Learning Forte
Through custom solutions and both individualized & cohort-based learning opportunities we equip you to reach and teach people in a changing world.
This blog post written by the Rev. Noah Oliver Herren is a result of Leaders for Hybrid Futures, a community of learning and practice created by Rev. Tim Schenck and Learning Forte’s CEO, Rev. Stacy Williams-Duncan, to reflect on and experiment with hybrid ministry. This innovative program is a partnership with LEAD, TX, and Learning Forte’s Digital Ministry Initiative …
This blog post recorded by the Rev. Dr. Richard R. Swanson is a result of Leaders for Hybrid Futures, a community of learning and practice created by Rev. Tim Schenck and Learning Forte’s CEO, Rev. Stacy Williams-Duncan, to reflect on and experiment with hybrid ministry. This innovative program is a partnership with LEAD, TX, and Learning Forte’s Digital Ministry …
I don’t feel the same passion for all those “views” that I once did. I pay less attention to who is actually on the Zoom, and I long ago gave up scrolling through the comments from the livestream on Sunday afternoon. Even worse, I’ve actually begun to feel grumpy about the people who are still at home. “What are they waiting for?” my team and I have wondered many times. “What’s it going to take before they’ll come back like everyone else?”
This blog post written by the Rev. Tim Schenk is a result of Leaders for Hybrid Futures, a community of learning and practice created by Rev. Tim Schenck and Learning Forte’s CEO, Rev. Stacy Williams-Duncan, to reflect on and experiment with hybrid ministry. This innovative program is a partnership with LEAD, TX, and Learning Forte’s Digital Ministry Initiative and …
This blog post written by the Rev. Eric L. Murray is a result of Leaders for Hybrid Futures, a community of learning and practice created by Rev. Tim Schenck and Learning Forte’s CEO, Rev. Stacy Williams-Duncan, to reflect on and experiment with hybrid ministry. This innovative program is a partnership with LEAD, TX, and Learning Forte’s Digital Ministry Initiative …
This blog post written by the Rev. Eric Murray is a result of Leaders for Hybrid Futures, a community of learning and practice created by Rev. Tim Schenck and Learning Forte’s CEO, Rev. Stacy Williams-Duncan, to reflect on and experiment with hybrid ministry. This innovative program is a partnership with LEAD, TX, and Learning Forte’s Digital Ministry Initiative and …
This blog post written by the Rev. Jeremy D. Scott is a result of Leaders for Hybrid Futures, a community of learning and practice created by Rev. Tim Schenck and Learning Forte’s CEO, Rev. Stacy Williams-Duncan, to reflect on and experiment with hybrid ministry. This innovative program is a partnership with LEAD, TX, and Learning Forte’s Digital Ministry Initiative …
This week marks the two year anniversary of the beginning of my first call as an ordained minister in the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America). It started out with presiding over the Ash Wednesday service at St. Luke Lutheran Church in Atlanta, GA, followed by my ordination service Friday night of that same week. …
Stacy’s journey into educational technology began while teaching 7th grade religion.
What does it mean to add new furniture to the worship space? No matter the faith tradition, adding a foreign or new piece of art, chair, cross or carpet can cause congregational pushback and unease. St. John’s in the Mountains is preparing to add a 70″ computer monitor to empower community building for those who …
“Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone.” (1 Corinthians 12.4-6, NRSV) This passage brought be me back to my grade school days and …
When social media began to be a part of many people’s lives, the debates about whether or not people we knew exclusively on social media were indeed people with whom we were in relationships soon followed. Before that, we often defined relationships as between people who encountered each other face to face, who were in …
It is no secret that church attendance on Sundays has steadily declined over the last several decades. The reasons for this are myriad and complex from shifting membership, time demands, and simply a culture that is moving away from organized religion. The tricky thing for any church leader is how much these statistics are considered …
The Lake Institute on Faith & Giving, part of the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at Indiana University, “fosters a deeper understanding of the dynamic relationship between faith and giving, through research, education, and public conversation.” The Lake Institute offers learning opportunities for faith leaders and congregations on the generosity and giving and convenes a …
Equipping lay leaders to lead: what tools do church governing board members need to imagine and provide the necessary resources for the hybrid future? These are some of the questions/comments I have heard in recent weeks about hybrid church: What difference does it make that we offer [fill in the blank]…live-streamed worship, hybrid Sunday school, …
Early in the pandemic, I attended a meeting when we could barely accept the realities that we would not be having in-person church for the entirety of Lent and likely Easter. After a discussion about moving services toward online options, one of the leaders in that meeting said, “that isn’t real church.” Perhaps she was …
I half-jokingly refer to our Digital Usher as a “serial liker.” This is the person charged with welcoming and guiding the folks who worship with us online, greeting and troubleshooting, and walking with our digital community. And this includes “liking” all the prayers and comments along the way. I first noticed the need for a …
In 1835, Jackson Kemper was consecrated as the Episcopal Church’s first missionary bishop. This was an acknowledgment that the Church needed to address the growing spiritual needs of the American frontier. It’s exhausting to even read about his accomplishments in what was originally known as the Northwest Territory. I mean, if Kemper was awarded frequent …
Most of us distinctly remember that last pre-pandemic church service in March 2020. After a long period of exclusively online worship, many parishes have adopted a hybrid ministry model, incorporating online and in-person congregations. While pandemic ministry has been challenging, it has also been a time of great opportunity and creativity. We collectively learned to …
Learning Forte has announced Kyle Oliver as a new Principal and Chief Product Officer. Kyle brings a wealth of skills and knowledge to Learning Forte with experience leading media-rich learning activities, facilitating effective online and hybrid courses, and planning and executing communications initiatives at a variety of faith-based organizations. He has taught or co-taught courses for …
Design + Deliver: Intensive on Teaching Online & Hybrid Courses Applying proven digital teaching practices. As someone who has begun teaching in hybrid or online programs, you know that it requires an integration of subject area expertise, teaching confidence, and technology know-how. Learning ForTE’s experts have developed a course that will deepen your teaching capacity …
In 2020, whether you were ready or not, you were quickly launched into ministering in virtual space. Over the course of the year, your congregations worshiped in person, then strictly online, then in a hybrid space, then back online. This yo-yo effect of changing circumstances has scarcely left time for you to reflect with any …
About the Course After a year of discovering how to create disciples in a digital world, how do you move forward to imagine and plan for the next year? Join Hannah Graham and Tania Schramm for a 4-week intensive course on planning for your next program year. We will explore questions like: How do you …
