The Leaders

Family Faith FormationCertificate in Faith Formation for the 21st CenturyCourse #3

+

1

OverviewSession 1. ResearchPart 1. Parents, Families, and FaithSession 2. Live Presentation #1Session 3. Families Today: Research InsightsSession 4. Parents Today: Research InsightsSession 5. Family Faith Practices TodaySession 6. Faith Transmission in Families Today

+

OverviewPart 2. Strategies for 21st Century Family Faith FormationSession 7. Live Presentation #2Session 8. Strategy Forming Family Faith through CommunitySession 9. Strategy Forming Faith thru MilestonesSession 10. Strategy Forming Faith at Home through the Life Cycle Session 11. Strategy Developing a Strong Family Life Session 12. Strategy Empowering Parents & GrandparentsSession 13. Application: Designing a Families-at-the-Center PlanSession 14 - Live Presentation #3

+

Course Texts

+

Online Resources

+

FamiliesAtTheCenter.com

+

Presentation #1Research: What do we need to know?Faith & Families: What are the practices that make a difference?Transforming Our Narrative: Families at the Center

+

Changes in the American Family The 1950s FamilyThe 2010s Family

+

The Changing American Family

+

The Changing American Family

+

The Changing American Family

+

The Changing American Family

+

The Changing American Family

+

Part 1. Research: Family TodayWhat do we need to know?

+

What do we need to know?#1. Diverse Family FormsThere is no single family arrangement that encompasses the majority of children today. Two-parent, married couple households are on the decline. Children and adolescents live in a variety of family arrangements that change and evolve over the course of a childs life.

+

What do we need to know? Married Couple with no childrenMarried Couple with Children (biological family)Married Couple with Children (blended family)Single Parent with ChildrenUnmarried Couple with ChildrenUnmarried Couple without Children Same Sex Couple with Children (married/unmarried)Same Sex Couple without Children (married/unmarried)Grandparents & Parents with ChildrenGrandparents as Primary CaregiversParents with Single Young Adults Living at Home

+

What do we need to know?#2. Diverse Financial SituationsOne-third of parents say they live comfortably. Roughly the same share (32%) say they are able to meet their basic expenses with a little left over for extras. One-in-four parents say they are just able to meet their basic expenses.9% say they dont even have enough to meet their basic expenses.

+

What do we need to know?#3. Mothers Working Outside the Home70% of all mothers of children younger than 18 and 64% of mothers with preschool-aged children work outside of the homeAbout three-fourths of all employed moms are working full time. About thirty percent of mothers living with children younger than 18 are at home with the children.

+

What do we need to know?#4. Some Children Start Out with a DisadvantageNearly 15 million children in America live below the official poverty level. Low-income families with children age 8 and under face extra barriers thatcan affect the early years of a childs development. Parents in these familiesare more likely than their higher-income peers to lack higher education andemployment, to have difficulty speaking English and to be younger than 25.

+

What do we need to know?#5. Being a Parent An Important Part of IdentityThe overwhelming majority of mothers and fathers say that being a parent is extremely or very important to their overall identity and a rewarding experience.Parents are busier than evenand often overwhelmedmanaging and balancing work, education, family life, young peoples activities, and their own personal lives.

+

What do we need to know?#6. Parents Engaged in their Childrens LivesA large majority of parents young people say that get along well or pretty well, have fun together, and feel close to each other. Even though many parents feel rushed in their daily lives, most (59%) say that they spend about the right amount of time with their children and a third (36%) say they spend too little time with their children.

+

What do we need to know?#6. Parents Engaged in their Childrens LivesYoung people are very involved in a variety of extracurricular activities, but parents with higher income and higher education are more likely to report that their children participate in activities. A majority of parentsacross income levelsare involved in their childrens education (talking with teachers, attending school meetings, going on class trips.)

+

What do we need to know?#7. Parents Are Concerned about Childrens Well-Being and SafetyParents biggest concerns are about the well-being and safety of their children:being bulliedstruggling with anxiety of depressionbeing kidnappedgetting beat up or attackedgetting pregnant/getting a girl pregnantgetting shotgetting in trouble with the law

+

What do we need to know?#8. Parents Want Honest, Ethical, Caring ChildrenParents want their children to be honest and ethical as adults, caring and compassionate, and hardworking. The top values that are important for them to teach include (in order): 1) being responsible, 2) hard work, 3) religious faith, 4) helping others, 5) being well mannered, 6) independence, 7) empathy, 8) obedience, 9) persistence, 10) creativity, 11) tolerance, and 12) curiosity.

+

What do we need to know?#9. Parents Have Different Approaches to Digital WorldThere is a widespread adoption of new digital technologies and mobile devices that are transforming the way parents and children relate, communicate, work, and learn.Parents can be divided into three groups based on how they limit or guide their childrens screen time with each group representing about one-third of all parents: digital limitersdigital enablersdigital mentors

+

What do we need to know?#9. Parents Have Generational Parenting Styles In general Gen X parents approach child-rearing as a set of tangible practices that will keep their children safe, reasonably happy, well-behaved, and ready to take on lifes challenges. They practice protective parenting.

+

What do we need to know?#9. Parents Have Generational Parenting Styles In general, Millennial parents, reflecting their values of individuality and self-expression, focus more on a democratic approach to family management, encouraging their children to be open-minded, empathetic, and questioningand teaching them to be themselves and try new things. They are moving away from the overscheduled days of their youth, preferring a more responsive, less directorial approach to activities. (Responsive Parenting)

+

What do we need to know?#9. Parents Have a Diversity of Spiritual-Religious Identities Parents reflect an increasing diversity in religious beliefs, practices, and affiliation. 23% of Generation Xers and over 34% of Millennials are not religious affiliated and the number of unaffiliated Millennials is growing.Families of Generation X and Millennial parents are participating less in church life and Sunday worship. Religion and spirituality may be important to families today, but for many it is not usually expressed by participation in churches.

+

What do we need to know?

+

What do we need to know?#10. Religious Socialization and Transmission Is More Complex. Significant indicators, such as religious identification as a Christian, worship attendance, marriages and baptisms in the church, and changing generational patterns, point to a decline in family religious socialization across all denominations. There is also a decline in religious traditions and practices at home. Gen X and Millennial parents often lack the religious literacy and religious experiences necessary for faith transmission.

+

What do we need to know?#10. Religious Socialization & Transmission Is More ComplexIn her book Losing Our Religion: How Unaffiliated Parents Are Raising their Children identifies four distinct worldviews among unaffiliated parents: Secular (believes there is no God that influences the world or human life) Seeker Spirituality (believes there is no God but there is a higher power or life force)Unchurched Believer (believes in a personal God who listens and can intervene in human affairs; and prays or attends services)Indifferent (no beliefs or practices).

+

What do we need to know? She identifies 5 different strategies that parents use to incorporate religion in the lives of their children. Nonprovision: These are parents who do not incorporate religion into their childrens lives at home or congregation. (unaffiliated)Outsourcing: These are parents who rely on other people to incorporate religion into their childrens life. They do not intentionally incorporate religion or spirituality in the home, enroll the child in formal program like CCD or Hebrew school or Sunday school, and decline to become members of that religious institution. There was a common theme: they felt a duty as a parent to provide religion, regardless of their personal ambivalence about it, because their child had a right to this information.

+

What do we need to know? Self-provision: These are parents who try to incorporate religion into their childrens upbringing without institutional support. They remain unaffiliated, do not enroll their child in formal religious education program, and intentionally incorporate religion or spirituality into home.Alternative: These are parents who were unaffiliated before they had children and reported searching for and eventually affiliating with a community such as the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA). They enroll their child in a worldview education program; intentionally incorporate religion/spirituality in the home but do so in a consciously pluralistic way. Traditional: Some unaffiliated parents decided to return to the religion they were raised in and enroll their child in a conventional religious education program. Parents are Traditional if having children leads them to return to the community they were raised in and re-affiliate, a child is enrolled in conventional religious education program, and they incorporate religion in the home.

+

What do we need to knowManning found that in most cases, there was a great deal of consistency between the parents religious or secular identity and how they raised their children.

She observes, the fact that most parents in the study took steps to incorporate religion into the lives of their children is surprising only if we take None to mean the absence of any religious, spiritual, or philosophical worldview. Once we discover the more substantive dimensions of unaffiliated parents worldviews, we see that they transmit those beliefs and practices to their children much as affiliated parents do.

+

Part 2. Faith & Families

+

What are the practices that make a difference in faith transmission?Parents personal faith and practiceParent-child relationship: close, warmParents modeling and teaching a religious faithParents involvement in church life Grandparents religious influence & relationshipReligious tradition a child is born intoParents of the same faithFamily conversations about faithEmbedded family religious practices

+

What are the practices that make a difference?

+

What are the practices that make a difference?85% chance of being Highly Religious as an emerging adult if you were in the top 25% on the scales of: parental religionprayerimportance of faithScripture reading

+

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 lifes development seemed to be formed early on in life. What are the practices that make a difference?

+

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. (Christian Smith & Patricia Snell)What are the practices that make a difference?

+

At the heart of this social causal mechanism stands the elementary process of teachingboth 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) What are the practices that make a difference?

+

What are the practices that make a difference?

+

What are the practices that make a difference?Parents possess and practice a vital and informed faith understanding the Christian faith, participating in worship, praying, and engaging in service and mission.Family members expressions of respect and love create an atmosphere promoting faith.Parents engage youth and the whole family in conversations, prayer, Bible reading, and service that nurture faith and life.

+

What are the practices that make a difference?How have your parents influenced your faith life?Values are focused on serving others and God.Positive influence on my religious faithTalk with me about my relationship with Jesus ChristAttending Sunday worshipTalked with my parent about religious faithReading the Bible

+

What are the practices that make a difference?Effective religious socialization comes about through embedded practices; that is, through specific, deliberate religious activities that are firmly intertwined with the daily habits of family routines, of eating and sleeping, of having conversations, of adorning spaces in which people live, of celebrating the holidays, and of being part of a community. Compared with these practices, the formal teachings of religious leaders often pale in significance. Yet when such practices are present, formal teachings also become more important. (Robert Wuthnow, Growing Up Religious).

+

Eating together especially the power of Sunday meals and holidaysPraying bedtime rituals and prayer, grace before meals Having family conversations, talking about God Displaying sacred objects and religious images, especially the BibleCelebrating holidays and rituals Providing moral instructionEngaging in family devotions and reading the BibleServing othersWhat are the practices that make a difference?

+

The daily round of family activities must somehow be brought into the presence of God. Parents praying, families eating together, conversations focusing on what is proper and improper, and sacred artifacts are all important ways in which family space is sacralized. They come together, forming an almost imperceptible mirage of experience. (Robert Wuthnow, Growing Up Religious)What are the practices that make a difference?

+

What are the practices that make a difference?79% - Praying as a family77% - Participating in Sunday worship as a family76% - Eating together as a family 71% - Celebrating rituals and holidays at home

Engage in the practice at least once a week or more.

80% - Praying80% - Sunday worship91% - Eating together 74% - Celebrating rituals Top Four PracticesFrequency

+

What are the practices that make a difference?Next Highest 58% - Serving people in need as a family (23% once a week+)55% - Having family conversations (77% once a week+)51% - Taking time to grow in your own faith as a parent (74% once a week+)

+

Part 3. Families at the Center

+

Transforming Our Narrative How do we engage meaningfully with todays complex and diverse families?How do families transmit faith at home to the next generation in todays world? What does a vibrant family faith look like?

+

Transforming our NarrativeProgramsParenting as a strategyPathologizing or idealizing familiesPassing on the faithServing familiesCongregation-centered ministriesRelationshipsParenting as a relationshipTapping their strengths and resilience Living into the faithEmpowering familiesCommunity-centered ministriesFrom an emphasis on. . . Toward an emphasis on. . .

+

Transforming Our NarrativeEvolution of Family ApproachesExtended ApproachAge Specific ApproachThe Family Involvement ApproachParent/Family Parallel ModelFamily Small Groups ModelFamily Connected ModelFamily-Intergenerational Whole Community Model

+

Transforming Our Narrative: Families at the CenterSeeing the home as the essential & foundational environment for faith nurture, faith practice, and the healthy development of young people. Building faith formation around the lives of the todays families and parents, rather than having the congregation prescribe the programs and activities that families will participate in.

+

Transforming Our Narrative: Families at the CenterThe Family-at-the Center Approach recognizes that parents and the family are the most powerful influence for virtually every child and youth outcomepersonal, academic, social, and spiritual-religious; and that parents are the most important influence on the social and religious lives of children, youth, and emerging adults. Given the central role of families in shaping the lives of children and youth, the value of engaging, supporting, and educating families should be self-evident to all of us.

+

Transforming Our Narrative: Families at the CenterSee the home as the essential and foundational environment for faith nurture, faith practice, and the healthy development of young people. Reinforce the familys central role in promoting healthy development and faith growth in children and youth, and enhancing the faith-forming capacity of parents and grandparents. Build faith formation around the lives of the todays families and parents, rather than having the congregation prescribe the programs and activities that families will participate in.

+

Transforming Our Narrative: Families at the CenterAddress the diversity of family life today by moving away from one size fits all programs and strategies toward a variety of programs and strategies tailored to the unique life tasks and situations, concerns and interest, and religious-spiritual journeys of parents and families.Overcome the age-segregated nature of church and its programming by engaging parents and the whole family in meaningful intergenerational relationships and faith formation that involves all ages and families.

+

Transforming Our Narrative: Families at the CenterBuild upon the assets, strengths, and capacities present in parents and families, rather than focusing on their deficits and solving problems. Partner with parents in working toward shared goals and aspirations for their young people by supporting, equipping, and resourcing them.

+

Transforming Our Narrative: The Family as School of DiscipleshipIt is in the domestic household that we eat, sleep, bathe, get dressed, relax and converse with others. In the context of the household we learn basic social conventions, from table manners to the demands of hospitality toward guests. In the household we learn how to be accountable for our lives; we learn when we are expected for dinner (or to prepare dinner); we learn what chores and other miscellaneous responsibilities are assigned to us and how the smooth functioning of the household depends on the fulfillment of those chores and responsibilities. More importantly, in many households we learn about the possibilities for committed, appropriately vulnerable relationship with others and the privileges and responsibilities that those relationships bring. It is in this nexus of patterned relationships which constitutes the household that we can better understand the image of the Christian household as a school of discipleship. (Richard Gaillardetz)

+

Families at the Center:Eight StrategiesDiscovering God in Everyday Life Forming Faith at Home through the Life CycleForming Faith through MilestonesCelebrating Seasonal Events through the Year Encountering God in the Bible through the YearConnecting Families Intergenerationally Developing a Strong Family Life Empowering Parents and Grandparents

+

Families at the Center: Contextualizing our StrategiesDiversity of Family Forms: no dominant family form in U.S. Variety of Spiritual-Religious Identities:Engaged--------Occasionals---------Spirituals--------Unaffiliated Generational Parenting ApproachesGen X parentstangible practices that will keep their children safe, reasonably happy, well-behaved, and ready to take on lifes challenges. Protective ParentingMillennial parentsa more democratic approach to family management, encouraging their children to be open-minded, empathetic, and questioningand teaching them to be themselves and try new things. Responsive ParentingDiversity of Ethnicities: distinctive ethnic identities, histories, and religious traditions and practices

+