Reimagining Faith Formation for the 21st Century: Engaging All Ages and Generations

Reimagining Faith Formation for the 21st Century is a proposal for what twenty-first century faith formation can look like. Much has been written about the challenges facing Christianity and faith formation. This book seeks to provide a way forward. How can we address the big adaptive challenges facing churches and faith formation? How can we reimagine faith formation with a vision that honors the past and is open to the future? How can we build a new faith-forming ecosystem that supports religious transmission and faith growth? How can we design new models with the best understandings and practices of learning and faith formation? And how can we engage all ages and generations in growing in faith and discipleship for a lifetime?

Chapter One explores four big adaptive challenges facing churches and faith formation to identify the need for a new faith forming ecosystem and new models of faith formation. Chapter Two presents a reimagined faith formation ecosystem for the twenty-first century incorporating five, essential, interconnected components: intergenerational faith formation in the congregation, age-group and generational faith formation in a variety of physical places and online spaces, family faith formation at home, missional faith formation to the spiritual but not religious and the unaffiliated, and online and digital faith formation. Chapter Three presents a reimagined model of faith formation as a network of relationships, content, experiences, and resources€"in physical places and online spaces that is lifelong and life-wide€"everywhere, anytime learning within a network of mentors, teachers, family, and peers. Chapter Four presents a reimagined understanding of faith formation curriculum that is holistic, comprehensive and balanced, systemic, lifelong, contextual, digitally-enabled, connected, and multi-platform. Chapter Five reimagines the role of faith formation leader as curator.