Faith Forward will teach congregations, parents, and grandparents to tell the Biblical and family stories of God’s mercy, grace, love, boundaries, protection, promises, and faithfulness. As parenting trends and church attendance change in a post-pandemic world, this program has been designed to help pastors, parents, and grandparents pass on their Christian faith to the next generation. A paradigm shift to a home-centered faith formation requires trusted partners, a strong foundation of relationships and accountability, and an openness to God’s Spirit as it moves in new directions. Faith Forward wants to see parents and grandparents share the faith and values with the church’s treasure and future, our children and youth.

Faith Forward has a three-fold aim:

  1. EMPOWER rural and small congregations to more effectively work with parents, grandparents, and faith mentors through the normal routines of congregational life to help them hand down their Christian faith and values to the next generation.
  2. EQUIP parents and grandparents with doable, repeatable, livable faith practices.
  3. ENCOURAGE parents and grandparents in creating homegrown faith through easy-to-use activities and resources which weave faith formation into the normal routines of family life.

Faith Forward is funded by the Christian Parenting and Caregiving Initiative of the Lilly Endowment Inc. housed at Grand View University, and works in collaboration with Peer Ministry.

We are accepting applications to be part of our May 2026-2027 cohort.

Apply Today Nomination Form

What to Expect as a Part of Faith Forward

Faith Forward begins with an in-person event designed to engage, equip, and encourage rural pastors so they can recruit and connect parents, grandparents, and caregivers.

Faith Forward will equip caregivers with strategies that model faith to children through daily practices, incorporating social learning into faith formation. We will use The Five Faith Promises developed by Peer Ministry Leadership as an overarching framework for providing caregivers with effective strategies to share and practice the ways of faith. We come alongside families and encourage them to start with one and strive for five. The Promises include:

  1. Prayer: We promise to pray together every day.
  2. Bible reading: We promise to read the Bible together regularly.
  3. Faith conversations: We promise to talk together often about Jesus and our faith.
  4. Acts of service: We promise to perform acts of service together in our community, our congregation, and our home.
  5. Shared mealtimes: We promise to share five or more meals together each week, and to engage in other rituals and traditions together.

Tentative On-Site Dates in Des Moines, IA for the 2026-27 Cohort

Cohort Kick-Off: May 18-19, 2026
The first event focuses on building community, familiarizing the Faith Forward framework, and practicing several tools to implement in your local context. The kickoff also coincides with the 2025-26 Cohort Celebration with a three-hour overlap to connect and learn from their experiences.

End of Program Celebration: May 18-19, 2027
A chance for you to celebrate your experience in Faith Forward, share what you’ve learned with others, and learn next steps on how to sustain and continue to grow. The celebration also coincides with the next cohort kickoff where you will share your ideas and tips with the next cohort.

Faith Forward Cohort Components

Coaching

Faith Forward has partnered with Lyle Griner of Peer Ministry Leadership and David Lynn creator of the Total Family Ministry to provide cohort participants with four one-on-one coaching sessions throughout the year. In addition, the coaches will provide one group virtual session with a local congregation team to help the team better familiarize themselves with the Faith Forward framework.

Virtual Cohort Community

Cohort participants will meet monthly over Zoom to continue to learn effective methods presented by Griner and Lynn. The time will also provide participants to further dialogue to celebrate successes and help one another with ongoing support and encouragement.

Workshops for Parents, Grandparents, and Faith Mentors

Griner and Lynn will provide online, interactive workshops in three tracts: parents, grandparents, and triple-a-adults (adults who are authentic, available, and affirming.)

Resources

At the kickoff event, participants will go home with parent and grandparent starter kits containing a dozen faith activities. A resource website will also be available for families to sign up for weekly resources both mealtime conversations, and other faith conversation starters for families. Each participating congregation will have a unique URL specifically for their congregation. To see some samples of the resources, visit our parent page, www.faithforwardnow.org. In addition to the website family resources, pastors will receive hundreds of resources to weave-in faith formation into existing or new practices in the congregation.

Mini-grant

Each participating congregation will receive a $500 mini-grant to help with local kickoff events and implementation plans.
Frequently Asked Questions

What is Faith Forward?

Faith Forward comes alongside rural ELCA pastors and leaders to empower them to more effectively work with families. The Faith Forward aim is to equip and encourage parents, grandparents, and faith mentors to hand down their faith to the next generation.

The church becomes the learning lab for families to discover and practice ways to live out faith in their homes. Young ones learn and value a faith that is practical and lived within their own family.

Who is Faith Forward for?

Faith Forward is for USA ELCA pastors or other church leadership serving in family ministry in rural or small churches. Faith Forward is focused on rural and small churches because they are an underserved segment of the church. Even though Town and Country Church Institute at United Lutheran Seminary says 44 percent of all congregations in the United States are in open country or towns of 10,000 people or less, fewer resources are allocated to serving rural places. Rural Lutheran congregations need these resources and support at no or low cost.

How much does Faith Forward cost?

It’s very affordable. Thanks to a generous grant from the Lilly Endowment Inc, participation in Faith Forward only costs $100. We cover tuition, lodging, transportation, meals, coaching and resources. We at Faith Forward don’t ever want finances to be the barrier to a pastor entering into this enriching experience. Please contact us at faithforward @ grandview.edu if finances are an issue.

How do I nominate a pastor for Faith Forward?

We are thrilled you have someone in mind! Please fill out the following nomination form or contact us directly at faithforward @ grandview.edu.

How do I keep informed of what is happening with Faith Forward?

On our Faith Forward resource website, you can sign up to receive our triannual e-newsletter to keep in touch with what is happening in Faith Forward.