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Explore the influential factors that promote faith growth during emerging adulthood, including the teenager's parental religion, importance of faith, lack of doubts, prayer, scripture reading, personal religious experiences, and support from nonparent adults in the church.
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Factors that Promote Faith Growth • The combination of the following factors makes an enormous difference in religious outcomes during emerging adulthood: • the teenager’s parental religion • importance of faith • lack of religious doubts • prayer • Scripture readingand • personal religious experiences • having support nonparent adults in the church • These most influential factors make differences of sizeable magnitude in substantive outcomes.
Factors that Promote Faith Growth Strong relational modeling and support for religious commitment: parental religion, more supportive adults in congregation Genuine internalization of religious significance(importance of faith, religious experiences, no doubts) Personal practice of religious faith: prayer, Scripture reading Paying certain costs for one’s religious beliefs (abstaining from sex, being made fun of for faith)
Factors that Promote Faith Growth In these seven factors alone, we have identified some powerful teenage factors associated with and, we think, causing differences in emerging adult religious commitment and practice.
Factors that Promote Faith Growth “. . . teenagers with seriously religious parents are more likely that those without such parents to have been trained in their lives to think, feel, believe, and act as serious religious believers, and that that training “sticks” with them even when the leave home and enter emerging adulthood”
Factors that Promote Faith Growth “Emerging adults who grew up with seriously religious parents are through socialization more likely (1) to have internalized their parents religious worldview, (2) to possess the practical religious know-how needed to live more highly religious lives, and (3) to embody the identity orientations and behavioral tendencies toward continuing to practice what they have been taught religiously.”
Factors that Promote Faith Growth “At the heart of this social causal mechanism stands the elementary process of teaching—both formal and informal, verbal and nonverbal, oral and behavioral, intentional and unconscious, through both instruction and role modeling. We believe that one of the main ways by which empirically observed strong parental religion produced strong emerging adult religion in offspring is through the teaching involved in socialization.” (Souls in Transition: The Religious & Spiritual Lives of Emerging Adults by Christian Smith with Patricia Snell)
Factors that Promote Faith Growth • Approximately 70% of youth who at some time or other before mid-emerging adulthood commit to live their lives for God, the vast majority appear to do so early in life, apparently before the age of 14. • Most make their first commitments to God as children or during the preteen or very early teen years. • Many religious trajectories followed in the course of life’s development seemed to be formed early on in life.
Factors that Promote Faith Growth • In the transition from the teenager to the emerging adult years, the religious lives of youth are not thrown up into the air to land in a random jumble. • Where youth end up religiously as emerging adults is highly governed by the nature of their religious upbringings, commitments, and experiences in earlier years. • Most lives during this transition into emerging adulthood reflect a great amount of continuity with the past.
Factors that Promote Faith Growth What people have been in the past is generally the best indicator of why they are what they are in the present and what they will likely be in the future. That is a fact the needs to condition the understanding of emerging adult religion.
Family Religious Socialization • Strengthen family religious socialization, especially in the first decade of life—by nurturing a vibrant faith in parents and equipping them with the skills and tools for developing faith at home. • Develop the home as a center of faith formation by promoting foundational family faith practices: caring conversations, rituals and traditions, prayer, Bible reading, and service.
Family Religious Socialization • Educate and equip parents to embed foundational faith practices into the daily experience of family life. • Develop family programs: milestone faith formation, family learning, family service • Engage families more fully in the life and ministries of the church community.
Family Faith Formation • Family Socialization: Begin faith formation early in life – at Baptism and focusing on early childhood. • family faith formation at home – family faith practices • parent formation • parent support system / mentoring • resources for the first 5-6 years of life • milestone faith formation
The Impact of Congregational Culture It is the culture of the whole church that is most influential in nurturing youth of vital Christian faith.
44 Faith Assets:Congregational Faith • Congregation’s Biblical Emphasis • Congregation Teaches Core Christian Concepts • Congregation’s Moral Guidance • Worship Services’ Positive Characteristics • Congregation Promotes Service • Congregation’s Mission Effectiveness
44 Faith Assets:Congregational Qualities • Warm, Challenge Congregational Climate • Welcoming Atmosphere • Satisfied with the Congregation • Importance of this Church to Me • Congregation’s Moral Guidance • Congregation’s Social Interaction • Congregation’s Openness to Change • Members Experience Love and Support
44 Faith Assets:Youth Ministry Qualities What impact did involvement in youth ministry have on young people? • Deepen my relationship with Jesus • Understand my Christian faith better • Apply my faith to daily life • Make serious life choices (future, relationships, values) • Share my faith These congregations are serious about making disciples of Jesus Christ.
44 Faith AssetsFamily & Household Faith Qualities Faith of the Parents… • My faith helps me know right from wrong • I have a sense of sharing in a great purpose • I have had feelings of being in the presence of God • I have a sense of being saved in Christ • I am spiritually moved by the beauty of God’s creation • God helps me decide what is right or wrong behavior • I have found a way of life that gives me direction.
44 Faith AssetsFamily & Household Faith Qualities Faith of the Parents… • Religious faith is important in my life. • My life is committed to Jesus Christ. • My life is filled with meaning and purpose. • I have a real sense that God is guiding me. Each of the 11 items rate 7.30 or better on a 9.0 scale.
44 Faith Assets:Family & Household Faith Qualities Teens: How have your parents influenced your faith life? • Values are focused on serving others and God. • Positive influence on my religious faith • Talk with me about my relationship with Jesus Christ • Attending Sunday worship • Talked with my parent about religious faith • Reading the Bible
44 Faith Assets:Family & Household Faith Qualities • One in four teens said their family sat down together and talked about God, the Bible, and other religious things on a weekly or daily basis. • 40% of teens said they did this once or twice a month.
44 Faith Assets:Congregational Leadership Pastors matter immensely in effective youth ministry and in very specific ways. • Support for Christian education and youth ministry (and involvement) • Leadership effectiveness • Communication skills • Interpersonal characteristics • Support for youth staff
44 Faith Assets:Congregational Leadership • Creates a healthy culture • Spiritual Influence (devout faith, exemplary life) • Personal characteristics • Good counselor • Mission is to make disciples • Preaches to make disciples
44 Faith Assets:Congregational Leadership Leadership of the Youth Minister • Positive Characteristics & Competence (devout faith and exemplary life, good counselor, effective model for others, helps youth on their spiritual journey) • Leadership & Effectiveness(trusted and respected, recruits and trains leaders, supports leaders, good organizer, works with parents)
44 Faith Assets:Congregational Leadership Adult Leaders in Youth Ministry • People of Faith • God consciousness • Moral responsibility • Centrality of faith • Theological competence • Social responsibility • Relational Characteristics • Positive relationship with youth • Positive relationship with parents
Embracing Congregational Culture • Pay attention to the culture of the whole church • Recognize the power of the congregation’s theological commitments. • Nurture the power of faith, multi-generational Christian relationships. • Focus on discipleship. • Engage parents and families in faith practice at home and church.
Embracing Congregation Culture • Apply common youth ministry practices and approaches contextually. • Cultivate faith-filled, competent, and committed leadership.
Faith Formation for EveryoneA Lifelong Faith Formation Network
Features of a Lifelong Faith Formation Network 1. A Lifelong Faith Formation Network addresses the diverse life tasks and situations, spiritual and religious needs, and interests of all ages and generations in the four scenarios by offering a variety of content, programs, activities, and resources.
Features of a Lifelong Faith Formation Network 2. A Lifelong Faith Formation Network guides individuals and families in discerning their spiritual and religious needs and creating personal learning pathways—a seasonal or annual plan for faith growth and learning.
Features of a Lifelong Faith Formation Network 3. Lifelong Faith Formation Network incorporates informal learning, as well as formal learning in faith formation.
Features of a Lifelong Faith Formation Network 4. A Lifelong Faith Formation Network utilizes a variety of faith formation models to address the diverse life tasks and situations, religious and spiritual needs, and interests of people: • learning on your own • at home • in small groups • in large groups • in the congregation • in the community and world
Features of a Lifelong Faith Formation Network 5. A Lifelong Faith Formation Network blends face-to-face, interactive faith formation programs and activities with virtual, online faith formation programs, activities, and resources. • web-based technologies and digital media provide 24x7 faith formation for all ages and generations, anytime and anywhere
Digital & Face-t0-Face • Face-to-Face • Virtual • On Your Own • At Home • In Small Group • In Large Group • In Church • In Community & World Spiritual & Religious Needs Topics or Themes
Approach #1 • Begin with people’s participation in face-to-face learning activities and extend the learning online. • Sponsor a parish program on the Gospel of Matthew in preparation for Cycle A (a family or intergenerational program, a 3-session adult program, a youth meeting, etc.) • Extend and deepen the learning with online resources • weekly commentaries for each Sunday of Cycle A • online Bible study program (independent or with a small group) on the Gospel of Matthew • a university course on the Gospel of Matthew on iTunes U • an online blog that allows people to post their reflections on each Sunday’s reading and invites discussion online
Approach #2 • Begin with people’s participation in online learning activities and invite them to in parish learning programs • Develop an online spiritual formation center (website) for your church using a variety of already existing resources: • daily fixed hour prayer (liturgy of the hours) • weekly and seasonal prayer resources • links to prayer sites around the world • an online retreat (A thirty-four week retreat for Everyday Life from Creighton University • online courses with spiritual guides like Thomas Merton, Joyce Rupp, Henri Nouwen, Joan Chittister from SpiritualityandPractice.com • prayer center to pray for people in the community • links to videos on prayer (YouTube) • online blog for sharing prayer practices and experiences
Features of a Lifelong Faith Formation Network 6. A Lifelong Faith Formation Network incorporates communities of practice to connect individuals and groups throughout the congregation.
