​​Adult Faith Formation

Christian Life
This curated list of online learning programs includes free to use resources and fee-based resources. Many of the fee-based resources offer subscriptions for churches so that the programs can be provided to everyone in the church. Courses offered by colleges, seminaries, and organizations are usually for individual or small group use. They can still be included in a church's adult faith formation offerings with a note that the program is fee-based and intended for individual or small group study. 

​Online Learning 
Alpha Online
https://alphausa.org/alpha-online
https://alphausa.org/catholic​
Alpha is a series of sessions exploring the Christian faith, typically run over eleven weeks with food, a talk, and conversation. Each talk looks at a different question around faith and is designed to create conversation. Alpha was originally designed for a physical setting - cafés, churches, universities, homes - and now has an online version. They have produced three guides to assist in running Alpha Online: Moving Alpha Online, Hosting Alpha Online, and Alpha Online In Action.

Amplify Media ($)
amplifymedia.com
​Amplify Media, a part of Cokesbury, is a streaming service that delivers 1000's of high quality videos with an emphasis on Wesleyan perspectives: small group study programs on the Bible and Christian tradition, worship, prayer and devotions, Church year seasons, and more. This is a subscription based service for churches. Amplify videos can be accessed anytime, anywhere, on any device. 

The Bible Project 
https://bibleproject.com
BibleProject is a nonprofit ed-tech organization and animation studio that produces 100% free fully animated Bible videos, podcasts, and educational Bible resources to make the biblical story accessible to everyone, everywhere. The Bible Project resources that 
Boston College STM Online: Crossroads ($ and free)
​www.bc.edu/content/bc-web/schools/stm/sites/crossroads/crossroads-courses.html
STM Online: Crossroads, a program of Boston College School of Theology and Ministry, offers non-credit online courses for adult spiritual enrichment and faith formation. With a focus on shared reflection in an online learning community, Crossroads models the kind of conversation and participation that lead to deeper understanding and personal growth in faith. Course topics include spirituality and prayer, scripture, sacraments and liturgy, moral life, and themes from our Christian tradition.
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Church Next ($ and free)
https://www.churchnext.tv/p/churchnext 
ChurchNext provides a wide variety of adult faith formation courses from expert teachers in Scripture, liturgy, and important Christian topics for a small fee. Adults can interact in a safe, online environment that’s convenient, engaging, and affordable. (There are free courses and fee-based courses from $10-$15 for each course.)​ They also have videos on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/ChurchNext. 

​Learn25 ($)
(There is a fee of $15 - $30 for each program.)​
www.learn25.com/product-category/catholic-courses/
Learning 25 Catholic programs are podcast-style audio and video courses intended for personal study (you can add a small group component). The Learn25 lectures are presented in 25-minute segments by engaging university professors. Combining scholarship with lively instruction, the presenters enlighten and entertain, engage and inform. Many of their courses include free study guides with outlines, suggested readings, and more. 
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Life.Church Open Network Small Group Studies
https://open.life.church/categories/319-small-groups
Life.Church Open Network makes available the entire library of Life.Church resources for adults including small group studies on a wide range of topics. ​

Seminary Now ($)
​​seminarynow.com/catalog
Seminary Now is a subscription-based, streaming video platform that delivers exclusive biblical and theological courses from a diverse group of leading educators and thought leaders. Courses are divided into short videos so people can learn at your own pace. Courses are offered in biblical and theological foundations, Old Testament, New Testament, Church, and Justice and Reconciliation. (Individual and church subscriptions available.)

Spirituality & Practice ($)
https://www.spiritualityandpractice.com
Spirituality & Practice offers dozens of e-courses on classic spiritual practices, sacred texts, elder spirituality, spiritual masters, and more. 

​Activities & Programs
Building Faith
buildfaith.org
Building Faith, a service of Virginia Theological Seminary, provides hundreds of articles and activities for faith formation with all ages. Use the "Articles by Topics" category to find faith theme activities and resources

Christian Practices
www.lifelongfaith.com/practices.html
Lifelong Faith's Christian Practices project has produced faith forming activities - for age groups and for families - with a teaching plan for ten Christian Practices. All activities are included on separate MS Word document so that you can create handouts for sessions, a booklet, online playlists and activities, social media posts, etc. Each Activity can be done in 20 minutes (approximately). ​Practices include: Caring for the Body, Celebrating, Discernment, Eating Well, Forgiveness, Keeping Sabbath, Managing Household Life, Participating in Community, Prayer, and Reading the Bible. 

​Life.Church Open Network Small Group Studies
https://open.life.church/categories/319-small-groups
Life.Church Open Network makes available the entire library of Life.Church resources for adults including small group Bible studies on a wide range of topics and books of the Bible. 

Saint Mary's Press Resource Center
​www.smp.org/resourcecenter
The Saint Mary's Press Resource Center has resources for download including maps, activities, lesson plans, prayers, articles, worksheets, and videos on many topics in Catholic faith formation: Jesus, church history, church, liturgy, morality, prayer, sacraments, saints, and social justice. ​

Thoughtful Christian ($)
https://www.thethoughtfulchristian.com
www.thethoughtfulchristian.com/TabCenter/22/Adults.aspx
The Thoughtful Christian provides a wide variety of individual and group studies on faith topics for adults available for digital downloads. ​​

​United States Catholic Catechism for Adults - Online
www.usccb.org/sites/default/files/flipbooks/uscca/files/assets/basic-html/page-1.html
Each chapter in the United States Catholic Catechism for Adults includes stories, doctrine, reflections, quotations, discussion questions, and prayers to lead the reader to a deepening faith. The United States Catholic Catechism for Adults is an excellent resource for preparation of catechumens in the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults and for ongoing catechesis of adults.

Vibrant Faith at Home Activities
​​www.vibrantfaithprojects.org/young-adults.html
​www.vibrantfaithprojects.org/adults--couples.html​
Hundreds of activities for home and church, created by Vibrant Faith, are available to download as PDFs. Young Adult and Adult activities are organized in six categories: Bible Stories, Conversations, Learning about Faith, Prayer, Ritual & Tradition, and Serving Others. 

Visual Faith Activities 
​www.vibrantfaithprojects.org/visual-faith-activities.html
Vibrant Faith has created 32 Visual Faith Experiences that connect a Bible passage to visual images that you can download as PDFs and use as thematic lessons at home or church throughout the year. There is also a guide for using the experiences on online platforms. 

Wesleyan Resource Center - Adults
​resources.wesleyan.org/?fwp_categories=adults
The Wesleyan Resource Center curates theologically Wesleyan and holistic resources motivated to move people from making decisions to trust Christ to actively following Jesus in close discipleship communities. All of the resources are free. Includes small group studies on a variety of biblical and faith themes, seasonal programs, and videos. 

Videos
Ascension Press: Fr. Mike Schmitz Videos
media.ascensionpress.com/category/ascension-presents/fr-mike-schmitz/
Fr. Mike Schmitz and Ascension Press have produced a series of short videos on Catholic beliefs, teachings, and practices. The videos are also on YouTube: ​www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeXS0cAkuTPpJ6j3eH59WudJhJ4q1tpwH. 
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Boston College Encore Video Presentations 
www.bc.edu/content/bc-web/schools/stm/sites/encore/topics.html
Encore is a library of video presentations by Boston College School of Theology professors on a variety of topics: Course topics include spirituality and prayer, scripture, sacraments and liturgy, moral life, and themes from our Christian tradition.  Each presentation is approximately 1 hour in length. 

Catholic Central
www.catholiccentral.com
Catholic Central produces videos that address questions about the Catholic faith and what it means to be Catholic. Using a team of witty writers, appealing hosts and even some learned theologians, they have created shareable, snackable videos that teach the timeless truths and deep history of the Catholic Church with humor and heart. Produced by Family Theater Productions.
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​Chuck Knows Church
​chuckknowschurch.com/archive?tid=All
The videos from Chuck Knows Church helps people learn more about faith and church while inviting them to have deeper conversations. Use  the search function to find these videos on the website. 

Formed ($)
​formed.org
watch.formed.org/browse
FORMED is a streaming subscription service for Catholic parishes that provides Catholic content to help people explore their faith anywhere with movies, children’s programs, ebooks, audio, parish programs and studies direct to a browser, mobile, or connected device. There are hundreds of video-based programs, individual videos, and movies presenting the Catholic faith. Use the "browse" page to review the content categories and individual programs on the Catholic faith, including a series of the sacraments, videos on the Church year seasons, spirituality, Catholic beliefs, and much more. ​​

The Journey / El Camino (ODB Films)
odbfilms.com/films?s=The%20Journey
In the Journey videos, we see how our experiences today are reflected in the experiences of those who first encountered Jesus two thousand years ago. We come to see how Christ touches us personally even today. The videos in Part 1 focus on our personal encounter with Jesus; Part 2 focus on what it means to belong to Jesus’ community, the Church; and Part 3 explore how we encounter Jesus’ way of life as disciples. There is a program resource from Paulist Evangelization Ministries designed to help Catholics today deepen their personal relationship with Christ developed around the videos (www.pemdc.org/programs/thejourney). 

Lente Católico 
www.youtube.com/channel/UC0Qk-x1VDfYV187tgASv0fg
Faith delivered in funny, informative and free videos in Spanish. Lente Católico is a Gabriel Award-winning Catholic video program which presents  informative and entertaining videos about Catholic thought, spirituality, and practice in Spanish. Produced by Family Theater Productions.

Restored (ODB Films)
odbfilms.com/films?s=Restored
RESTORED: Stories of Encounter is a six-part docuseries on individuals who had radical encounters with Christ and went on to make a real difference in the world. This series provides vivid and deeply human role models for all who desire life in Christ. Every subject of this series is a moving example of Christ’s perfect love for the poor, the lost, and the weak. They can inspire anyone who wants to do something good to take the leap. All our subjects did was let their great love move them to action.
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Right Now Media ($)
www.rightnowmedia.org ​
Over 20,000 Biblically-based videos for small groups, families, students, leadership development, and more than 2,000 wholesome, educational, and entertaining videos for children. All available for streaming. Monthly fee based on the size of the church. 

The Work of the People Films
​https://www.theworkofthepeople.com
The Work of the People is an eclectic, ecumenical, and growing collection of provocative short films and interviews with spiritual leaders and thinkers, authors, practitioners, and theologians. Films are available individually, in multi-session thematic series, in contemplative themes (visual prayers, poems, and benedictions), and as e-courses.  

Podcasts
Boston College Encore Podcasts
​www.bc.edu/content/bc-web/schools/stm/sites/encore/encore-podcast.html
Encore is a library of podcasts of presentations by Boston College School of Theology professors on a variety of topics: Course topics include spirituality and prayer, scripture, sacraments and liturgy, moral life, and themes from our Christian tradition.  Each presentation is approximately 1 hour in length. 

Theology Live Podcast
https://theologylive.podomatic.com
Once a month, the 20s and 30s community of Grace-St. Luke's Episcopal Church gathers over food and drinks to engage Memphis' most compelling theological minds. The Theology Live Podcast incorporates the presentation and interaction for each program.