This document discusses factors driving changes in faith formation and religious participation. It outlines 4 scenarios based on how receptive society may be to organized religion and people's hunger for spiritual life. It proposes a "Lifelong Faith Formation Network" approach using various models, programs, and online/face-to-face resources to meet the diverse religious and spiritual needs described in each scenario. Key strategies discussed include intergenerational learning, digital media, family faith formation, and engaging people through service.

1. Faith Formation
In the Multigenerational Congregation

2. Driving Forces
• Declining number of Christians and growing number
of people with no religious affiliation.
• Increasing number of people becoming more spiritual
and less religious.
• Declining participation in Christian churches.
• Increasing diversity and pluralism in U.S. society.

3. • Increasing influence of individualism on Christian
identity and community life.
• Changing patterns of marriage and family life.
• Declining family religious socialization.
• Aging Baby Boomers.
• Increasing use of digital media & web technologies.

4. No Religious Affiliation
• 15% of all Americans claim no religious affiliation
• 25% of all 18-29 year
• 10% drop in the number of Christians
• The challenge to Christianity in the U.S. does not
come from other religions but from a rejection of all
forms of organized religion

5. Spiritual But Not Religious
• Today, 18% of 18-39 year olds say that are “spiritual,
but not religious” compared to only 11% a decade ago
• Religious tinkering & developing a religious or
spiritual identity

6. Declining Participation
• “Membership growth in UUA slows down”
—UU World May 11, 2009
• “UUA membership declines for second year”
—UU World April 12, 2010
• “UUA membership declines again”
—UU World May 23, 2011

7. Increasing Diversity
• Diversity of ethnic cultures and nationalities
• No single authority exercises supremacy; no single
belief or ideology dominations
• Tapestry of religious and spiritual alternatives and
choices
• Crisscrossing religious boundaries
• “ Spiritual tinkerers”

8. Influence of Individualism
• Religious identity is more autonomous and deliberate
today.
• Decline in the perceived necessity of communal or
institutional structures as constituent of religious
identity.

9. Changing Patterns
• Delaying marriage
• Having fewer children and later in life
• Decreasing number of children in two-parent
households
• Increasing number of unmarried couples living
together
• Increasing time caring for children

10. Declining Family Socialization
• Parent Influence: The single most important social
influence on the religious and spiritual lives of
adolescents is their parents
• Embedded Family Religious Practices: Effective
religious socialization comes about through specific
religious activities that are firmly intertwined with
the daily habits of family life

11. Aging Baby Boomers
• On Jan. 1, 2011, the oldest Baby Boomers turned 65:
Every day for the next 19 years, about 10,000 more
will cross that threshold
• By 2030, when all Baby Boomers will have turned 65,
fully 18% of the nation’s population will be at least that
age (13% today)
• We are witnessing the emergence of a new stage of life
between adult midlife–typically focused on career and
child-rearing–and old age, traditionally marked by
increasing frailty and decline

12. Digital Media & Web Tech
• 93% of teens & young adults are online
• “ Computer in your pocket”means increasing mobile
access via smart phones: iPhone, Android, etc.
• 8-18 year olds spend on average 7½ hours a day with
media

13. Scenario Thinking
Scenarios are built around critical uncertainties
about the external environment. That is, the
stories are based on different outcomes of a few
key uncertainties that are both most important to
the future of faith formation in congregations and
most uncertain in terms of future outcome.

14. Two Critical Uncertainties
• Will trends in U.S. culture lead people to become
more receptive to organized religion, and in
particular Christianity or will trends lead people to
become more resistant to organized religion and
Christianity?
• Will people's hunger for and openness to God and the
spiritual life increase over the next decade or will
peoples hunger for and openness to God and the
spiritual life decrease?

16. Scenario One
Receptive to Organized Religion.
High Hunger for a Spiritual Life.
People of all ages and generations are actively engaged
in a congregation, are spiritually committed, and
growing in their faith. They have found their spiritual
home within an established religious tradition and a
local faith community that provides a variety of ways
for them to grow in faith and live their faith in the
world.

17. Scenario Two
Resistant to Organized Religion.
High Hunger for a Spiritual Life.
A world in which people are hungry for a spiritual life,
but not usually involved with organized religion and
established congregations. Congregations recognize
that they need to establish a presence in the world of
people who are spiritually hungry but not attracted to
an established congregation.

18. Scenario Three
Resistant to Organized Religion.
Low Need or Interest in a Spiritual Life.
A world in which people experience little need for a
spiritual life and are not affiliated with organized
religion and established congregations. The task of the
church is to be incarnational—placing itself in the midst
of the culture and the gathering places of people.

19. Scenario Four
Receptive to Organized Religion.
Low Need or Interest in a Spiritual Life.
A world in which people attend church activities, but
are not actively engaged in their church community.
They may participate in significant church events such
as Christmas and Easter and sacramental celebrations
involving their families. Some may even attend worship
regularly.

20. Lifelong Faith Formation Network
Shifting from:
One Size Fits All Curriculum & Programming
To:
Personalized & Customized Faith Formation
focusing on addressing people's spiritual & religious growth
by offering a wide variety of religious content & experiences
Differentiated Faith Formation

21. Lifelong Faith Formation Network
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.

22. Lifelong Faith Formation Network
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.

23. Lifelong Faith Formation Network
A Lifelong Faith Formation Network incorporates
informal learning, as well as formal learning in faith
formation.

24. Lifelong Faith Formation Network
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:
•on your own
•at home
•in small groups
•in large groups
•in the congregation
•in the community and world

25. Lifelong Faith Formation Network
A Lifelong Faith Formation Network blends face-to-
face, interactive faith formation programs and activities
with virtual, online faith formation programs, activities,
and resources.

26. Lifelong Faith Formation Network
A Lifelong Faith Formation Network incorporates
communities of practice to connect individuals and
groups throughout the congregation.

27. Designing a Lifelong Faith Formation
Network
• Form a Lifelong Faith Formation Network Task Force
• Prepare a statement of your church’s vision and goals
for lifelong faith formation
• Develop an inventory of your church’s current faith
formation programs, activities, and resources using
the four scenarios

28. Designing a Lifelong Faith Formation
Network
• Describe the diverse life tasks and situations, spiritual
and religious needs, and interests of age groups and
families in each of the four scenarios; and develop a
profile of the most important needs
• Research people, programs, activities, and resources
to address the priority life issues and spiritual/
religious needs

29. Designing a Lifelong Faith Formation
Network
• Design new initiatives to address the new spiritual
and religious in each of the four Faith Formation
2020 scenarios
• Develop an Integrated plan for the Lifelong Faith
Formation Network with all of the programs,
activities, and resources organized according to the
four scenarios and the six faith formation models

30. Designing a Lifelong Faith Formation
Network
• Develop an online faith formation center for
connecting people to each other and to the resources
of the Lifelong Faith Formation Network
• Develop a marketing/promotion plan to promote the
Lifelong Faith Formation Network

31. Strategies
• Faith Formation through the Life of the Whole
Church
• Faith Formation with Digital Media and Web
Technologies
• Family Faith Formation
• Intergenerational Faith Formation

32. • Generational Faith Formation
•iGeneration (2000 - )
•Millennials (1980-1999)
•Gen X (1964-1979)
•Boomers (1946-1964)
•Builders (1945 and earlier)
• Milestones Faith Formation
• Faith Formation in Christian Practice

33. • Transforming the World
• Spiritual Formation
• Multi-Ethnic Faith Formation
• Faith Formation for Spiritual Seekers
• Apprenticeships in Discipleship

34. • Pathways to Vibrant Faith and Active Engagement
• Faith Formation in Third Place Settings
• Empowering the Community to Share their Faith
• Interfaith Education and Dialogue

35. Strategies in Multiple Scenarios
• Faith Formation using Digital Media and Web
Technologies
• Milestones Faith Formation
• Faith Formation in Christian Practices

36. • Transforming the World: Engagement in and
Formation for Service and Mission
• Family Faith Formation
• Spiritual Formation
• Multi-Ethnic Faith Formation

37. Strategies for Scenarios 1 & 4
• Faith formation through the life of the whole church
• Intergenerational faith formation
• Generational faith formation