Designing 21st CenturyFaith Formation

John RobertoLifelongFaith Associates

Vision

. . . engaging everyone in faith formation – all ages & generations

. . . connecting all generations in the faith community

. . . developing families as faith forming communities

. . . reaching & building relationships with the uninvolved & unaffiliated

Imagine

Intergenerational Faith Community

Age Group/Generational

Faith Formation

Family Faith Formation

Missional Faith Formation

Online & Digitally-Enabled Faith Formation

Comprehensive

Faith formation is comprehensive – connecting four essential contexts for making disciples and promoting lifelong faith growth, facilitated by the use of new online communities & resources, and digitally-enabled approaches to faith formation.

Intergenerational Faith Formation through church life: caring community, celebrating,

learning, praying, serving

Age-Specific Faith Formation across the entire life-span:

children – teens – young adults – adults

Missional Faith Formation:outreach & presence

pathways for encounter & engagement

Family Faith Formation: family faith practice & faith

transmission family life enrichment

parent faith formation and parenting education

Faith Forming

GROWTH IN FAITH

Caring Relationships

Rituals & Milestones

Church Year Seasons

Learning the Tradition

PrayingSpiritual

FormationReading the

Bible

Serving Working for

Justice Caring for Creation

Worshipping

Faith Forming

Processes

Eight essential faith forming processes—involving knowledge and practices of the Christian faith—facilitate faith growth and make a significant difference in the lives of children, youth, adults, and families.

Digitally-Enabled

Online Faith

Formation

Mostly Online with

Regular Interactio

n in Gathered Sessions

Online Faith

Formation &

Gathered Sessions (Flipped Classroo

m)

Gathered Program

with Online

Components

beyond the

Program

Gathered Program

with Supportive Online Content

A Network of Faith Formation

A shift from education to learning anywhere, anytime.A shift from consumption of information to participatory learning.

A shift from institutions to networks.

Bible

Course

Online course

Bible study group

Book

Video Program

Audio book/po

dcast

Mentor

Bible app

Organize a study group

Networks of Faith Formation

Imagine faith formation as a network of relationships, content, experiences, and resources offering a wide variety of engaging and interactive content and experiences in online and physical settings (church, home, community, world) that respond to the diversity of people today.

Imagine congregations as centers of learning, and faith growth.

Intergenerational Experiences &

Connections

Sunday Worship

Seasons of the Year

Scripture Enrichment

Spiritual Enrichment

Faith Enrichment

Justice & Service

Milestones & Rituals

Discovering Faith

Life Stage Issues

Adult Network

Intergenerational Faith Community

Sunday Worship

Seasons of the Year

Reading the Bible &

Learning the Faith

Celebrating Rituals &

Milestones

Serving Others

Praying & Spiritual Growth

Family Life

Just For Parents

Families with ChildrenNetwork

Design

Innovation Design ProcessStanford School of Design

Empathize Define Ideate Prototype Test

Network Design Process

1. Research the Target Audience and Identify Needs2. Build the Faith Formation Network Design3. Generate Programming for the Faith Formation

Network4. Design a Season of Faith Formation Programming5. Build the Digital Platform6. Design a Process for Assessing and Personalizing

Learning7. Test the Seasonal Plan and Web Design8. Launch the Faith Formation Network 9. Evaluate the Season of Programming 10. Design the New Season of Programming

Step 1. Research

Children & Families Teens & Families Emerging Adults: 20s-30s Young Adults: 30s-40s Mid-Life Adults: 40s- mid 50s Mature Adults: mid 50s-70s Older Adults: 75+ Families All Ages/Multigenerational

1. Life Stage Issues2. Generational

Issues3. Milestones &

Life Transitions4. Ethnic &

Cultural Needs5. Spiritual &

Religious Needs

Step 1. Research

1. Review the relevant research and effective faith formation practices for your target audience.

2. Conduct focus groups & interviews. 3. Conduct research out in the community.4. Find patterns/common themes in the

research findings.

Step 1. Research

1. Compile the responses for each question from all of the interviews. Digital Version Newsprint Version Post-It Note Version

2. Review the responses for each question to identify related themes. Group these items together by giving identical or similar items the same number beginning with #1. The #1 item should have the most responses, the #2 item the second most responses, and so on.

3. Name in one phrase or sentence each of the most mentioned responses—themes. Develop a summary report for each question that includes only the top priority themes.

Empathy Map

SAYWhat do you hear your target group

saying?

DOWhat actions and behaviors do you

notice in your target group?

THINKWhat might your target group be thinking? What

does this tell you about their

beliefs/convictions?

FEELWhat emotions

might your target group be feeling?

Step 1. Research

Produce a summary report of the observations, a summary report of the interviews, and a summary report of the focus groups Compile one report of the major insights from your

community observations. Compile one report of your interview findings—

identifying the major themes for each interview question.

Compile one report of your focus group findings—identifying the major themes for each focus group question.

Compiling the Themes

Observation Interviews Focus Groups

Point of View (POV) Want Ad

A point-of-view (POV) is your reframing of a design challenge into an actionable problem statement that will launch you into generative ideation. A POV Want Ad can be a good way to express your distilled findings in an intriguing format. The want ad format tends to accentuate a specific user, and his/her important character traits. Embed your user, his or her need, and your insights within the format of a want ad.

POV Want Ad

Format: 1. Descriptive characterization of the target

audience…. (needs/concerns/interests)

2. Followed by “seeks”. . . . (looking for from church)

3. Plus additional flavor of the target audience to capture your findings

POV Want Ad

Example: Time crunched, stressed and pressured families

seek connections, support and guidance to develop a strong, healthy, value-centered

family life where faith can be applied to daily needs. Must deal with contradiction that we want to feel welcome and involved, but don't

bug me or take my time.

POV Want Ad

Examples: Energetic young adults seek a social network seeks

a faith-based social network that will help them navigate today’s fast-pace world, make

connections with others to get together and serve our community, hang out, and have fun.

Passionate about making a difference and doesn't want to be left on the sidelines

Step 2. Design Network Themes

1. Caring Relationships2. Celebrating the Seasons3. Celebrating Rituals & Milestones4. Learning the Christian Tradition5. Praying & Spiritual Formation6. Reading the Bible7. Serving, Working for Justice, &

Caring for Creation8. Worshipping God9. Missional10. Life Issues11. Life-Stage12. Major Programs

Faith Communi

ty

Content

AreaConte

nt Area

Content

AreaConte

nt Area

Content

Area

Content

Area

GROWTH IN

FAITH

Caring Relations

hips

Rituals &

Milestones

Church Year

Seasons

Learning the

Tradition

PrayingSpiritua

l Formati

onReading the Bible Serving

Working for

Justice Caring

for Creatio

nWorship

ping

Eight Faith Forming Processes

Whole Community Network

Faith Community

Children &

FamiliesYouth and

Families

Young Adults

Mid-life Adults

Mature Adults

Older Adults

Intergenerational Faith Community

Sunday Worship @ Home Faith

Practices @ Home:

Seasons of the Year

Faith Practices @Home: Bible &

Learning the Faith

Faith Practices @Home: Rituals &

Milestones

Faith Practices @

Home: Service

Family Life Assets

For Parents

Children’s Programs &

Events

Missional / Discovering

Faith

Families with ChildrenFaith FormationNetwork

Intergenerational Faith Community

Sunday Worship

Liturgical Seasons

Scripture Enrichment

Spiritual Enrichment

Faith Enrichment

Service & Mission

Life Issues &

Milestones

Grand-parents

Missional &

Discovering Faith

Adult Faith FormationNetwork

Step 3. Generate Programming1. Correlate the most important needs from the

research into the appropriate content areas of the network. Some of the important needs will be included in multiple content areas.

2. Add the faith formation programs that will continue to be offered for the target audience into the appropriate content areas of the network. Some programs may be listed more than once.

3. Add events, ministries, and programs from the intergenerational faith community into the appropriate content areas of the network. Some events/programs may be listed more than once.

Content Areas Needs Current Programs

Inter-generational

New Ideas

Digital Strategies

Caring Relationships

Church Year Seasons

Learning the Tradition

Prayer/Spiritual Form.

Reading the Bible

Rituals & Milestones

Service, Justice, Creation

Worship

Life Stage Issues

Missional

Additional Area

Profile & New Ideas

Content Areas Needs Current Programs: At Church, At Home

Inter-generational

New Ideas

Digital Strategies

Caring Relationships

Church Year Seasons

Learning the Tradition

Prayer/Spiritual Form.

Reading the Bible

Rituals & Milestones

Service, Justice, Creation

Worship

Family Life Stage Issues

Family Assets

Parents

Missional

Family Profile & New Ideas

Review the Profile

1. What needs are we not currently addressing in this target audience?

2. Who are we currently serving? Who are we not serving? Do we have outreach and programming directed toward the “churchless”—the spiritual but not religious and the unaffiliated and uninterested.

3. Do we have strong intergenerational connections and programming for this target audience?

4. Are we utilizing online/digital programming and resources with this target audience?

5. Do we have a variety of learning environments for this target audience: self-directed, mentored, at home, in small groups, in large groups, church-wide, in the community, and in the world

Programming Principles

1. Focus on the life tasks, needs, interests, and spiritual and faith journeys of people in the target audience.

2. Target the spiritual and religious diversity in the target audience.3. Develop programming around the eight faith-forming processes.4. Offer a wide variety of programming to address the diversity of

people’s lives.5. Use multiple environments for programming: self-directed,

mentored, at home, in small groups, in large groups, church-wide, in the community, and in the world.

6. Design online & digitally enabled strategies into programming.7. Incorporate intergenerational programming into faith formation.8. Design missional initiatives to reach the spiritual but not

religious and the unaffiliated.

Digitally-Enabled Faith Formation

Identify opportunities for blended faith formation.

Online Faith

Formation

Mostly Online with

Regular Interacti

on in Gathered Sessions

Online Faith

Formation &

Gathered Sessions (Flipped Classroo

m)

Gathered Program

with Online

Components

beyond the

Program

Gathered Program

with Supporti

ve Online

Content

Generate Programming

1. What new programming do we need to offer to address the needs that surfaced in our research?

2. What would our target audience like to see the church offer them through faith formation?

3. How can we address the audience’s needs through age-specific programming?

4. How can we address the audience’s needs through intergenerational or family programming?

5. How can we develop missional outreach programming and strategies to reach the SBNR & unaffiliated in our target audience.

Idea Generating #1. “How Might We…”

Brainstorm responses to the question: “How Might We?” and abbreviate on post-its with “HMW.”

“How Might We Address this Need…” Go for quantity, not quality at this point. Post all of the ideas on sheets of easel paper. Cluster similar HMW statements.

Idea Generating #2.“What If…”

Use imagination to generate ideas. List as many “what if” statements as you can on

Post-it notes. Ask them to complete the “What if…” statement

personally, writing one statement per post-it. After several minutes, ask people to place their Post-it notes on a sheet of easel paper. Then cluster similar ideas together. A sense of priority is often revealed as one or more of the clusters claim the energy and interest of the group.

Step 4. Design a Program Season

Fall Season: September 1 –

January 1

Winter/Spring Season: January

1 – May 1

Summer Season: May 1 –

September 1

Fall

Winter-Spring

Summer

Step 4. Design a Season

1. Identify the season. 2. Add continuing age-group programs.3. Add intergenerational programs and events.4. Add redesigned, digitally-enabled programming5. Select new programming ideas.6. Develop the final version of the plan:

Select the program ideas for each content area Schedule the programming, e.g., a monthly focus

Design a Season

7. Develop specific plans for each program: Date or month Learning environment(s) Digital strategy(s) Resources Leaders Cost

Seasonal Plan

Content Area Programming & Dates

Month 1 Month 2 Month 3 Month 4

Theme or Content

Area

Activity 1Resource

Resource

Activity 2Resource

Resource

Activity 3Resource

Resource

Programming

Programming a Page

Programming a Page

Intergenerational Faith Community

Sunday Worship @ Home Faith

Practices @ Home:

Seasons of the Year

Faith Practices @Home: Bible &

Learning the Faith

Faith Practices @Home: Rituals &

Milestones

Faith Practices @

Home: Service

Family Life Assets

For Parents

Children’s Programs &

Events

Missional / Discovering

Faith

Families with ChildrenFaith FormationNetwork

Faith Practices @ Home

Daily Devotion Resources

Reading the Bible Resources

Serving Others Resources

Caring Conversations Resources

Church Year Seasonal Resources

Learning about Faith Resources

Rituals Resources

Children & FamiliesProgramming

Family Faith Formation Network

Faith Community

Youth Programs Confirma

tion Program

Sunday Worship

& Church Seasons

Adolescent Life Issues

Bible Study & Religious Learning

Prayer & Spiritual Formatio

nService Projects Mission

Trips

Milestones

Youth Leadersh

ip

For Parents

Parent-Teen

Activities &

Resources

Missional

Youth Faith FormationNetwork

Prayer & Spiritual

Life

Daily Devotion Resources

Spiritual Mentoring Resources

Prayer Group Resources

Spiritual Practices Course

Resources

Retreat Resources

Day at the Monastery Resources

Online Prayer

Intentions

YouthProgramming

Faith Community

Worship & Church Year

Life Issues, Transitions,

& Milestones

Scripture Enrichment

Faith Enrichment

Spiritual Enrichment

Justice, Service, Mission

Missional & Discovering Faith (Alpha

Course)

Young Adult Peer

Community

Young Adult FaithFormationNetwork

Intergenerational Faith Community

Sunday Worship

Liturgical Seasons

Scripture Enrichment

Spiritual Enrichment

Faith Enrichment

Service & Mission

Life Issues &

Milestones

Grand-parents

Missional &

Discovering Faith

Adult Faith FormationNetwork

Spiritual Enrichme

nt

Online Courses Resource

Apps & E-newsletters Resource

Online Prayer &

SpiritualityResources

Small Group Bible Study Resources

Retreats Resource

Day at the Monastery Resource

Spiritual Book of the Month Club

Resource

Monthly Spiritual Practices

Series

Resource

Adult Programming

Adult Faith Formation Network

Step 5. Build a Digital Platform

Other Platformswww.wordpress.org www.wix.com www.squarespace.com

Build a Digital Platform

1. Choose a domain name.2. Select a website template that is “mobile”

responsive.3. Create the primary navigation system (main

menu) from the network content areas.4. Build each webpage to incorporate all

programs, activities, and resources for each content area.

5. Design the webpage for your target audience—write the website content to your audience.

Things to Remember…

1. Don’t make the user think—make web pages self-explanatory so the user hardly has any perceived effort to understand them, for example, clear choice of labels, clearly “clickable” items, simple search.

2. People generally don’t read web pages closely; they scan, so design for scanning rather than reading.

3. Create a clear visual hierarchy and menu system (main menu, submenus).

4. Make it very clear how to navigate the site, with clear “signposts” on all pages.

5. Omit needless words.6. The home page needs the greatest design care to

convey site identity and mission.7. Promote user goodwill by making the typical tasks

easy to do, make it easy to recover from errors, and avoid anything likely to irritate users.

Step 6. Design Personalized Learning

Discerning Learning Needs

Working with a Mentor/Guide

Finding Resources on the Network

Engaging in Formation in a

Variety of Learning

Environments

Sharing Learning with Others

Reflecting on Growth &

Identifying New Needs

Personalized Faith Formation

Personalized pathways for discipleship & faith growth. . . . Guide people in discerning their religious and

spiritual needs Equip people with the resources and tools to

learn and grow at their own pace Provide mentoring and support for the

journey

Step 7. Test the Plan & Website1. Let your user experience the network online. Show don’t tell. Let

them review the website and the programming. Just the minimum context so they understand what to do. (Have computers or tablets available for people to use or ask them to bring a device to the focus group.)

2. Have them talk through their experience. For example, when appropriate, ask “Tell me what you are thinking as you are doing this.”

3. Actively observe. Watch how they use (and misuse!) the website. Don’t immediately “correct” what your user is doing.

4. Follow up with questions, such as: “Show me why this would (or would not) work for you.” “Can you tell me more about how this made you feel?” “Why? “ “Do you find things that interest you and connect with your life?” “Are there things you would have liked to see?”

Step 8. Launch the NetworkBe sure to pay careful attention to the titles and descriptions so that they capture people’s interests. Develop descriptions that are positive in tone, indicate clearly the content or focus of an activity. 1. Describe how your offerings respond to something

within the lives of people. Highlight the relationship between the content and the particular spiritual or religious needs, interests, passions, concerns, or life issues of people.

2. Describe the 2-3 benefits of participating or engaging in faith formation.

3. Explain to people how to use the Network and how to access the activities and resources.

Promotion Ideas

1. Connect to (or extend from) a gathered event, program, ministry.

2. Use personalized invitations. 3. Establish a Facebook page for faith formation for Network

announcements, updates, stories and photos from people engaged in faith formation, etc.

4. Use Twitter to announce updates, events, and invite reflections from people on their experiences in the Network.

5. Send email or regular e-newsletters to targeted groups (use a service like Constant Contact).

6. Provide ways to share experiences using blogs, Twitter, Facebook: videos, reports, photos, etc.

Connect to Social NetworksOur social network is made up of all the people we’re connected to, all the people they are connected to, all the people they are connected to, and so on.

You

Your Friends

Your Friends’ Friends

Your Friends’ Friends

Your Friends’ Friend’s Friends

Your Friends’ Friend’s Friends

Your Friends’ Friend’s Friends

Your Friends

Your Friends’ Friends

Your Friends’ Friends

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