On average, we might see a child or youth for 30 hours in a given year.  A family will spend that amount of time together in a week.  Yes, it’s important for each age to do faith development and religious exploration at a level appropriate for where they are developmentally.  But religious exploration can’t happen in isolation – it happens in relationship to our community, to our environment.  This is one of the many reasons we have a family ministry focus in our Religious Exploration programs.  We want every member of the family to be doing their own faith work, yes, but also families need to build faith together as a unit and among themselves to build a true beloved community.  We aim to have many events each year that are for families – from holiday social gatherings to all ages worships to multigenerational justice projects – that help families explore and experience faith together.