Introduction to Our Fall Series
Slow Walking toward an Adult Faith Formation Model
As congregations mark the beginning of the “academic” new year with Rally Sunday, prayers for students and teachers, and resumption of Bible classes, Sunday school, and confirmation instruction after a summer hiatus, Kent and I are launching an eclectic set of posts with a common goal: to help pastors and other church leaders who want to change or refresh their congregation’s adult “new member class.”
These posts, which will run through the end of the Christmas season, are designed to help our readers think about and explore new ways to prepare adults for a life of faith in Christ and commitment to the Church, Christ’s Body in the world; the posts will include practical, pastoral, and contextual views on a variety of topics relating to adult faith formation. Among the practical will be a post on “sponsors” for those on the path to discipleship and church membership; the pastoral side will stress the importance of developing relationships and forming community among newcomers and seekers; for contextual viewpoints, we will have brief videos with LCMS pastors who are in the midst of introducing new practices of adult faith formation in their congregations.
We will draw on a variety of sources for this series, “Slow Walking toward an Adult Faith Formation Model.” While we recognize that not all of readers may be comfortable using resources produced by a variety of denominational entities, we also trust your theological and pastoral discernment to sift through suggested resources, and separate what you see as “dross” from ideas and wisdom that could be appropriate and valuable in your ministry setting.
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Image: Tiffany stained-glass window of St. Augustine (detail), in the Lightner Museum, St. Augustine, Florida.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Tiffany_Window_of_St_Augustine_-_Lightner_Museum.JPG
The commemoration of St. Augustine is August 28; baptized by St. Ambrose of Milan at the Easter Vigil in 387, St. Augustine is fitting figure to highlight the beginning of this series.
