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There is still time …

… to register for Orbiting Christ: Belonging, Believing, Behaving

This online conference on adult faith formation from June 1 to 3 is free of cost!

Each day of the conference explores one of three facets on the path to discipleship. The human desire to belong calls the church to be a place of welcome and hospitality. The universal need to believe in something greater than oneself gives space for the church to fill that need with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In our increasingly secular culture, examining the way Christians behave in the world is key to the church’s witness of the transforming power of faith in Christ Jesus.

We are pleased to announce the addition of a “wild card” breakout session on Wednesday, June 2 (during the Brunch Break). Our Zoom Master and Pastor-elect Josh LeBorious (May 2021 graduate of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis) will lead this session on intentional mentorship. Here’s the description:

Fresh out of the Seminary, this guy’s got some radical ideas on adult catechesis through intentional mentorship.  Josh comes from an educational background and has a strategy reflective of evidence based learning theory. It’s a work in progress, so he’s hoping to present his plan and elicit constructive feedback.

To Register
Conference Schedule
Breakout Sessions
Photo: View of Earth Orbiting Sun; Alain Manesson Mallet, Paris, 1683, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ab/View_of_the_earth_orbiting_the_sun%2C_1719.jpg

countdown denim

The final countdown is here …

Orbiting Christ: Belonging, Believing, Behaving

The online conference on adult faith formation, Orbiting Christ: Belonging, Believing, Behaving, is one week away. We are encouraged to have registrants from coast to coast and even folks from Alaska and Hawaii. Our Zoom license allows for 100 people to attend, so we will continue to accept registrations until we reach 100 or until Tuesday morning, June 1, whichever comes first.

The conference is designed

  • To foster a vision of missional identity through practical ways of building a process of adult formation centered in Christ.
  • To reflect on the Christological nature of Church’s emblems—community, liturgy, preaching, teaching, witness, and service—as key to the missional nature of congregations by
    • Envisioning community and worship as vehicles that create a sense of belonging rooted in Christ for those on the path to discipleship;
    • Exploring the overlap between and distinctiveness of preaching and teaching; and recognizing the role of both in the Holy Spirit’s work in creating believing hearts;
    • Examining anew witness and service in the world as transformative ways of behaving that can draw those outside the Church into Christ’s orbit.
  • To inspire pastors and lay leaders to such a winsome and Gospel-centered, missional approach to ministry.
  • To remind participants from the “Treasures Old and New” Conference: that we are not peddling a “program for new members” but offering visions of a robust adult catechumenal process that leads to congregational transformation.

Please share this information with friends and ministry colleagues.

Register Now
Conference Schedule
Breakout Sessions
image-living faith website

Free Online Conference on Adult Faith Formation

Spoiler Alert! Preview of Day Two, “Believing through Preaching and Teaching”

Earlier this week Kent Burreson and I had the opportunity to Zoom with the presenters for the second day of our upcoming conference on adult faith formation, Pastors Timothy Droegemueller (Living Faith Lutheran Church, Cumming, Georgia) and Daniel Eggold (Grace Lutheran Church, Lafayette, Indiana), pictured below.

As each pastor reflected on the core values and practices of his preaching and teaching, I was struck by their wisdom, pastoral sensitivity, and holistic approach. Pastor Eggold used the term “formational preaching”—and at the core of both his preaching and teaching is an emphasis on baptismal identity. Pastor Droegemueller summarized his preaching as “textual, Christological, and sacramental.” As has always been the case when Kent and I meet with our pastoral collaborators on this project, the conversation is full of profound and hilarious moments.

There are currently 54 people registered for the June 1 – 3 conference (Orbiting Christ: Belonging, Believing, Behaving). If you are planning to attend but haven’t yet registered, we encourage you to do so soon. If you’re already registered, please share information about the conference with friends and ministry colleagues who are interested in strengthening the missional identity of their congregation.

To register
Conference Schedule
Breakout Sessions

Pastors Eggold & Droegemueller

Pastors Eggold & Droegemueller
Pentecost Сашэсце_Святога_Духа_на_Апосталаў

Orbiting Christ: Belonging, Believing, Behaving

An Online Conference on Adult Faith Formation & Congregational Transformation June 1 – 3, 2021

“So those who welcomed his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand persons were added. They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (Acts 2:41-42).

As we make final preparations for this upcoming conference, our theme converges with the approaching Feast of Pentecost and Luke’s description of the early Christian community. Throughout the Acts of the Apostles, Luke’s narrative illustrates the multi-dimensional pathways of belonging, believing, and behaving that lead to discipleship. By exploring what the Church is (a community of faith in Christ) and the activities that identify a community as Church (worship, preaching and teaching, witness and service), the conference leaders will explore how living as the Church opens a Christian community to Christ’s missional calling: to teach and baptize and to love one another and the world.

The conference is designed

  • To foster a vision of missional identity through practical ways of building a process of adult formation centered in Christ.
  • To reflect on the Christological nature of the Church’s emblems—community, liturgy, preaching, teaching, witness, and service—as key to the missional nature of congregations by
    • Envisioning community and worship as vehicles that create a sense of belonging rooted in Christ for those on the path to discipleship;
    • Exploring the overlap between and distinctiveness of preaching and teaching; and recognizing the role of both in the Holy Spirit’s work in creating believing hearts;
    • Examining anew witness and service in the world as transformative ways of behaving that can draw those outside the Church into Christ’s orbit.
  • To inspire pastors and lay leaders to a missional approach to ministry that is winsome and Gospel-centered.
  • To remind participants from the “Treasures Old and New” Conference: that we are not peddling a “program for new members” but offering visions of a robust adult catechumenal process that leads to congregational transformation.

 Participants in this conference will

  • Hear church professionals dialogue on the daily topic as it relates to their ministry setting;
  • Engage in Q & A time with presenters;
  • Choose from a variety of breakout sessions that will explore practical ways to implement a catechumenal process and introduce new resources on adult faith formation.

Leadership

Academic Scholars

  • Kent Burreson is the Louis A. Fincke and Anna B. Shine Associate Professor of Systematic Theology at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis. He has taught across the systematics curriculum and shaped the worship theology and practice of future pastors for over twenty years. In addition to the catechumenate, he writes and provides resources on natural (green) burial. Discussing the history of Reformation and post-Reformation worship, worship and culture, and the theology of worship energizes him. Since he is the father of both a Millennial and a Gen Z daughter, he thinks he knows something about worship formation with those generations (but they’d probably tell him how authentically deluded he is).
  • Rhoda Schuler, a rostered LCMS deaconess, is Professor Emerita of Theology and Inter-Disciplinary Studies at Concordia University – St. Paul, the institution with the most diverse student body in the Concordia University System. Her students included devout LCMS people preparing for work in the church as well as a range of students from other or no faith traditions. She strove to make the academic study of the Bible and church history interesting to the uninterested and is encouraged by research that shows some young people “discovering” the beauty of the liturgy and experiencing the mysteries of God through ritual.

Parish Leaders

  • Scott Bruzek, senior pastor at St. John Lutheran Church in Wheaton, Illinois, has two decades of experience developing an adult faith formation process that focuses on making disciples and making them stronger by bringing them into orbit around Christ. https://www.stjohnwheaton.org/#home
  • Timothy Droegemueller, senior pastor at Living Faith Lutheran Church in Cumming, Georgia for fourteen years, has structured an adult faith formation model which “teaches people in a high paced, high stress, high tech age to abide in Jesus our Savior through every storm of life.” The journey begins with “an open ended study in the Bible where people can immediately begin growing together around the Word of God.” Living Faith structures the catechumenate around the one-year lectionary. https://www.livingfaithlutheran.com/home
  • Dien Ashley Taylor, pastor at Redeemer Evangelical Lutheran Church in The Bronx, has tended and nurtured this diverse flock since 2001 and reached out into the neighborhood to draw people into a congregation that “by God’s grace, is a praying community of service that receives, teaches, celebrates and shares Christ Jesus.” Redeemer uses a similar catechumenal pattern both for youth and adults. http://www.redeemerlutheranbronx.org/index.html
  • Danny Eggold, pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Lafayette, Indiana since 2016, is actively morphing an adult “membership class” into a catechumenal process informed by the early church and the contemporary context. Pastor Eggold was one of four pastors “mentored” through Drs. Burreson and Schuler’s first project on the adult catechumenate in 2018-19. https://www.gracelaf.org/
  • Deaconess Raquel Rojas completed her diaconal training at Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, and has served with Pastor Taylor at Redeemer Evangelical Lutheran Church in The Bronx since 2010. Deaconess Rojas works primarily with the vibrant youth catechumenate at Redeemer.

Register
Daily Schedule
Breakout Sessions

Image: The Pentecost

Zelovsky master; late 18th century; Belarusian National Arts Museum

Wiki Commons; public domain

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Orbiting Christ: Belonging, Believing, Behaving

Breakout Session Topics & Times

A free, online conference on adult faith formation

We are delighted to announce the topics and leaders for our upcoming conference on adult faith formation, June 1 – 3, 2021 and are thrilled to have a mix of pastors, commissioned ministers, and laity leading these sessions.

We hope that participants will be able to attend all or most of the conference, but we understand that your ministry duties may prevent you from attending all sessions. You are still welcome to register!

Tuesday, June 1: Belonging through Community & Liturgy

Breakout sessions (2:45 – 5:00 pm CDT) will be presented twice from 2:45 to 3:45 and from 4:00 to 5:00 pm; there will be a 15 break in between.

  • From Font to Feast: The “whens,” “whys,” and “hows” of beginning the process
    • Leader: Rev. John M. Bussman, Senior Pastor at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Cullman, Alabama, also blogs for Gottesdienst: The Journal of Lutheran Liturgy.
  • Presiding with grace
    • Leader: Rev. James Wetzstein (University Pastor) has been leading worship and training students in worship at Valparaiso University for 18 years. A PhD Candidate at the University of Notre Dame in Liturgical Studies, his research interests focus on the role of the visual arts in theological formation.
  • Hospitality as the on-ramp to community
    • Leader: Rev. Dr. Scott Bruzek, Senior Pastor, St. John Lutheran Church, Wheaton, Illinois, has served at St. John for over two decades, fostering an ethos of hospitality shared by the pastoral staff and congregational members.
  • Recognizing ritual and its power in everyday life
    • Leader: Dr. Rhoda Schuler, Professor Emerita, Concordia University, St. Paul, Minnesota, taught undergraduates the fundamental structure and power of rituals in interdisciplinary courses.

Wednesday, June 2: Believing through Teaching & Preaching   

Breakout sessions (12:00 – 2:15 pm CDT) will be presented twice from noon to 1:00 and from 1:15 to 2:15 pm; there will be a 15 break in between.

  • A learning-centered approach to adult education
    • Leader: Dr. Heath Lewis serves as Assistant Professor of Christian Education & Leadership and DCE Program Director at Concordia University, St. Paul, Minnesota.
  • Preaching and the catechumenate: An integrated approach
    • Leader: Rev. Dr. Dien Ashley Taylor, Pastor at Redeemer Evangelical Lutheran Church, The Bronx, New York, champions the integration of liturgy, teaching, and preaching especially as they relate to catechesis since “everything teaches.’
  • The one-year lectionary: A guide for the catechumenate
    • Leader: Rev. Timothy Droegemueller, Senior Pastor at Living Faith Lutheran Church, Cumming, Georgia, views the world divided into two groups: those baptized and those yet to be baptized. He serves Jesus with the desire to be the vessel that draws the yet-to-be into the group of those who are baptized.
  • The Gospels, the catechumenate, and the three-year lectionary
    • Leader: Rev. Dr. Arthur Just, Professor of Exegetical Theology at Concordia Theological Seminary, Ft. Wayne, Indiana, was chair of the Lectionary Committee in the development of Lutheran Service Book.

Thursday, June 3: Behaving through Witness & Service   

Breakout sessions (12:00 – 2:15 pm CDT) will be presented twice from noon to 1:00 and from 1:15 to 2:15 pm; there will be a 15 break in between.

  • Lay involvement in the adult faith formation process: A panel discussion
    • Moderator: Rev. Danny Eggold, Grace Lutheran Church, West Lafayette, Indiana
    • Panelists
      • Don Langenbeck, Living Faith, Cumming, Georgia.
      • Mary & Derek Baars, St. John, Wheaton, Illinois
    • The Church IS you! Shifting from a membership to a discipleship mindset
      • Leader: Rev. Dr. Kent Burreson, Associate Professor of Systematic Theology, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri, has spent the last two decades exploring how liturgy and ritual shape the church to be the church.
    • Walk with me: The role of sponsors in adult faith formation
      • Leaders: Raquel A. Rojas and Ms. Carol T. Sandblom (Redeemer Evangelical Lutheran Church, The Bronx, New York) together bring over six decades of experience in the faith formation of adults in the most diverse city in the United States of America.
    • Lay involvement for a family-friendly Easter vigil
      • Leader: Dr. Rhoda Schuler (Professor Emerita, Concordia University, St. Paul, Minnesota) also serves as pro bono liturgist at her congregation, Jehovah Lutheran Church in St. Paul.

For a pdf with full descriptions of all sessions, click here.

The full conference schedule is available here.

To register for the conference click here.

Please forward this email to ministry colleagues and friends who may be interested in this conference. 

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Join us for this free, online conference on adult faith formation

Orbiting Christ: Belonging, Believing, Behaving

A Free, Online Conference on Adult Faith Formation & Congregational Transformation

This 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. Belonging, believing, and behaving describe the person’s journey toward discipleship. Each of these three descriptors serves as a daily theme for the conference and will be paired with the emblems of the Church.  By exploring what the Church is (a community of faith in Christ) and the activities that identify a community as Church (worship, preaching and teaching, and witness and service), the conference leaders will explore how living as the Church opens a Christian community to Christ’s missional calling: to teach and baptize and to love one another and the world.

The conference is designed

  • To foster a vision of missional identity through practical ways of building a process of adult formation centered in Christ.
  • To reflect on the Christological nature of Church’s emblems—community, worship, preaching, teaching, witness, and service—as key to the missional nature of congregations by
    • Envisioning community and worship as vehicles that create a sense of belonging rooted in Christ for those on the path to discipleship;
    • Exploring the overlap between and distinctiveness of preaching and teaching; and recognizing the role of both in the Holy Spirit’s work in creating believing hearts;
    • Examining anew witness and service in the world as transformative ways of behaving that can draw those outside the Church into Christ’s orbit.
  • To inspire pastors and lay leaders to such a winsome and Gospel-centered, missional approach to ministry.
  • To remind participants from the “Treasures Old and New” Conference: that we are not peddling a “program for new members” but offering visions of a robust adult catechumenal process that leads to congregational transformation.

Participants in this conference will

  • Hear church professionals dialogue on the daily topic as it relates to their ministry setting;
  • Engage in Q & A time with presenters;
  • Choose from a variety of breakout sessions that will explore practical ways to implement a catechumenal process and introduce new resources on adult faith formation.

Click here to register for the conference:

https://www.forminglutherans.org/conference-registration/

For more details, see “Events” on the website.

Image: Rembrandt, Ethiopian Eunuch (public domain)

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“Orbiting Christ” Conference Schedule

Orbiting Christ: Belonging, Believing, Behaving

A Free Online Conference on Adult Faith Formation

June 1 – 3, 2021

Please note: All times are CDT.

This conference is made possible at no cost through a Vital Worship Grant from the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship, Grand Rapids, Michigan, with funds provided by Lilly Endowment Inc.

Tuesday, June 1        |           Belonging through Community and Liturgy 

1:00 – 2:15 pm            Orbiting Christ: Formation through liturgy and community

The presentation by pastoral leaders Rev. Drs. Scott Bruzek (St. John’s, Wheaton, IL) and Dien Ashley Taylor (Redeemer, The Bronx) will unwrap Article VII of the Augsburg Confession in which the Church is both the visible expression of Christian community and the vehicle fostering a sense of belonging for those journeying to discipleship. Without the liturgy as the place where the Word is preached and sacraments administered, there can be no community in Christ. In baptism one is joined to Christ and the Church and in Holy Communion one becomes what one eats—the very body and blood of Christ. The session will conclude with Q & A time for the participants.

2:15 – 2:45 pm            Break

2:45 – 5:00 pm            Breakout Sessions on community and liturgy

   There will two hour-long breakout sessions on practical topics with a 15 minute break in between each.

5:00 – 5:15 pm            Closing Prayer

Wednesday, June 2   |           Believing through Teaching and Preaching

9:45 am – 10:45 am    Faith that comes through hearing: Teaching and Preaching Christ

The presentation by pastoral leaders Rev. Timothy Droegemueller (Living Faith, Cumming, GA) and Daniel Eggold (Grace, West Lafayette, IN) will explore the distinctive tasks of proclaiming Christ as Savior and Lord (kerygma) and teaching about Christ. The leaders will also delve into the distinction of personal faith (fides qua) and the core content of believing (fides quae) and how the distinction impacts the catechumenate. The session will include time for Q & A with participants.

10:45 a.m. – Noon      Brunch Break

12:00 – 2:30 pm          Breakout sessions on teaching and preaching

   There will two hour-long breakout sessions on practical topics with a 15 minute break in between each.

2:15 – 2:30 pm            Closing Prayer

Thursday, June 3      |          Behaving through Witness and Service

10:00 – 11:00 pm        Called into Christ’s Orbit: Formed for Witness and Service

The presentation by diaconal leaders Deaconess Raquel Rojas and Dcs. Dr. Rhoda Schuler will draw the participants into the daily practice of Christian life for laity. Using biblical themes and texts, the leaders will illustrate how witness and service can function in today’s post-Christian culture to attract the seeker and form the new disciple. The session will conclude with a Q & A time for the participants.

11:00 – 12:00 pm        Brunch Break

12:00 – 2:15 pm          Breakout Sessions on witness and service

  There will two hour-long breakout sessions on practical topics with a 15 minute break in between each.

2:15 – 2:45 pm            Wrap up and Closing Prayer

Topics and Leaders for Breakout Sessions

Tuesday’s Breakout Sessions on community and liturgy

  • Implementation timing and strategy: When and how to start an adult catechumenate process (Rev. John Bussman, St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Cullman, AL)
  • Graceful and beautiful liturgy: A practical guide (Rev. James Wetzstein, Valparaiso University Pastor)
  • Hospitality as the on-ramp to community (Rev. Dr. Scott Bruzek, St. John’s Wheaton, IL)
  • TBA

Wednesday’s Breakout Sessions on preaching and teaching

  • Developing a Learning-Centered Approach to Adult Education (Dr. Heath Lewis, DCE, Concordia University, St. Paul, MN)
  • Preaching and the catechumenate: An integrated approach (Rev. Dr. Dien Ashley Taylor, Redeemer, The Bronx)
  • The one-year lectionary: A guide for the catechumenate (Rev. Timothy Droegemueller, Living Faith, Cumming, GA)
  • The Gospels, the three-year lectionary, and the catechumenate (TBA)

Thursday’s Breakout Sessions on witness and service

  • Lay involvement in the adult faith formation process: A panel discussion (Lay members of St. John’s, Wheaton & Living Faith, )
  • Shifting from a membership to a discipleship mindset (Rev. Dr. Kent Burreson, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis)
  • The role of sponsors in adult faith formation (Deaconess Raquel Rojas, Redeemer, The Bronx)
Register now!
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Save the Date! June 1 – 3, 2021 for the Next Online Conference

Orbiting Christ: Belonging, Believing, Behaving

An Online Conference on Adult Faith Formation & Congregational Transformation

Building 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. Belonging, believing, and behaving describe the person’s journey toward discipleship. Each of these three descriptors serves as a daily theme for the conference and will be paired with the emblems of the Church.  By exploring what the Church is (a community of faith in Christ) and the activities that identify a community as Church (liturgy/worship, preaching and teaching, and witness and service), the conference leaders will explore how living as the Church opens a Christian community to Christ’s missional calling: to teach and baptize and to love one another and the world.

The conference is designed

  • To foster a vision of missional identity through practical ways of building a process of adult formation centered in Christ.
  • To reflect on the Christological nature of Church’s emblems—community, worship, preaching, teaching, witness, and service—as key to the missional nature of congregations by
    • Envisioning community and worship as vehicles that create a sense of belonging rooted in Christ for those on the path to discipleship;
    • Exploring the overlap between and distinctiveness of preaching and teaching; and recognizing the role of both in the Holy Spirit’s work in creating believing hearts;
    • Examining anew witness and service in the world as transformative ways of behaving that can draw those outside the Church into Christ’s orbit.
  • To inspire pastors and lay leaders to such a winsome and Gospel-centered, missional approach to ministry.
  • To remind participants from the “Treasures Old and New” Conference: that we are not peddling a “program for new members” but offering visions of a robust adult catechumenal process that leads to congregational transformation. 

Participants in this conference will

  • Hear church professionals dialogue on the daily topic as it relates to their ministry setting;
  • Engage in Q & A time with presenters;
  • Choose from a variety of breakout sessions that will explore practical ways to implement a catechumenal process and introduce new resources on adult faith formation.

Click here to register for the conference:

https://www.forminglutherans.org/conference-registration/

For more details, see “Events” on the website.

Photo: https://www.rawpixel.com/image/441103/the-solar-system

Three Bes

Update on June Conference

“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 title come from authors Alan Kreider (The Change of Conversion and the Origin of Christendom) and Diana Butler Bass (Christianity after Religion), both of whom use this alliterative phrase to describe the path toward Christian identity and discipleship. The image of “orbiting Christ” places our Savior at the center of the life of the Christian; it is Christ who orders our path and who gives stability to our lives. Each day of the conference will pair the marks of the church with one of the “BEs.”

Day 1: Belonging   How can congregations foster a sense of belonging in adult faith formation? Two of our pastoral leaders will discuss why and how community and liturgy are the essential marks of the Church that create a sense a belonging among adult catechumens. This day will also offer several practical workshops on topics related to community and liturgy.

Day 2: Believing   As St. Paul writes, “Faith comes through hearing” (Romans 10:17), and central to the pastoral role is preaching and teaching. Two pastoral leaders will unpack these overlapping yet distinctive marks of the Church. The workshops on this day will consider concrete aspects of teaching (particularly for adults) and the intersection between preaching and teaching in relation to adult faith formation.

Day 3: Behaving   Witness and service, the marks of the Church that correlate with behaving, send Christians out into the world. Two deaconesses, whose identities are wrapped in this language, will consider how and why Christians are called into the world (and are yet not “of” the world). The workshops will focus on methods of equipping laity for witness and service.

Once we have finalized the dates of the conference, registration will open on the website.

U-Turn Image

Are You Interested in Changing Your Life?

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 in its history when the church lived on society’s margins, as it increasingly does today, this exploratory period allowed the church to gauge the seriousness and commitment of potential candidates for baptism. The candidates also could inquire about the church’s way. Today these emphases have flipped. Pre-catechumenate is focused more on the candidate’s inquiry of the church, rather than the church’s inquiry of the candidate. Perched on society’s margins, often what develops curious attraction is the church’s unique behaviors. As Alan Kreider in his seminal book, The Change of Conversion, observes: behavior, belonging, and belief all functioned together to create intrigue and interest in the unchurched. Today Inquiry aims to foster the experience of authenticity in the church’s life through the integration of belief, belonging, and behavior. Galbreath advocates for inquirers to watch Christians as they live the Way. And they should be asked to serve alongside Christians. If the church regularly serves at a homeless shelter, the inquirer should, as well. Through these new behaviors the inquirer perceives the contrast of the Christian way of life with the ways of life in the world. Doing this may require a significant cultural shift in a congregation. The congregation may need to form its own members into new ways of being and living. For Galbreath, this way of living is baptism’s public dimension. Practices form Christians according to God’s claims in baptism, giving shape to Christian identity. Galbreath notes three practices manifesting this identity:

  1. Christians witness from the margins of society about the possibility of new life.
  2. Christians stand with and for the poor by offering hospitality and generosity.
  3. Christian faith takes root as our actions conform to the gospel’s call to faithful discipleship.

In doing so Christians live a different way of life and believing that is intriguing to others. We are “clarifying the ways baptismal practice embodies our understanding of discipleship” (25). When such credibility exists between what Christians believe and how they live, and the seeker experiences that, then Inquiry begs the question of the inquirer:  Are you interested in changing your life?

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