Familying the Faith

Familying the Faith—It’s Been a Year!

Hello Friends!   Here we are at Episode 20 of the Familying the Faith Podcast. Rick, Jim, and Nancy thought the time was right to do an end of year reflection on what we’ve learned from the people we’ve talked with in 2024 as we all further this work of taking seriously the power of parents for the formation of faith and the thriving of our churches.   You’ll hear us thinking about words that we’ve come to understand as critical for that process, like Familying (again!), Embedding, and Transformation.  Start your 2025 with greater focus on what really matters, and be able to take that next faithful step!  We thank you for the great feedback and your support for this work.

The Power of Story for Familying with Craig Gould

Hello Friends,  Here we are! It's Episode 19 of the Familying the Faith Podcast by Vibrant Faith.  We’re in this to connect with ministry leaders who want to dig into THE MOST IMPORTANT JOB in today’s church, and that is connecting with and uplifting parents—the primary faith-forming agents in our world—and helping them grow in their capacity and confidence as they share a vibrant faith in Jesus with the next generation.   We have another great conversation to share with you today. While at a recent conference, Rick and I both attended a workshop on story sharing—a commitment for Vibrant Faith. We both loved what Craig Gould had to say about the importance of that process for our families and our world and asked him to join us for a conversation with you right away. This is that conversation.  Craig has a particular passion for helping youth, young adults, and parents understand their own story, and how it connects to the story of Jesus. He is a long-time youth minister who has built his ministry around the power of storytelling in families. Craig Gould approaches his work as a parent of 8 children, and serves as the Program Director of the McGrath Institute at Notre Dame, where he helps nourish the Catholic imagination and vocational call of the young church through the Notre Dame Vision summer conferences for high school students and their campus and youth ministry leaders. He assists in aspects of planning, recruitment, program management and the formation of undergraduates who serve as Mentors within the high school Vision program. He has a particular passion for helping youth and young adults understand their own story as it connects to the story of Jesus.     Rick and Nancy had such a great conversation Craig about:  * His own family of 10(!), and the simple ways that they have leaned into nurturing faith at home.    * Craig also affirms that families are living stories, and part of their development as families is telling and normalizing all aspects of those stories (the good AND the bad!) AND connecting their stories to the Jesus stories.    * Craig also sees the adolescent tasks of “Identity, Purpose and Belonging” as story-based, and the developmental task included making sure that FORGIVENESS is a central thread to those stories.    We were so excited by what Craig Gould had to share.  We think you will be too.

On the Ground with Mary Lou and Joan

Hello Friends! Welcome to Episode 18 of Vibrant Faith’s Familying the Faith Podcast.  Today, we’re going to listen together about what supporting the faith life of kids through parents looks like for leaders at a large Catholic church in Ohio.       We’re so happy to welcome our guests for our conversation: They are Joan Stoltz and Mary Lou Baker—both serve on the family ministry team at St. Maximilian Church in Liberty Township, Ohio. They have been on staff and working this turf together for many years. They are here to talk with us about their efforts to plant a Familying the Faith environment in their church.      You’ll love hearing their very practical reflections on their pre-COVID and post-COVID church realities of family life and the process of formation. You’ll hear how they are experimenting with working with parents and kids together, and their focus on faith conversations while helping parents develop habits and faith experiences.       You'll love hearing their honest struggles and passion for the faith of children.  They are such a great example of people who have taken that next faithful step!

On the Ground with Bryn Hollenbeck

Hello Friends!  WOO! Welcome to Episode 17 of the Familying the Faith Podcast by Vibrant Faith. We’re all about connecting with ministry leaders who want to dig into THE MOST IMPORTANT JOB in today’s church, and that is connecting with and uplifting parents—the primary faith-forming agents in our world—and helping them grow in their capacity and confidence as they share a vibrant faith in Jesus with the next generation.   We hope this episode will be especially meaningful. Familyings Jim and Nancy had the opportunity connect with a ministry colleague and friend from their 4th Soil Parenting Project. Her name is Bryn Hollenbeck, and she’s the Minister for Children and Congregational Life at Parish of the Epiphany—an Episcopal Church just outside of Boston in Winchester, MA. Bryn started her work at her church just as Covid hit, so she gave us such a down to earth look at: * Why Familying the Faith matters so much. * What has worked, what hasn’t, over the 30+ years he’s been pursuing this passion.  * And how do can parents connect with the faith life of their kids?  It was such a sweet conversation. We particularly loved hearing how Bryn shares her faith in Jesus with her own family!  Some of our ministry takeaways include:  1. The reality that you have people in your church who deeply care about helping parents learn to parent. 2. Programs can and should bring the whole church together. 3. If parents are going to use it, it HAS to be simple. Period.

Helping Parents Make Decisions with Dr. Angela Gorrell

Hello Friends,   Welcome to Episode 16 of the Familying the Faith Podcast by Vibrant Faith.  We’re all about connecting with ministry leaders who want to dig into THE MOST IMPORTANT JOB in today’s church, and that is connecting with and uplifting parents— the primary faith-forming agents in our world and helping them grow in their capacity and confidence as they share a vibrant faith in Jesus with the next generation.  We have such a special treat for you today! We asked our friend Dr. Angela Williams Gorrell to join us for a conversation about Familying the Faith.    Angela has worked with us several times in the past 5 years. She’s a youth minister, a professor, a consultant and an author.  Her research has been highlighted in media sources such as the NEW YORK TIMES, NPR, and THE WASHINGTON POST. She has both a Ph.D. and 21 years (and counting) of experience mentoring, speaking, teaching, planning, and guiding.  Her first book, Always On [https://www.amazon.com/Always-Practicing-Faith-Landscape-Theology/dp/1540960099], was so helpful to us as we worked during and after the pandemic to help churches embrace engaging families online. In this episode, she digs into a wonderful conversation with Rick and Nancy around her most recent book Braving Difficult Decisions: What to Do When You Don't Know What to Do [https://www.amazon.com/Braving-Difficult-Decisions-What-When/dp/0802883974]. Rick and Nancy had such a great conversation with Angela about:  * Her own family, and how they nurtured her life of faith. * Her work in youth ministry and how she learned to nurture and support the gifts of parents as they were seeking to raise their children as followers of Jesus * The framework she created in Braving Difficult Decisions. She describes a faithful decision-making process as moving from Stirring to Surrendering to Seeing to Sensing to Summoning, Shedding Sifting, Selecting, Searching, Striving to Sated Joy.  * How the process of describing Godly decision-making has changed her own view of God.  * What she wants to say to faithful parents who are making tough decisions and don’t know what to do. * How the church could and should enter the process of decision-making with their people.  You can learn more about Angela by visiting her website: ⁠www.angelagorrell.com⁠ [https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.angelagorrell.com/&ved=2ahUKEwjz_L2xoo6JAxUZmbAFHU35ONwQFnoECBYQAQ&usg=AOvVaw3erEMukeeW-OlmuPp-2IOS]  Dig into this one! There’s so much for you to learn and apply. Join us as we help you take that next faithful step!