Online & Digitally Enabled Faith Formation

Digital media and the online environment provide the means to connect church life, age groups/ generations, and daily/home life through continuous faith formation—connecting participation in church life and events with daily/home life by using online content and connections or reaching people at home and in daily life with online faith formation content and experiences that connect to church life and events.   

We can create new models of faith formation that utilize the digital technologies and digital media to engage people with faith-forming content anytime, any place, just-in-time; and that can extend and expand faith formation in physical, face-to-face settings into people’s daily lives through digital content and mobile delivery systems. We can develop blended models of faith formation that incorporate physical settings and online settings. These settings can be seen as a continuum: ranging from fully online programming to gathered programming in physical settings that use online resources. Blended faith formation usually combines online delivery of religious content and experiences with the best features of gathered face-to-face programs. 

Fully Online
The rise of high quality and easily accessible online religious content—courses, activities, print and e-books, audio and video programs, and content-rich websites—has made designing online faith formation feasible.

Examples
#1. Offer adults a variety of online Bible and theology courses for individual study using online courses from colleges, and seminaries, video programs on YouTube, online programs and webinars from religious publishers and organizations.

#2. Provide an online prayer and spirituality center where people can access daily prayer reflections and devotions, offer prayer intentions, pray for others, learn about spiritual practices, download prayer activities for the home, and more. 

#3. Provide a online parent resource center with the best knowledge, practices, and tools for parenting in print, audio, and video; with links to quality parent websites and family faith formation websites; and with a parent blog and/or Facebook page where parents can their experiences, questions, and insights. 

#4. Providing an online retreat experience available through a publisher or a religious organization. 

Mostly Online
We can offer opportunities for individuals, families, and small groups to utilize the digital platform as their primary learning setting and provide opportunities for regular interaction in face-to-face, gathered settings or in a web conference format. 

Examples
#1. Offer six, one-hour parent webinar programs delivered to parents at home in four-month semesters: three webinars followed by a parent gathering at church; three more webinars and concluding with a parent gathering at church.   

#2. Offer online learning plans and resources for self-study or small group study with video recordings of adult faith formation presentations at church, and then inviting people to gather at the conclusion of their learning to share their insights with others who participated.  

#3. Develop an online Bible study where groups can meet regularly in a physical setting or virtually through Skype or a Google+ Hangout for sharing their learning. 

#4. Offer selected online courses and activities from colleges, seminaries, and religious organization through the faith formation website for individualized learning with the option for a mentor or small group gathering. 

Online & Gathered
We can “flip the classroom or program” by creating a digital platform to provide the content that people would learn in the gathered setting in an online learning space using print, audio, video, and more. And then transform the gathered program using interactive activities, discussion, project-based learning, and practice and demonstration. 

Examples
#1. Redesign children’s faith formation so that children (and their parents) are learning the content at home with online content (and/or a textbook) and doing activities with their parents at home, and then refocusing “class time” to engage children in creating projects and activities that demonstrate their learning. 

#2. Design a high school confirmation program that provides the content that used to be taught in the weekly sessions in an online platform for individual learning—watching videos, reading short materials, and writing a reflection journals; engages the young people in small groups during the month to discuss their online learning;  and then meets monthly in a large group gathered session for discussion, interactive activities, and application of the content to living as a Christian today. During the year retreats, worship, and service projects offer additional gathered sessions. 

#3. Develop an online center for justice and service where people of all ages can find a justice issue that they are passionate about, learn more about the issue, and explore biblical and Christian teaching on justice. Congregations can provide a variety of ways for people to act on their justice issue, as individuals, families, or groups, through local and global projects. People can share their experiences with the whole congregation using social media. 

Gathered & Online
We can connect church programs or events with online content that extends and deepens the experience through learning, prayer, ritual, action, etc. Gathered events and programs such as Sunday worship, church year feasts and seasons, intergenerational and family programs, classes, youth group meetings, mission trips, retreat experiences, and vacation Bible school would all benefit from extending the experience with digital content.

Examples
#1. Extend Sunday worship through the week using a variety of digital content that deepens the understanding and practice of the Sunday readings, sermon, and church year season; and provides prayer, devotions, rituals, a video of the sermon with a study guide, service/action ideas, conversation activities, and more. 

#2. Connect Vacation Bible School with families at home by providing activities online that deepen the content from each day of Vacation Bible School: study activities around the theme or Scripture story/message of the day, a prayer or devotion, a book to read, a video to watch, and more. 

#3. Provide a forty-day Lent “curriculum” that connects the Lent events in church life with a variety of activities for experiencing and practicing Lent in daily and home life—delivered online through the congregation’s faith formation website.

Gathered with Online Content
We can design a gathered program using online content from websites, videos from YouTube or other video sites, and blogs and other social media. With an abundance of high quality digital content, this first option is the easiest way to bring the digital world into a gathered program.