Adult Faith Formation
by Susan Young Thornton
Recently several people have asked me for recommendations for Adult Faith Formation resources. One was particularly intriguing. A Ruling Elder wanted to know if there was a curriculum that would help church members become life-long disciples. In other words, would this resource not only provide study materials, but also a formula to inspire the participants to share their faith. I imagine he was thinking about not only speaking but also doing.
No one resource is enough. No Bible study will by itself inspire participants to “go and make disciples, feed [Jesus’] sheep,” rescue a wounded traveler, or “do for the least…” But it can lay a foundation. The rest is up to the community of believers to model in word and deed what it means to follow Jesus.
Just this past weekend in the Confession of 1967 Study led by David Beary, participants considered what section 9.32 meant for the church and for each of us personally:
9.32 The life, death, resurrection, and promised coming of Jesus Christ has set the pattern for the church’s mission. His human life involves the church in the common life of all people. His service to men and women commits the church to work for every form of human well-being. His suffering makes the church sensitive to all human suffering so that it sees the face of Christ in the faces of persons in every kind of need. His crucifixion discloses to the church God’s judgment on the inhumanity that marks human relations, and the awful consequences of the church’s own complicity in injustice. In the power of the risen Christ and the hope of his coming, the church sees the promise of God’s renewal of human life in society and of God’s victory over all wrong.
Wow! That’s a tall order. We are to concern ourselves with ALL people and work for their well-being. Not just the people who live close to us, look like us, speak the same language we do, or who’s faith and beliefs align with ours. We are to notice suffering and work to alleviate it. We are to notice injustice, and admit our complicity in it while not losing hope in God’s power to redeem creation.
The Confession claims that the more we know Jesus, the greater our responsibility to actually take up our crosses and follow him. This is not a passive endeavor. It posits that a mature faith has both a vertical and a horizontal component. In the words of Jesus:
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:37-39)
We’ve been told what to do. That questioning Ruling Elder was really asking, how? Help me, help us figure out what this means and how we can help each other be the people our faith requires us to be.
A curriculum is a first step. The support and discernment of faithful siblings in community is essential. In the end, it is the work of the Holy Spirit, who
…justifies us by grace through faith,
sets us free to accept ourselves and to love God and neighbor,
and binds us together with all believers
in the one body of Christ, the Church.
The same Spirit
who inspired the prophets and apostles
rules our faith and life in Christ through Scripture,
engages us through the Word proclaimed,
claims us in the waters of baptism,
feeds us with the bread of life and the cup of salvation,
and calls women and men to all ministries of the Church.
To aid in that first step, a few recommendations:
Building Faith: A ministry of Life Long Learning at Virginia Theological Seminary – publish[es] theologically rich, practically oriented articles on Christian formation. [Their] mission is to equip and inspire churches and individuals for ministries of Christian education and faith formation for all ages.
The project publishes an annual list of high quality resources from a variety of publishers, both denominational and independent, and from varied theological perspectives. This year’s list of the best in Adult Bible Study Resources can be found here.
Follow Me: Biblical Principles for Faithful Living: The PCUSA’s newest all-ages resource grounded in what Jesus said and did. A guide to putting faith and love into action.
The Groundings Experience: Encountering the Unexpected Jesus: written by PLR Teaching Elder, Candie Blankman. Based on a program she created and led at San Clemente Presbyterian Church in an effort to empower people to share their faith in non-threatening ways, to seize the opportunity to talk about how their faith has sustained them when the subject comes up naturally, and to recognize those opportunities.
If you would like to dig deeper, visit the presbytery’s Curriculum Library, or need help in selecting the resources that fit your particular needs, contact Susan Young Thornton.
Praying with you to be open to the Spirit’s guidance as we seek to be faithful followers of Jesus the Christ.