The meeting was held Feb. 25-27 at the Synod's International Center in St. Louis. To help with the first part of the question, Shelby Andress, director of consulting services for Minneapolis-based Search Institute, presented the group with statistical information designed to help the combined group focus on problems facing families. People's faith life improves as they age, but our society is often segregated by age, with grandparents living apart from their children and grandchildren.
Congregations typically score low when it comes to helping people learn in an interactive way.
Men are not being the strong role models of faith life that youth need in their lives. That doesn't mean, Andress said, that the parents were in church, but, rather, that they were active in expressing their faith. Just as people talk about needing better parenting skills, we also need to learn better faith-sharing skills. All of the groups have programs that affect families in some way. The Synod boards are the boards for Congregational Services, Human Care Ministries, Black Ministry Services, Mission Services, Higher Education and Communication Services.