LOMO Presentation - Trends & Approaches...2. Group contact 3. Mul ple communi es Neighborhood community 4. Local es 5. Bowling leagues 6. Homogeneous es 7. Somewhat involuntary kin

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21ST CENTURY FAITH FORMATION John Roberto, LifelongFaith Associates

Changing Context

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Headline Diversity in Society & Church

Ø  Generational Ø Developmental Ø  Ethnic & Cultural Ø  Family Structures Ø  Faith Practice &

Community Engagement

Ø  Religious & Spiritual Needs

Key Studies

www.PewResearch.org www.FaithCommunitiesToday.org

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Cultural & Religious Change

Once there was. . . .

The 1950s Family

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But now there is. . . .

The 1950s Family The 2010s Family

A Family

Not a Family

Married Coupled with Children 99 1

Married Couple without Children 88 10

Single Parent with Children 86 12

Unmarried Couple with Children 80 18

Same-‐Sex Couple with Children 63 34

Same-‐Sex Couple without Children 45 52

Unmarried Coupled without Children 43 54

Pew Research, 2011


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Ø  Fully eight-‐in-‐ten adults younger than 30 say a same-‐sex couple with children is a family, more than double the proportion of those 65 and older who share this view (80% vs. 37%).

Ø  Among those ages 30 to 49, two-‐thirds (67%) see a same-‐sex couple with children as a family, compared with 58% of all 50-‐ to 64-‐year-‐olds.

(Pew Research, 2011)


Ø Delaying marriage: marrying later and having children later in life

Ø Growing diversity in family structures Ø  Increasing number of unmarried couples

living together Ø Not marrying and having children Ø Decreasing number of children in two-‐

parent households Ø Declining levels of family faith practice &

socialization

But now there is….

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A Culture of Faith

Generational Change & Religious Diversity

¨  19% of Americans claim no religious affiliation

¨  30% of 18-‐34 year olds

¨  18% of 18-‐39 year olds say that are “spiritual, but not religious”


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iGeneration (2000 -‐ )

Millennials (1980-‐99)

Generation X (1961-‐79)

Baby Boomers (1946-‐60)

Builders (pre 1946)



¨  Declining worship attendance

¨  Declining participation in marriage and baptism

¨  Declining levels of family religious socialization and faith practices

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Fewer Marriages & Later in Life

Fewer Baptisms

Fewer Young

Families

Lower Sunday Worship

Fewer First Communions

Fewer Confirmations


Not Religiously Affiliated

Spiritual but Not Religious

Minimal Engagement

with Faith and Community

Vibrant Faith & Active

Engagement


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Youth (teens) Abiders Adapters Assenters Avoiders Atheists

20% 20% 31% 24% 5%

Emerging Adults (20s) Committed Selected Spiritually Religiously Religiously Irreligious Traditionalists Adherents Open Indifferent Disconnected

15% 30% 15% 25% 5% 10%

Youth & Young Adult Religiosity

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Ø  Abiders: highest levels of religiosity and practice: believe in God, pray regularly, engage in personal religious practice, attend services, serve others, think about the meaning of life; most likely to say their religion is the only true faith

Ø  Adapters: high levels of personal religiosity + accepting of other people’s faiths + attend religious services more sporadically

Ø  Assenters: believe in God and feel somewhat close to God, but they are minimally engaged with their faith and practice only occasionally. Religion is tangential to other aspects of their lives.

Ø  Avoiders: believe in God but have low levels of religious practice; God is distant, impersonal; and often don’t name a religious affiliation.

Ø  Atheists: don’t believe in God and don’t attend services.


Ø  Committed Traditionalists: strong religious faith; articulate beliefs; active practice; commitment to faith is a significant part of their identities and moral reasoning, at least somewhat regularly involved in some religious group

Ø  Selected Adherents: believe and perform certain aspects of their religious traditions but neglect and ignore others; more discriminating about what they are willing to adopt of their religious tradition’s beliefs and practices

Ø  Spiritually Open: not very committed to a religious faith but are nonetheless receptive to and at least mildly interested in some spiritual or religious matters.


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Ø  Religiously Indifferent: neither care to practice religion nor oppose it; simply not invested in religion either way; too distracted with and invested in other things in life and unconcerned with matters of faith to pay any real attention to religion.

Ø  Religiously Disconnected: have little to no exposure or connection to religious people, ideas, or organizations; neither interested in nor opposed to religion; faith simply has not been a part of their lives in any significant way.

Ø  Irreligious: hold skeptical attitudes about and make critical arguments against religion generally, rejecting the idea of personal faith


1.  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?

2.  Will people’s hunger for and openness to God and the spiritual life increase over the next decade or will people’s hunger for and openness to God and the spiritual life decrease.

Interpreting

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Dominant Cultural Attitude toward Organized Religion Receptive

Low High

People’s Hunger for God and the Spiritual Life

Resistant

Interpreting

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Scenario 4 Uncommitted

& Participating

Scenario 1 Vibrant Faith

& Active Engagement

Scenario 3 Unaffiliated & Uninterested

Scenario 2 Spiritual but Not Religious

Interpreting: 4 Scenarios

¤  People are actively engaged in a Christian church, are spiritually committed, and growing in their faith.

¤  People have found their spiritual home within an established Christian tradition and a local faith community that provides ways for all ages and generations to grow in faith, worship God, and live their faith in the world.

¤  The future of faith formation in Scenario #1 is being significantly impacted by people in their 20s & 30s leaving established Christian churches, and the decline in family religious socialization and practice at home.

Scenario #1

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¤  People attend church activities occasionally, but are not actively engaged or spiritually committed.

¤  They may participate in significant seasonal celebrations and celebrate sacraments and milestones (marriage, baptism). Some may even send their children to religious education classes.

¤  Spiritual commitment is low and the connection to the church is more social and utilitarian than spiritual.

¤  While receptive to an established church, their occasional engagement in church life does not lead them toward spiritual commitment, and their spiritual commitment does not lead them to engagement.

Scenario #4

¤  People are spiritually hungry and searching for God and the spiritual life, but most likely are not affiliated with organized religion and an established Christian tradition.

¤  Some may join a nondenominational Christian church focused on their spiritual needs, while others may find an outlet for their spiritual hunger in small communities of like-‐minded spiritual seekers, in local or global acts of service, or in online spiritual resources and communities.

¤  The Spiritual but Not Religious reflect a growing minority of the American population, especially among the eighteen-‐ to thirty-‐nine-‐year-‐olds.

Scenario #2

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¤ A world in which people experience little need for God and the spiritual life and are not affiliated with organized religion and established Christian churches.

¤ The Unaffiliated and Uninterested reject all forms of organized religion and reflect an increasing percentage of the American population, especially those in their 20s and 30s.

Scenario #3

Scenario #4

Scenario #1

Scenario #3

Scenario #2

4-‐Scenario Thinking

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Technological Change


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0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%

June 2000

April 2001

March 2002

March 2003

April 2004

March 2005

March 2006

March 2007

April 2008

April 2009

May 2010

May 2011

August 2011

Jan 2012

INCREASE IN HOME BROADBAND Home broadband

66%


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Increase in Internet Users – 80%

Increase in Social Networking – 52% of Adults

9%

49%

67%

76%

86% 83%

85%

7% 8%

25%

48%

61% 70% 71%

6% 4% 11%

25%

47% 51% 52%

1% 7%

13%

26% 33% 35%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

18-‐29 30-‐49 50-‐64 65+

% of internet users

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Increase in Smartphones – 46%

67 million iPads sold since 2010

when it was introduced.

Increase in Tablets

2012 Sales: 120 million tablets – a 100% increase over 2011

2016 Prediction: 665 million tablets by 2016

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Societal Change

EMBEDDED


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EMBEDDED SOCIAL NETWORKS


New Social Network Operating System

The Triple Revolution

1.  Social Network Revolution 2.  Internet Revolution 3.  Mobile Revolution


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The Social Network, Internet, and Mobile Revolutions are coming together to shift people’s social lives away from densely knit family, neighborhood, and group relationships toward more far-‐flung, less tight, more diverse personal networks.


The Social Networks Revolution provided opportunities—and stresses—for people to reach beyond the world of tightly knit groups Ø  afforded people more diversity in relationships and

social worlds—as well as bridges to reach these new worlds and maneuverability to move among them

Ø  introduced stress of not having a single home base and of reconciling the conflicting demands of multiple social worlds


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The Internet Revolution has given people communications power and information-‐gathering capacities that dwarf those of the past. It has allowed people to become their own publishers and broadcasters and created new methods for social networking.

This has changed the point of contact from the household (and work group) to the individual. Each person creates her own internet experiences, tailored to her needs.


The Mobile Revolution has allowed ICTs (internet communication technologies) to become body appendages allowing people to access friends and information at will, wherever they go. In return, ICTs are always accessible.

There is the possibility of a continuous presence and pervasive awareness of others in the network. People’s physical separation by time and space are less important.


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Networked Individualism The three revolutions have made possible

the new social operating system – Networked Individualism. The hallmark of

networked individualism is that people function more as connected individuals and less as embedded group members.


Networked Individuals

Individual

Family & Friends

Education

Life Stage

Work Sports & Activities

Interests

Shared Experiences

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Networked Individualism Ø  This stands in contrast to the longstanding

social arrangements formed around large hierarchical bureaucracies and small, densely knit groups such as households, communities, and workgroups.

Ø  It is an operating system because it describes the ways in which people connect, communicate, and exchange information.

New Social Operating System

Group-‐Centered Society

1.  Contact within and between groups

2.  Group contact 3.  Neighborhood

community 4.  Local �es 5.  Bowling leagues 6.  Homogeneous �es 7.  Somewhat involuntary

kin and neighborhood �es

Networked individualism

1.  Contact between individuals

2.  One-‐to-‐one contact 3.  Mul�ple communi�es 4.  Local and distant �es 5.  Shi�ing networks of

friends who bowl 6.  Diversified �es 7.  Voluntary friendship

�es a

Group-‐Centered—to—Networked

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Group-‐Centered Society

8.  Strong social control 9.  Broad spectrum of

social capital within group

10.  Tight boundaries with other groups

11.  Organized recrea�on groups

12.  Public spaces 13.  Bulle�n boards 14.  Focused work unit

Networked Individualism

8.  Weak social control / shi� to another network

9.  Diversified search for specialized social capital

10.  Permeable boundaries with other networks

11.  Shi�ing networks of recrea�onal friends

12.  Private spaces and online 13.  Facebook, Twi�ers 14.  Networked organized

Group-‐Centered—to—Networked

Re�lection

How are these changes affecting Outdoor Ministry & Camp

Programming?

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21st Century Faith Formation

We are living in a historical moment of transformations in religion, technology, generations, culture & society.

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We are living in the midst of a convergence of forces moving us toward a new model.

21st Century

Faith Formation

Diversity of Religious Belief & Practice

Generational Change

Millennials & iGeneration

New Digital Technologies

Abundance of Resources

New Models of Learning

New Models Will Need to. . . .

1.  Move away from a reliance on “one size fits all” programs

2.  Develop differentiated, personalized, & customized faith formation around the diversity of people’s lives & faith

3.  Create personalized pathways for discipleship & faith growth

4.  Address spiritual and religious diversity by offering a wide variety of religious content & experiences

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New Models Will Need to. . . .

Diversity of Religious & Spiritual Needs

Personalized & Customized

Pathways for Growth

A Variety of Faith Formation

Content & Experiences,

People & Resources


1.  It is now possible to provide faith formation for everyone, anytime, anywhere, 24 x 7 x 365.

2.  It is now possible to deliver religious content and experiences to people wherever they are, 24 x 7 x 365.

3.  It is now possible to customize and personalize faith formation around the life tasks and issues, interests, religious and spiritual needs, and busy lives of people.

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4.  It is now possible to engage people in a wide diversity of programs, activities, and resources that incorporate a variety of ways to learn—on your own, with a mentor, at home, in small groups, in large groups, in the congregation, and in the community and world—delivered in physical gathered settings and virtual online settings.

5.  It is now possible to connect people to each other—in physical places and virtual spaces.

Not Religiously Affiliated


Minimal Engagement

with Faith and Community

Vibrant Faith & Active

Engagement


Targeted Strategies to Respond to Diverse Needs

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Environments

Face-‐to-‐Face & Virtual

On Your Own

Mentored

@Home

Small Group

Large Group

Church Community

Community & World

Virtual -‐-‐-‐ Blended -‐-‐-‐ Physical

Fully online with options for face-‐to-‐face interaction in physical settings.

Mostly or fully online with regular interaction in physical settings.

Online platform that delivers most of the program with support, mentoring, and small groups.

Programs in physical settings guided by a leader with online components.

Programs in physical settings with online resources to supplement the program.

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Youth Network

Youth Group

Confirma�on Program

Adolescent Life Issues

Parent-‐Teen

Ac�vi�es & Resources

Bible Study & Religious Learning

Prayer & Spiritual Forma�on Service

Projects Mission Trips

Milestones

Youth Leadership

Intergener-‐a�onal

Connec�ons

Parent Faith Forma�on

Parent Educa�on & Support Groups

Networks of faith formation

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Bringing Sunday Worship Home Whole Family

Programs

Intergenera-‐ �onal

Experiences

Children’s Programs &

Events

Faith Prac�ces:

Bible, Prayer, Rituals. Service Milestones

Parent Faith Forma�on

Paren�ng Educa�on & Support Groups

Mentors for Parents

“Ge�ng Started in Faith”

Experiences

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Event or Program

TALK Conversa�on Ques�ons

LEARN Watch a Video Listen to a Talk Read a Story

LIVE Ac�on Project

PRAY Devo�ons, Bible

Reading, Table Prayer

PARENT FAITH GROWTH

Resources Targeted to their Needs

SHARE Write a Blog Entry

Create & Share a Video or Project

Extend Gathered Programs

Differentiating Faith Formation

Core Content & Experiences

Op�on 1. Large Group Program

Op�on 2. Small Group Program

Op�on 2. Online Small

Group Program using Skype or

Google+

Op�on 3. Mentored

Op�on 4. Online Program

(print & video) with Guide

Online Projects (everyone)

Secure Social Network for

Blogging, Project Sharing

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Differentiating Faith Formation

Core Content &

Experiences for Everyone

Content & Ac�vi�es for

People of Vibrant Faith & Ac�ve Engagement


People Who Are Par�cipate Occasional



Documents

LOMO Presentation - Trends & Approaches...2. Group contact 3. Mul ple communi es Neighborhood community 4. Local es 5. Bowling leagues 6. Homogeneous es 7. Somewhat involuntary kin