The spiritual formation of young people can often focus on encouraging their personal spiritual practices, and perhaps linking them to a local youth group. While both are important, Networks for Faith Formation argues that a far wider set of relationships are needed to help faith grow. The aim of Networks for Faith Formation is to describe and commend eight key networks, relational bonds that nurture and nourish faith. The eight networks are "bedroom practices" (personal faith), church, family, friends, mentors, small groups, events and gatherings, and mission and service. The description of each network draws on biblical studies, practical theology, and the social sciences, and practical ideas for helping young people engage with such networks are included throughout the book. In a context where some overlook the complexity of spiritual formation, Networks for Faith Formation is an important resource for church leaders, youth ministers, and parents seeking to help young people grow in faith. Since relational bonds are key for people of any age, it can also help all within the church understand the need for relationships in spiritual growth.

Research in youth ministry has excelled and developed rapidly over the last four decades. Youth ministry is not just a church practice, but has become an emerging academic discipline, with a variety of methodological, theoretical, and contextual approaches. This academic handbook offers an assessment of contemporary youth ministry research to assist students doing bachelor, master, and doctoral research, and youth ministry scholars, in their studies of youth ministry. By examining youth ministry research through the lens of the following five fundamental questions, the reader is challenged to engage with state-of-the-art theory, methods, and findings from current youth ministry research: • Who are the youth in youth ministry? • Where is God in youth ministry? • What is the purpose of youth ministry? • Who is the youth minister in youth ministry? • How to research practices in youth ministry? The academic handbook is a must-read for everyone who is interested in systematic reflection on youth ministry and youth ministry research.

What happens when Muslim women gather together at the mosque to read the Qur'an, learn, and pray? How does family loyalty interact with mosque attendance for women? This book explores the growing Muslim women's piety movement through looking at one women's program in a Syrian suburban mosque. Community models shape individual behavior. The place and power of blessing help define the boundaries between orthodox and popular Islam. Modesty and shame, feasts and fasting, purity and prayer, interact to shape daily life possibilities for women involved in the mosque program. At the same time, the growing accessibility of religious teaching for women allows them to take up new places of authority in the Muslim ummah. Women read the Qur'an not just for blessing, but for what it has to say to issues of daily female and family life. And the words of communal dhikr devotion offer a window into the worshippers' consciousness of God and of Muhammad, Prophet of Islam. This detailed examination of a women's mosque program places it within the wider contemporary movement of piety and da'wa (mission) in Islam, offering an insight into the forces that are shaping communities and countries today.

Today’s youth grow up immersed in digital technology. This presents a unique challenge to the church as it seeks to faithfully make disciples of the next generation. What does it look like – theologically and practically – to minister contextually to those whose lives are permeated by social media and digital culture? In this in-depth study, Dr. Vo Huong Nam offers both social and theological insight into the task of discipling youth in the digital age. He examines the impact of digital media on both society and young people and offers an overview of Christian responses to the changing technological landscape. Engaging such authors as John Calvin, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Henri Nouwen, he develops a constructive theology of spiritual formation relevant to the context of twenty-first century youth. He explores the implications of this theology on church practice, urging the church to take seriously its call to be all things for all people. Drawing specific examples from youth ministry in Vietnam, he addresses practical questions of application and contextualization and suggests that silence, solitude, and prayer are spiritual disciplines uniquely vital for the digital age. This book is an important resource for all those involved in discipling young people and longing to see today’s youth come to fullness of life in Christ.

Using an ecological approach to study how emerging technologies impact individual and communal formation, Faith Formation 4.0 looks at how our efforts to be story-keepers, story-sharers, and story-makers have evolved over four eras of human communication.Framed by the Great Commission imperative to “make disciples,” this book offers a road map to help leaders develop goals to form, inform, and transform new members, as well as long-time believers, within a faith community. The author successfully illustrates that church success depends not only on knowing the Christian message of God’s enduring love, but also how to use today’s tools appropriately for evangelization and faith formation.

Since the ending of Vatican II, the church has officially published no fewer than eight major documents calling for adults to be the center of the church's educational mission. And the Catholic faithful are calling on the church to quench their thirst for a deepening of their lived faith. They realize that the catechesis they received as children simply isn't enough to continue in the faith as adults in the church and world; they desire a deepened faith. In Deepening Faith, Janet Schaeffler, OP, offers a practical guide and source of encouragement to parish and diocesan committees, catechists, and adult faith formation teams. She outlines the essential foundations, methods and strategies that can support this journey for today's adults of all ages and generations.

To 'tune the rig' describes adjusting a ship's rigging; the rig of a well-tuned boat allows the sails to function well. This task must be performed to ensure the best performance by the ship. Tuning the Rig takes that metaphor as a guide for Catholic educators and administrators, as well as for the larger church. It argues from a variety of perspectives rooted in the Catholic imagination that the rig constantly needs to be re-tuned to balance between visions of the church as teacher and learner. Why should this matter to Catholic educators? To Herron, our understanding of the church as learner is at the heart of our understanding of ourselves as disciples. One of the logical consequences of this era of baptismal consciousness is a rising awareness on the part of the laity that their task is not simply to 'pay, pray, and obey' but to grow and journey in faith. Herron's focus ranges from issues closely pertaining to Catholic schools to the larger questions of the Catholic imagination. The underlying thread, however, is the challenge of maintaining the richness of the Catholic imagination — of tuning the rig — in changing times and the ordinary life of the church.

We are in this together—all ages practicing, all ages becoming God’s people. Often, intergenerational initiatives are seen as the next new church trend, or another programming tool for church growth and revitalization. Ultimately, though, intergenerational practice is at the core of what it means for us to be the body of Christ. God intends for all ages to participate in faith formation together; we are formed in our practice of intergenerationallity as we participate in the formation of becoming God’s people. All Ages Becoming brings theologians, practitioners, and ministry leaders, representing diverse denominations, generations, cultures, and geographical locations, together to help us explore this adventure of intergenerational Christian practice. As you consider intergenerational practice in your own faith community, each chapter provides “Theology in Practice” sections with questions designed to help your community reflect, discuss, discover, experiment, reinvent, redesign, and continue in your community of practice.

Three leading Christian educators offer a survey of faith formation from various perspectives: biblical, theological, pastoral, practical, and global. They present a biblical theology of faith formation for individual and congregational life and show how faith can be formed through the life and mission of the local church through practices such as communal worship, Bible study, and mission. They also explore the faces of faith formation in multicultural and global contexts. The book includes practical exercises for those beginning in ministry and reflection questions.

This document includes the reports of the Committees, Commissions, Agencies and Boards of the General Convention of the Episcopal Church to the 76th General Convention, in Anaheim, California, July 8-17, 2009.