Galilee Lutheran Church - ELCA
N24W26430 Crestview Drive, Pewaukee, WI 53072 | 262.691.2380
Vibrant Faith Initiative
Galilee has been selected to be a pilot congregation for the Helping Parents Raise Faithful Kids program through the Vibrant Faith Initiative. Vibrant Faith is a group of researchers and faith formation experts who work to research and develop new processes and resources to help ministry leaders cultivate Christ-centered families. That’s a long way of saying this group develops ways that churches can encourage and support families who want to be closer to Christ. And we are very excited to be a part of this stage of the Raising Faithful Kids research project, which is funded by a grant by the Lily Endowment!
Basically, through the year of 2026 (and into future years if we choose to stay involved) Galilee will be a testing ground for the implementation of research that has been done at previous stages of the project. The main research question is how churches can partner with parents to help raise children who know what worship is and value worship enough to continue engaging in worship into adulthood. The research to this point is showing that a relational/spiritual process where kids and parents engage in the “whys” of worship alongside a congregation that engages these “whys” in worship as well. The process for Galilee will begin with some listening events for parents, where we will seek to hear from parents what will work in their lives and what might not. We will then engage in six sessions (that will be informed by what we hear in the listening sessions) about the “whys” of worship and how families can engage these at home and in worship. We will have parallel experiences during the regular worship services of Galilee to allow the whole congregation to learn what our families are learning, and to experience each “why” of worship together.
You will hear more and more about this process as the year unfolds. Right now we are establishing a leadership group to help lead Galilee through this process. There is some room still on this group if you feel called to help – please talk with Pastor Amanda if you are interested. As we get past Easter and head toward summer you will start to see some of the pieces unfold, and as we head into fall things will really pick up.
I ask that the congregation would seek to engage every element of the project as an experiment – we are trying things out that may or may not work, but that will help parents throughout the nation as they seek to raise Christ-centered families. I ask that you would also pray for this project, and for the families of Galilee as we head into this experiment. I am excited to see where God will take us on this journey of Raising Faithful Kids!
Pastor Amanda
