A leader in supporting the partnership between home and congregation in the task of passing on faith is the Youth and Family Institute (www.youthandfamilyinstitute.org or www.tyfi.org ) based in Bloomington, MN.
Through the work of Y&FI and that of Search Institute four keys have been delineated as biblically based strategies for practicing faith in daily life. These four keys increase the likelihood that faith is “caught” – in home and congregation.
They are:
CARING CONVERSATION - Reflecting the charge to Israelite parents in Deuteronomy 6 to tell the stories of the exodus to their children “when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise” (Deut.6:7).
Caring conversations are the floor under all of our close relationships and are the way we model and transmit Christian values and faith to the next generation. Listening deeply, respectfully and with great care and speaking with love and gentleness helps children experience the love of God. Responding to the daily concerns of our children gives us their trust and the credibility to invite them to express God's love to others.
DEVOTIONAL LIFE - The way to “let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts” and to “let the word of Christ dwell in you richly” (Col. 3:15, 16).
Turn up the "God language" under caring conversations and you have family devotions. Adults need to learn the Christian message and the Biblical story (finding themselves in God's story and God in their story) in order to be able to pass on faith to their children and other adults. Sometimes devotions use scripture, a devotional text and prayer at a set time and in a set place each day. Sometimes it grows out of spontaneous conversation and wondering aloud how God might be present in teh sunset or current events or a family celebration and what God might be calling us to do in response. Our Christian faith shapes the whole of our lives and involves a lifetime of study, reflection and prayer.
RITUALS & TRADITIONS - As patterns of behaviour that express and reinforce our identity. “Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the good will of all the people” (Acts 2:46,47).
We already have a multitude of rituals and traditions. How do we wake one another up; say goodbye for the day; welcome one another home and say goodnight? How do we celebrate birthdays and holiday? What stories and recipes and activities and values shape our identity as a family? How might we pray for one another when leaving for the day; when facing a hard day; when dealing with stress? Find God in the mist of these daily or seasonally repeated experiences and we will suffuse family life with God's presence. This makes it very clear what our family values, believes and promotes; this shows how faith shapes us as individuals and as a family.
SERVICE - as the attitude Jesus himself adopts and commends to his disciples: “whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all.” (Mark:43-44).
Why would we do service as a family? Isn't it enough to do it as individuals? Learning that "faith is caught more than it is taught", we understand that we need to be together as family, linking the generations, to serve as a loving response to what God has already done for us. Together, we have a chance to talk about what we have done, why we have done it and what we have learned in the process. This si the way to make service a joyous opportunity to love God back, to say "thank you", to be the light of Christ for others. Serving with children makes it a habit, a spiritual practice, a faithful way of life.
The Youth and Family Institute have also delineated five principles concerning faith nurture;
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