This blog post “Communicating Shared Values” is part two of a series designed to spark conversation! To read the previous posts in the series, you can view all ELCA Innovation Blog posts here.

Research Insight: Young adult parents don’t consider religious faith or spiritual development important for their children.   

This chart from the study shows how respondents view what is most important to teach children.

Last week’s blog post shared a call to action from the U.S. Surgeon General for faith communities and religious leaders to play a part in responding to issues around parents’ mental health and well-being in today’s world.

Yet, in a recent research study, survey respondents rated “religious faith” as the least important thing to teach their children when presented with a list of options that included values and behaviors like empathy, helping others, tolerance, and responsibility, which may all feature prominently in Christian teaching designed for children.

With this disinterest in passing on religious faith, how might congregations engage parents and their children? Gallup has reported that religious people experience better well-being in various ways. We should not reduce our faith to being a device or vehicle for health and happiness. Instead, emphasizing the connection between a relationship with God and a life of purpose and vocation deserves an increased focus.

While trust in religious institutions may be waning, 27% of survey respondents still said they would trust religious leaders or texts for parenting advice. This compares to 63% who would trust their parents (by far the most trusted source of advice), 30% who would trust experts or academics, and only 15% who would trust blogs, influencers, or social media. This level of trust is hardly overwhelming, but it does signal an openness to hearing from faith communities about parenting – particularly if that advice helps a parent pass on values and ideals they care deeply about, like a sense of responsibility and empathy for others.

Next steps for congregations

What can faith communities do to support parents as they raise children to live a life of purpose? While there isn’t a singular solution, congregations seeking to promote the well-being of parents can listen intentionally to local families. What needs do parents have that a faith community might have the resources to meet? Where is there alignment between a congregation’s beliefs or practices and the values parents are striving to instill in their children? These are the types of wonderings that spark ideas for creative ministry.

Next week’s blog will focus on spiritual practices among parents and prospective parents. In the meantime, we invite you to reflect on the discussion questions below. If you have comments, questions, or reflections, please share them with us at Lab@elca.org!

Discussion Questions

• Does our congregation or community offer any ministry specifically designed for parents? If not, when was the last time our congregation/community intentionally engaged with parents?
• How might our congregation play a role in connecting caregivers and parents to foster social connection?
• How could we learn more about the biggest challenges facing parents in our community?
• What other non-profits, faith communities, organizations, etc., are providing support for parents in our community? Have we made any connections with them recently?

Further Reading

1. Recommended Practices for Lifelong Faith Formation: This ELCA handbook gives concrete, easily accessible touchpoints for faith formation for different age groups.
2. 4D Formation: Exploring Vocation in Community: This book by Drew Tucker, an ELCA pastor, explores the definition of Vocation and invites the reader “to examine, clarify, and affirm their purpose and identity, and ultimately to experience God’s presence in and purpose for their lives.”
3. Young Adult Parents Research: We’re basing this blog series on this report! The linked report provides analysis and survey results in full.

This blog post is part of a series designed to spark conversation! To read future posts in the series, you can view all ELCA Innovation Blog posts here.

Parents under pressure

This past summer, the U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy released an advisory on the mental health and well-being of parents. A Surgeon General’s Advisory is “a public statement that calls the American people’s attention to an urgent public health issue and provides recommendations for how it should be addressed. Advisories are reserved for significant public health challenges that require the nation’s immediate awareness and action.” In short, an advisory is serious.

The advisory paints a picture of an interconnected web of issues that contribute to parental and caregiver stress, loneliness, and mental health conditions. Some of the stand-out figures include:

• Nearly 3-in-4 parents are extremely or somewhat worried that their child will struggle with anxiety or depression.
• School shootings, or the possibility of one, are a significant source of stress for 74% of parents.
• Approximately 65% of parents and guardians, and 77% of single parents in particular, experienced loneliness, compared to 55% of non-parents.
• In the last decade, childcare prices have grown by approximately 26% in the U.S.

How can the church respond?

In his foreword to the advisory, the surgeon general states, “Raising children is sacred work. It should matter to all of us.” The advisory makes it clear that the church can take action to respond to this challenge with faith leaders and communities being called out specifically to:

1. Foster open dialogue about parental stress, mental health, and well-being in culturally appropriate ways.
2. Create opportunities to cultivate supportive social connections among parents and caregivers.

But how might the church and other faith communities respond to this call for action? Last year, the ELCA Innovation Lab partnered with Try Tank Research Institute and the Presbyterian Church (USA) to conduct a national research study that sought to understand shifting trends in the faith lives of young adults, with a particular focus on young adult parents or prospective parents (those hoping to have children).

This study revealed more about shifting spiritual and religious practices, identities, and affiliations. It also dug into parents’ worries and priorities. Over the next few weeks, we’ll post brief insights and reflections based on this research that we hope will spark conversation, ideas, and action in your community. You can read the full report any time and direct your questions, comments, and reflections to Lab@elca.org!

Further Reading

1. The U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory on the Mental Health & Well-Being of Parents.
2. An opinion column from Dr. Vivek Murthy, the U.S. Surgeon General, featured in the New York Times.
3. Resources from UNICEF that explore and provide tips for talking about mental health with young people and tips for caregivers and parents as they care for themselves.
4. The ELCA’s social message on The Body of Christ and Mental Illness which was adopted in 2012 by the ELC Church Council.

Congregations Lead Initiative

People are lonely. A January 2020 survey from Cigna found that three in five US Americans are lonely, and we know loneliness only got exponentially worse during the COVID-19 pandemic. Researchers at the Harvard Graduate School of Education analyzed data from an October 2020 online survey of 950 Americans and “reported substantial increases in loneliness since the outbreak of the pandemic.” Loneliness can seem like a taboo topic, but this survey shows that our neighbors are crying out for connection. So, what does that mean for a church that believes in a relational God? The ELCA is called to respond to the needs of our world by nurturing our relationships with our global and local communities as well as building stronger ties with our neighbors. 

At its November 2020 meeting, the ELCA Church Council affirmed the Future Church design, which focuses on a “renewed purpose to activate the entire church so that more people may know the way of Jesus and discover community, justice and love.” In doing so, it identified three priorities for the church moving forward:

• a welcoming church that engages new, young and diverse people
• a thriving church rooted in tradition and radically relevant
• a connected, sustainable church that shares in a common purpose and direction

These are big priorities that can be lived out in a variety of ways. One way to live into this renewed purpose is a program that evolved out of this refocused purpose statement: the Congregations Lead Initiative, made possible by a generous grant from the Lilly Endowment. As our world and local contexts grow more complex, the ELCA is called to respond to the needs of our community. This program seeks to equip and inspire congregations with innovation and design-thinking tools to spark the next chapter of congregational ministry. At a time when many congregations feel like they’re struggling to survive, this initiative seeks to provide the tools to thrive. In addition, we hope this program will spark greater change across the whole ELCA, where thriving congregations will inspire a thriving church, so that all “may have life, and have it abundantly,” (John 10:10). We are looking for new and creative ways to invite people to know the love of Jesus.

God demonstrates time and again that we are meant to be in community; in one Body of Christ. “If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it,” (1 Corinthians 12:26). When loneliness is an epidemic, we are called to listen to our neighbors, be present in community, and to be a safe space where people can experience the love of God. If this call to activate the entire church so that more people may know the way of Jesus and discover community, justice and love excites you, then your congregation might be a great candidate for the Congregations Lead Initiative! To learn more, you can visit elca.org/congregationslead; applications are open now! If you have any questions, feel free to email CongregationsLead@elca.org. 

Rebecca Payne (she/her)

Program Manager, Congregations Lead Initiative

Open Doors supports ELCA congregations interested in meeting new people in this time of re-gathering in physical spaces

Over the past 18 months, faith communities have gathered to worship and share the faith in new and different ways. Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, worship has moved online, in-person events have been reimagined, and new questions have arisen. Yet, faith communities around the world have served their communities with profound compassion and creativity. As vaccine availability in the United States increased and outbreaks of Covid-19 lessened in severity, communities across the ELCA have begun considering what might be next. Additionally, as the ELCA sets out to share the story of Jesus and the ELCA with one million new, younger, and more diverse people, the opportunity became clear. But without a set list of “best practices” for emerging from a global pandemic, the ELCA set out to learn – together.

The Open Doors initiative was launched to support ELCA congregations interested in meeting new people during this time of transition and re-gathering in physical spaces. ELCA congregations were invited to share their concrete, actionable ideas for meeting new people during this critical time.

To see a map of Open Doors recipients click here.

Over 1,000 ELCA congregations – nearly 12 percent – responded with their ideas. The ideas ranged from responding to the immediate needs of communities to sparking moments of joy through a traveling ice cream cart with a cool, sweet treat and warm welcome. Other congregations are imaging outdoor public space for reflection and tranquility through a garden or prayer labyrinth or celebratory block parties and concerts. Many are planning to continue virtual worship and community in addition to returning to physical gathering, and still others will accompany neighbors in community prayer gatherings through grief support and intentional time to remember the many lives lost during the past year.

In total, 134 grant applicants from across the ELCA were selected through a random selection process and received a $1,500 grant to put towards their idea. Grant applicants and recipients are implementing their ideas and will be invited to share their learnings toward the end of 2021. If you would like to share your idea for meeting new people in this time of re-gathering, you can do so using the Open Doors “bulletin board.”

Though the future may be yet unknown, the opportunity to learn and grow together continues. If you’d like to follow along, please subscribe to the ELCA Innovation Lab blog, and you can email us at lab@elca.org.

Introduction

Have you or your worshipping community ever encountered a tough problem and found yourselves unable to come up with a solution? Then design thinking might be able to help! Design thinking is being used every day by global companies, top universities and people around the world to help solve big challenges.

Typically in problem-solving, the problem and solution are defined within concrete confines — for example, in innovation, we look for the ideal overlap of viability, feasibility and desirability. Design thinking enters the innovation process to help expand the options and imagination into the abstract before coming back down to finalize or define the concrete solution.

Design thinking can also help break down large, complex problems into more discrete yet interconnected segments.

“Great!” you say? Then, let’s get to it. What is design thinking?

Design Thinking: An Overview

Source: Stanford d.School, “Design Thinking Bootleg.” Licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.

Design thinking is a method for creative problem-solving that works on an understanding that the best solutions and problem-solving involve the perspectives of those who will use the design — “the user” (ex. customer, member, constituent). By gaining a deep understanding of the user first, design thinking considers whether the problem is a problem at all, helps to uncover assumptions and explores the implications of a potential solution.

To better understand the problem, the users and potential solutions, there are five “modes” within design thinking. While there are many ways to explore these phases, here is how the Stanford d.School (Stanford Design School) defines the five modes:

• Empathize: Empathy is the foundation of user-centered design. The problems you’re trying to solve are rarely your own; they’re those of particular users. Build empathy for your users by learning their values.
• Define: The define mode is when you unpack your empathy findings into needs and insights and scope a meaningful challenge. Based on your understanding of users and their environments, come up with an actionable problem statement: your Point of View. Understanding the meaningful challenge at hand and the user insights you can leverage is fundamental to creating a successful solution.
• Ideate: Ideate is the mode in which you generate radical design alternatives. Ideation is a process of “going wide” in terms of concepts and outcomes — a mode of “flaring” instead of “focus.” The goal of ideation is to explore a wide solution space — both a large quantity and a broad diversity of ideas. From this vast repository of ideas, you can build prototypes to test with users.
• Prototype: Prototyping gets ideas out of your head and into the world. A prototype can be anything that takes a physical form — a wall of Post-it notes, a role-playing activity, an object. In the early stages, keep prototypes inexpensive and low-resolution to learn quickly and explore possibilities.
• Test: Testing is your chance to gather feedback, refine solutions and continue to learn about your users. The test mode is an iterative mode in which you place low-resolution prototypes in the appropriate context of your user’s life. Prototype as if you know you’re right, but test as if you know you’re wrong.

Design thinking is an iterative problem-solving process, meaning that the five phases are not sequential. For example, after prototyping, you might want to go back to empathize with users to understand whether a potential solution will work.

Design thinking also opens up the opportunity to think from different perspectives and in alternative ways to reach a better solution. To explore further, check out the Stanford d.School’s “Design Thinking Bootleg” or IDEO’s design thinking introduction and related resources.

What’s next?

While design thinking often follows or uses the five “modes” outlined above, even this innovative field continues to evolve. Look out for part two of this design thinking story, which will focus on equity design!

References and Other Resources

IDEO, “Design Thinking.”

Stanford d.School, “Design Thinking Bootleg.” Licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.

Rikke Friis Dam and Teo Yu Siang, “What Is Design Thinking and Why Is It So Popular?,” Interaction Design Foundation, July 2020.

The ELCA Innovation Lab Blog is new! We’d love to hear what you think. If you’ve got a few minutes, complete this short survey. If you have any additional questions or comments let us know at lab@elca.org. 

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