Faith Formation

Facing Collective Shame to Tell the Whole Story

Jesus said, "You will know the truth, and truth will make you free [John 8:32]. Yes, truth will set us free—but only if it is the whole truth, the whole story. Honor-and-shame culture teaches us that there’s no story of honor if there’s no story of shame. You don’t bring honor to someone by erasing shame, but by bringing shame into the light.

September 14, 2022
Flourishing in Community with Young People: A Conversation with Lena Crouso and Elizabeth Tamez Méndez

In this conversation, Lena Crouso, vice president for Intercultural Learning and Engagement at Southern Nazarene University, talks with Elizabeth Tamez-Mendez about building a culture of inclusion for young people that aims for shalom and provides places and spaces for young people to ask questions and experience courageous conversations in their faith exploration.

August 22, 2022
Accompanying Youth in a Collective Process of Ministry: A Conversation with Cristian De La Rosa and Elizabeth Tamez Méndez

In this conversation, Dr. Cristian De La Rosa, national director of the Hispanic Youth Leadership Academy, talks with Elizabeth Tamez-Mendez, executive director of New Generation3, about models of communication that accompany youth in a process of mentorship, leadership, Biblical interpretation, arts exploration, and more so that youth find their agency to share what is meaningful and relevant for their lives and ministries.

August 22, 2022

Affirmation and Comunidad for Latino Catholic Youth: A Conversation with Hosffman Ospino and Elizabeth Tamez Méndez

In this conversation, practical theologian Hosffman Ospino [Boston College] talks with Elizabeth Tamez-Mendez about Latino Catholic youth who constitute the largest sector of the young Catholic population in the U.S. They reflect on how understanding the realities and experiences of this group will help parish and congregational leaders to build a church that is more dynamic and more inclusive in terms of culture and language.

August 8, 2022
Discipleship, Faith Formation, and Belonging in Worship: A Conversation with Chris Schoon and Elizabeth Tamez Méndez

In this conversation, Chris Schoon, director of Faith Formation Ministries of the Christian Reformed Church of North America, explores with Elizabeth Tamez Méndez the importance of equipping congregations and parents to embrace children and youth as full image bearers and active participants in worship, for the well-being of the intergenerational community.

August 1, 2022
Engaging in Learning, Growing in Faith

As part of the 35th annual Calvin Symposium on Worship in Feb. 2022, twenty guests spoke with about 200 students in various courses and student organizations about the relationship between public worship and their areas of study. The program demonstrates the catalytic connections that can be made and faith formation that can happen through integrating attention to Christian practices in all areas of study.

April 27, 2022

Empowering Children and Youth through Active Involvement 

In this conversation, Priscilla Rodriquez shares with Elizabeth Tamez Mendez about her worshiping community in Chicago which provides accessible leaders with a guiding presence so that early on children are encouraged to be creative and share their gifts as they grow up in the life of faith and the church. 

March 22, 2022
Intergenerational Relationships in the Worshiping Community

In this conversation, pastor Ahnna Cho Park invites church communities to consider a Biblical concept of honor that embraces the imago Dei, breaks down cultural hierarchies between youth and adults, and welcomes all on a journey of intergenerational friendships and worship practices.

March 2, 2022
Curiosity, Relationship-building, and Youth as Active Participants

In this conversation, Nicole Saint-Victor shares with Elizabeth Tamez Méndez her passion for nurturing relationships with youth and inviting them into intentional conversations and spaces even while sometimes disrupting established practices in order to provide multiple pathways for youth into Christian community, worship, and life together.

March 1, 2022

Bilingualism, Generations and the Church

In this conversation, pastor Marcos Canales shares with Elizabeth Tamez Méndez how intercultural and intergenerational relationships intersect with a worshiping community to foster spaces of belonging in la familia of God.

February 8, 2022
Coming Alongside Youth on New Pathways of Being Church

In this conversation, pastor and justice-seeker Sandra Maria Van Opstal talks Elizabeth Tamez Méndez about how the twin pandemics of COVID-19 and racial reckoning provided an opportunity for churches to pivot and reset practices and spaces that allow youth to ask hard questions and explore a Biblical understanding of worship, justice, and collective flourishing in Christ.

January 26, 2022