Generations of Faith
Community Centered, Life-long, Intergenerational Faith Formation
By John Roberto, Founder, Center for Ministry Development .Project Coordinator for Generations of Faith, an intergenerational faith formation project. Roman Catholic; Naugatuck, Connecticut

Over the past three years the Center for Ministry Development has been pioneering an innovative approach to lifelong faith formation that involves all generations in learning and growing through their experience and participation in church life. The Generations of Faith approach seeks to utilize the events of church life as the primary curriculum for faith formation for all ages-at-home and in the parish. Adopting this as a focus for our learning involves a transformation in the way we think about faith formation. It moves us away from a programmatic-centered approach (classes, texts, age-segregation, schedules).

The Generations of Faith approach implements a vision of faith formation that:

Is developed around the events of the church year; sacraments, liturgy, prayer, justice and service, community life, and proclamation of the Word. Community-centered faith formation builds a community and identity through participation in shared church events and learning experiences.
Recognizes the intergenerational nature of the faith community and seeks to maximize intergenerational connections and sharing.
Discovers the beliefs and practices for living as a Christian-the content of the Christian faith embedded in the life and events of the faith community today and throughout history. The content emerges from the life of the church.
Is a process of preparing all ages and all generations for meaningful participation in church events, engaging members in the events, and reflecting on the significance and meaning of the event for their lives as Catholics.
Provides alignment of learning through common events and themes that are experienced and explored by all ages and all generations in the church community.
Seamlessly weaves home and parish in a comprehensive model of faith formation. The church and home are learning communities, communities of practice.
Builds connections among ministries and structures collaboration into the curriculum, uniting all leaders in a common effort to nurture the faith of everyone.

In the coming months and years the Center for Ministry Development will be collecting stories and models from congregations illustrating how they have applied the vision.

To find more information about the philosophy and practice of intergenerational faith formation go to the Generations of Faith publication on CMD's web site, and consult Educating Congregations by Charles Foster (Nashville: Abingdon, 1994).

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