Last week I led a session for about 20 presbytery ministers from across the country about formation, education and discipleship, based on the research that I undertook for the UCA National Assembly in 2011-2012. It was the afternoon “graveyard shift” in a warm room, and they seemed on input-overload when they arrived, but all in all it seemed to go well. Hopefully it opened up some ongoing conversations about a range of matters.
Here’s a rundown on the session.
2. Introducing the National CE study
How do we help faith communities to be effective in forming and educating people for discipleship and mission?
3. The language of faith development
We use all kinds of words to describe how and why we grow in faith
4. Definitions used to frame the study
These are formal definitions that I framed for the purpose of the study.
Christian education is the theory and practice of teaching, learning and formation in Christian faith and discipleship, both for individuals and communities of faith.
Christian education is oriented towards life-long growth in Christian discipleship and participation in the mission of God.
5. Overview of the Study
- What are people here and overseas saying? (literature review)
- What are churches doing and why? (empirical study)
- What do church leaders think is needed? (empirical study)
- How do we collaborate across sectors / councils? (regional conversations)
6. Three key emphases
- Congregations as lifelong learning communities of discipleship for the sake of the mission of God
- Church leaders who are effective educational leaders, capable of guiding a community in forming disciples
- Congregations developing a culture of learning for and from engagement in mission: mission-shaping discipleship
The following process worked through each of the three emphases of the study using
- a story
- small group reflection
- some recent theory
7. Emphasis #1: Congregations as lifelong learning communities of discipleship for the sake of the mission of God
a. Quote from Richard Osmer, The Teaching Congregation
“A congregation’s culture can support critical reflection in education, or it can impede it. Its practices can involve people in forms of action which raise important issues that, subsequently, are taken up in education, or they can draw people into deadening cycles of conventionality.”
b. Video interview with Rev Ian Hickingbotham, North Ringwood UC, Victoria (Duration – 16 mins)
FED Stories – Ian Hickingbotham #1 from Craig Mitchell on Vimeo.
People had been given a handout with three sections corresponding to the three emphases (see 6 above), and were asked to view the video through the first lens. Download Three Lenses PDF.
They were then invited to reflect on what they had seen and heard, and talk about where it resonated with their own experience.
c. Theory Input – Four Frames of a Teaching Church
I briefly mentioned the “four frames” of being a” teaching church” from Richard Osmer’s book of the same name. These were included in the handout booklet as something to take away and reflect on in relation to Emphasis #1.
- Practices – teaching ministry as congregational formation
- Curriculum – teaching ministry as congregational education
- Leadership – teaching ministry as congregational (adaptive) leadership
- Pilgrimage – teaching ministry as supporting individuals’ unfolding journeys of faith
8. Emphasis #2: Church leaders who are effective educational leaders, capable of guiding a community in forming disciples
a. Quote from Charles Foster, From Generation to Generation
Congregations of the old Protestant mainline denominations… continue to sponsor many educational activities, but they lack the intentionality, the coherence and the continuity needed to maintain and renew their identities as communities of faith.
b. Video interview with Rev Tom Stuart, Mid-Lachlan Mission area, New South Wales
FED Stories – Tom Stuart from Craig Mitchell on Vimeo.
People were asked to view the video through the second ‘lens’ (column) on the ‘three lenses’ handout – leadership.
They were then invited to reflect on what they had seen and heard, and talk about where it resonated with their own experience.
c. Theory Input – Congregations as Catechetical Cultures
I gave a brief summary of one part of Charles Foster’s book where he talks about relational characteristics of congregations as catechetical (formation and educational) cultures:
… the catechetical culture that nurtures and sustains a faith-forming education is not predominantly an institutional or ideological reality as much as it is a relational dynamic.
- Hospitality “creates the conditions for generously including young people into a congregation’s life and mission.”
- Celebration centres “the faith journeys of young people on inherited and contemporary encounters with the Grace of God.”
- Conversation “cultivates learning that forms faith across generations… prepare for and participate in the events that give rise to and shape its identity as a community of faith.”
9. Emphasis #3: Congregations developing a culture of learning for and from engagement in mission: mission-shaping discipleship
a. Quotes – John Roberto, Faith Formation 2020
“The church does not have an educational program; it is an education program.”
Maria Harris, cited by John Roberto
“People are formed and transformed in and through their participation (immersion) in the whole church community.”
b. Insert Your Story here.
Rather than show another video clip, I invited people in table groups to share a story about a congregation or faith community whose discipleship was being shaped or reshaped by engagement in mission.
c. Theory
I referred briefly to John Roberto’s schema with four quadrants and suggested that we may need different formational and educational approaches to engage with different groups of people.
10. Closing
We needed about another half day to unpack all of this…
I closed with Lesslie Newbiggin’s excellent quote:
If the gospel is to be understood,
if it is to be received as something
which communicates the truth
about the real human situation,
if it is as we say ‘to make sense’,
it has to be communicated in the language
of those to whom it is addressed
and it has to be clothed in symbols
which are meaningful to them.
And since the gospel does not come
as a disembodied message,
but as the message of a community
which claims to live by it
and which
invites others to adhere to it,
the community’s life must be so ordered
that ‘it makes sense’ to those
who are so invited.
Those to whom it is addressed
must be able to say ‘Yes I see’
.
Lesslie Newbiggin
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