pandemic and its disruption to their lives and to the world. 
 
Religious congregations have not been exempt. Many of the challenges they face today were highlighted and even accelerated by the pandemic. The decline in active engagement in church life and Sunday worship is especially worrisome to church leaders because it is so obvious today. However, the trend to lower levels of church participation and/or disaffiliation from institutional religion began in the early years of the 2000s. Now the trend is visible. 
 
Here are five “big picture” features of the new context of faith formation which are clearly visible today and having an impact on every church’s ability to transmit faith and nurture faith growth with all ages. (​Review Chapter One in Lifelong Faith: Formation for All Ages and Generations for commentary on the changing context in Session 3.)
  1. An increasingly pluralistic, secular, and diverse society which is often in tension with the Christian faith and makes it harder to nurture a faith life
  2. A ten-decade society with the dramatic increase of people over 60 years old 
  3. The diversity in religious affiliation, church participation, and faith practice among all ages, but especially younger generations; and the noticeable decline of participation by families after the pandemic
  4. The decline in religious socialization and transmission in families and church,  precipitated in part by the decrease in engagement of parents in a faith community and the rise of religiously unaffiliated parents 
  5. The lack of support systems/communities for sustaining and living a religious identity in today’s society

Activity 1. New Context Features
In addition to the five features of the new context, what would you name as features of the new context in your faith community – features that you see having an impact on faith formation in your context?
 
Activity 2. Seasons of Life Profile 
Develop a profile of people in each of the six seasons of life: life tasks and life situations. Use the worksheet in the article as a guide to this activity. 

  1. Life Tasks: First, identify several of the important life tasks and needs appropriate to each season of life from developmental and spiritual/religious perspectives These tend to be consistent characteristics. For example, developmental tasks for adolescents include identity (who am I?), belonging (where do I fit?), and purpose (what difference can I make?). However the context in which young people address and resolve these tasks has changed. (Two resource articles are included online with this article to assist you in naming life tasks and needs across the life span: “Nurturing the Faith of Young People” and “Key Life Tasks of Adulthood.”)
  2. Life Situations: Second, identify several characteristics of the life situations of people in the new context of life today.  Think of people in each season of life and ask yourself: What has changed in their lives? What are their new needs, issues, and concerns? What is changing religiously and spiritually in their lives? These questions help to identify the new context for faith formation in your church community. 
  3. Analysis: Third, take one or two seasons of life and analyze the impact of the changing life situations of people upon the life tasks. What are the implications for faith formation practice? What do you need to strengthen? What do you need to stop doing? What do you need to start doing? 
article_4_-changing_context_of_faith_formation.pdf
File Size: 216 kb
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article_4_-changing_context_of_faith_formation.docx
File Size: 167 kb
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Nurturing the Faith of Young People.pdf
File Size: 586 kb
File Type: pdf
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Key Life Tasks of Adulthood.pdf
File Size: 58 kb
File Type: 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
    • Vancouver
    • Archdiocese of Chicago
    • FORMA Conference
    • Lifelong Faith Course - Presbyterian Church in Canada
  • Faith for a Lifetime
    • Lifelong Faith Course
  • 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