Families Are the Future of the Church 2014 Los Angeles Religious Education Congress

1. Families Are the Future of the Church 2014 Los Angeles Religious Education Congress John Roberto (LifelongFaith Associates) www.LifelongFaith.com

2. Overview If we want vibrant faith in our children, teens, and young adults, then family faith formation needs to be our #1 priority – and we need to devote our time and resources to building strong family assets and strong family faith. • How can parishes help individuals and the whole family weave faith into everyday life? • How can we equip today’s family for discipleship and lifelong faith growth, and support parents and grandparents as faith formers.

3. Download the Presentation @www.LifelongFaith.com

4. Faith Forming Processes • Caring relationships • Celebrating rituals and milestones • Celebrating the liturgical seasons • Learning the Christian tradition and applying it to life today • Praying, devotions, and spiritual formation • Reading the Bible • Serving people in need, working for justice, caring for creation • Worshipping with the faith community

6. Making a Difference in the Life of Families • Nurturing the faith life of parents and grandparents • Teaching and resourcing parents and grandparents to provide religious socialization and model the Christian faith and practice • Engaging the whole family in worship and community life • Equipping families to engage in faith practices • Building family assets • Encouraging parents to develop a warm, supporting, affirming, and authoritative parenting style

7. Family Assets Search Institute

8. A Faith Forming System

9. Church Life • Worship • Prayer • Sacraments and Rituals • Church Year Feasts & Seasons • Learning Programs (intergenerational, family, age-group) • Service & Mission • Community Life Events

10. Daily Life • Through the day: meal times, car times, morning and bedtime, exits and entries, family sharing times • Through the year: church year seasons, rituals and celebrations • Through the lifecycle: milestones and rites of passage • Through key family moments – good times and hard times, times of joy and sorrow • Through life issues and life skills: parenting, decision-making, financial planning, communication, and more

11. Connect Church & Daily Life with Online Content Strategies • Extend church events into daily life • Create new formats and delivery methods for existing programs • Create new programming Online Life Insights, Experiences, and Activities

12. A Faith Forming System Online Life Insights, Experiences, and Activities

13. Fashioned around Families

14. Build an Online Family Formation Center

18. Strategy #1Extend an Event You can extend. . . . • Sunday worship • Church year feasts and seasons • Sacrament and ritual celebrations • Children, teen, or family programming • VBS and summer camp • Mission trips and service projects • Retreat experiences . . . . and more

19. Example: Sunday Worship

23. Example: Lenten Season Online Lenten Experiences: Praying, Fasting, Serving • Video Introduction: “Ash Wednesday & Lent in 2 Minutes” • Video: Getting Ready for Ash Wednesday • Exploration: “Meaning of Lent” • Day-by-Day through Lent • Lenten Calendar • Lenten Devotional • Lenten Activities • Simple Meals in Lent: Recipes for Lent • Special: Lenten Retreat for Grandparents

24. Welcome to Lent 2014 in 2 Minutes!

25. Get Ready for Ash Wed

26. How much do you know about Lent?

27. 40 Lenten Ideas

28. Day-by-Day through Lent

29. A Lenten Calendar

30. A Lenten Calendar

31. Lenten Devotional

32. Lenten Devotional

33. Living Lent

34. Eating Simply During Lent

35. Grandparent Online Retreat

36. More Resources

38. How Did I Curate Lent? Criteria: • Trusted Sources • Appropriate to the life stage • Solid biblical and theological content • Solid liturgical season content • Enriching, do-able, short, repeatable activities that weave into daily life • Enjoyable!

39. How Did I Curate Lent? • Vibrant Faith @Home: http://vibrantfaithathome.org • Busted Halo: http://bustedhalo.com • Church Knows Church:www.chuckknowschurch.com/archive/16-ash-wednesday • Loyola Press: www.loyolapress.com/40-ideas-for-40-days.htm • Luther Seminary: www.luthersem.edu/lent • Upper Susquehanna ELCA Synod: www.uss-elca.org/2014-lenten-resources-available-for-free-download • Catholic Relief Services: www.crsricebowl.org/family-activities • The Text this Week: www.textweek.com/lent.htm • Catholic Mom: http://catholicmom.com/kids/lenten-activities-for-children

40. Example: Sacrament or Milestone

41. After Baptism

42. Strategy #2Redesign Programs Create new formats and delivery systems for church-based programs • Adult enrichment program • Parent speaker series • Parent workshop • Church event – worship, church year celebrations, ritual • VBS – daily updates & children’s presentations And more. . . .

43. Google+ Hangout • Online Course, Small Group, Workshop, or 1-1 Mentoring • Broadcast a Presentation • Record the Presentation (YouTube)

44. Strategy #3 Design New Programs Online Parent Resource Center • Parent Webinar Series • Learn: Children and Adolescent Development • Video: Parenting for the Long Haul • Learn: Nine Parenting Strategies • Parent Activity: Develop Positive Values in Children • Family Activity: Family Communication • Parent Resources http://familyfaithformationnetwork.weebly.com/parenting.html

49. How Did I Curate the Parent Online Center? • Vibrant Faith @Home: http://vibrantfaithathome.org • ParentFurther: http://www.parentfurther.com • Boys Town: http://www.boystown.org/hotline • Ted Talks: https://www.ted.com