Inquirers into the Christian faith, having entered down the path toward changing their lives, commit to an intentional exploration of the Christian faith when they become catechumens and are accepted into the second stage of faith formation. Paul Galbreath in Leading through the Water (chapter 3) refers to this stage as the Preparation stage. It […]
Orbiting Christ: Belonging, Believing, BehavingAn Online Conference on Adult Faith Formation & Congregational TransformationBuilding on our earlier conference (Treasures Old and New: A Conference on Adult Faith Formation), this follow-up event will unfold ways in which the emblems of the Church intersect with the process of drawing people into Christ’s orbit, thus making them disciples. […]
Literary evidence from early Christian writers (Epistula Apostolorum; Melito of Sardis, Peri Pascha) as well as St. Paul’s words to the Christians at Corinth (1 Cor. 5:8) indicate that the Paschal Feast was the earliest annual celebration shared by the Faithful. Thus, this week is a good opportunity for us to seek wisdom from the […]
“Orbiting Christ: Belonging, Believing, Behaving” is the title for the online conference we are planning for June. We are still working to finalize the dates, based on the availability of our leadership. Potential dates for the conference are June 1-3, 2021 OR a series of Tuesdays: June 1, 8, and 15.The “three BEs” of the […]
Traditionally the catechumenal process divides into four phases with a variety of names. Paul Galbreath in Leading through the Water uses these: Inquiry; Preparation; Baptism; Reflection. The period of Inquiry/Seeking/Pre-catechumenate allows those curious about the Christian faith to find out what it is all about and to explore a potential relationship with the church. Early […]
One of the aims of FormingLutherans.org is to “promote and make available to the LCMS and the larger church the enlivening resources of proven and tested formation practices.” One way to accomplish that goal is to post regularly on resources that can increase knowledge and familiarity with catechumenal practices. So, on a regular basis we […]
So wrote one participant on the evaluation form for the January Webinar, “Treasures Old and New: A Conference on Adult Faith Formation.” “Those three brothers” are the parish pastors whose expertise is the foundation for the conference attended by 46 people from 21 different LCMS districts, ranging from coast to coast and from the deep […]
Our thanks to Rev. Steve Zank, Director of Theology for the Center for Worship Leadership, Christ College, Concordia University, Irvine, California for inviting us to converse about our research on the CWL’s “Theology in Motion” podcast.In the podcast Steve Zank explores with us our research project on worship and the adult catechumenate, funded by the […]
Friends in Christ,Forming Lutherans has set up an email distribution list through Mail Chimp to send email notices of new content on our website, forminglutherans.org. We plan to use this featureTo keep you informed about plans for the online conference in June 2021;To share resources on the adult catechumenate with you;To offer an occasional word […]
Cyril served as bishop of Jerusalem in the late 4th century. It’s possible that the pilgrim Egeria heard his lectures.If any here is a slave of sin, let him promptly prepare himself through faith for the new birth into freedom and adoption; and having put off the miserable bondage of his sins, and taken on him the […]