John Roberto spoke about the need for an ecosystem for faith formation today at Reimagining Formation 2016..
Faith Formation Ecosystem from Craig Mitchell on Vimeo.
See below for more on this event.
21st Century Faith Formation with John Roberto
“It is the culture of the whole church that is most influential in nurturing a vital Christian faith.” Leading educator John Roberto from Lifelong Faith spoke from US research about what makes congregations effective in ministry with young people. The Effective Youth Ministry study revealed that churches which were strong in youth ministry were in fact healthy faith communities for all ages.
Roberto is in Sydney for two key events exploring what lifelong faith formation might look like in a multi-faith, culturally diverse, digital-enabled world. 60 people from a range of churches in Australia and New Zealand gathered for a three day teaching intensive earlier in the. This weekend we’re hosting a national conference which will include a range of speakers and workshops on formation and mission in a digital age.
John invites us to think about different audiences and settings for faith formation. Much of our faith forming activity is aimed at the faithful core attenders of the church. We need different strategies to connect with occasional attenders, with those in the community who see themselves as “spiritual but not religious”, and with those who currently have no interest in either spirituality or religion.
He names eight faith-forming processes and invites churches to think differently about how these might take place – intergenerationally, in family settings, through digital communication.
- Caring relationships
- Celebrating the liturgical seasons
- Celebrating rituals and milestones
- Reading the Bible
- Learning the Christian tradition and applying to life
- Prayer, devotions and spiritual formation
- Serving and justice
- Worshipping God
The developers of the “Here2Stay” formational pillars for ministry draw heavily on Roberto’s work.
It is wonderful to be among a bunch of people who are passionate about forming faith.
John Roberto’s presentation materials for the events are available here.
Reimagining Faith Formation with John Roberto
John Roberto will be in Sydney 23-28 August for two events about Reimagining Faith Formation for the 21st Century. John is well-known internationally as a speaker, forward-thinker and author in faith formation, intergenerational ministry, and learning in a digital world.
John is the director of Lifelong Faith Associates (Connecticut, USA), author of several books including Reimagining Faith Formation for the 21st Century and is editor of Lifelong Faith Journal. His previous work on a Comprehensive Approach to ministry and mission with children, youth and families has been significant for churches in Australia as well as the USA.
These events are open to people from all Christian churches and schools and will be or particular interest to clergy, children and youth workers/ministers, school chaplains, and leaders in faith formation and educational ministries. The events are co-sponsored by the Uniting Church Assembly and the NSW-ACT Synod.
Venue: Uniting Church Centre for Ministry, 16 Masons Drive, North Parramatta
You’re invited to two events. You can attend either or both.
23-25 August – Learning Intensive: Engaging All Ages and Generations
A three day event with a focus on
- How formation and education are changing in today’s mission context?
- Promising approaches to faith formation
- Thinking beyond the gathered congregation
- Learning within and across generations
An intensive teaching event with John Roberto
- Tues 23rd 2.00pm-9.00pm
- Wed 24th 9.30am-5.00pm
- Thu 25th 9.30am-5.00pm
26-28 August – National Conference: Formation and Mission in a Digital World
A three day event with John Roberto as keynote speaker, plus electives, a multimedia expo, panel discussion, interest group conversations, resource displays, and a short film festival.
- Fri 26th 2.00pm-9.00pm
- Sat 27th 9.30am-9.00pm
- Sun 28th 1.00pm-4.00pm
Sunday 28th offers a morning option of visiting a church using multimedia in worship or education.
- The impact of digital technology in a social world
- Blended faith formation in a digital world
- Curating learning experiences
- Resources and tools for faith formation
- Social Justice and Social Media
- Developing engaging websites
- Marketing Your Ministry: Developing Practices for Effective Evangelism
- and more
Program, cost and registration information will be available from the early May at reimaginefaith2016.com
Download a flyer – here
Alive@5 at Rosefield
For four years I’ve been leading a monthly intergenerational worship and learning time at our local church in Adelaide. I recently did a write-up about it for John Roberto’s “Lifelong Faith” Journal. The journal is free and an excellent resource that comes out three time a year. You can find it here. My article is in Volume 8.3. I also have an article about Queenscliff and Point Lonsdale Uniting Churches in Volume 8.2.
Being an Intergenerational Church
A conversation with five children, youth and family workers
Recently I was part of an annual gathering of Uniting Church children, youth and family ministry staff from across the country. These people work at a state level but also have significant local involvements. Many of our synods have a current interest in what it means to be an intergenerational church. Our new podcast is a conversation with five of the group members – Chris Barnett and Fie Marino from the Synod of Victoria and Tasmania, Josie Neuendorff from Queensland, Emma Parr from the Synod of NSW-ACT and Brenton Prigge from Western Australia. We had a stimulating conversation about how generations in the church might live together and learn from one another.
Follow the Growing Disciples podcast on iTunes here.