In mid-February I was the keynote speaker at “Summer Spirit”, the annual adult education gathering of the Synod of Western Australia. The focus was on growing disciples and about 120 people were present at Floreat Uniting Church. As usual I’m posting my outline for those present. Given that it was the first time that I’ve presented this material in WA, it does bear a number of similarities to some previous presentations.
1. Training Fleas Video
2. Psalm 78
I used my paraphrase of Psalm 78, where I read the Psalm aloud and the people repeat in unison the last word in bold italic. It’s a useful method where people can’t see the text and they simply repeat the last word that you say each time that you pause. I paraphrased the Psalm so as to put key words at the end of each line.
Give ear, O my people, to my words
incline your ears to my teaching:
I will open my mouth in a parable;
I will utter ancient dark sayings,
things that we have heard and known,
told to us by our ancestors.
We will not hide them from our children;
we will tell to the coming generation
the Lord’s glorious deeds,
and his might, and all of his wonders.
Through Jacob God established a decree,
in Israel God appointed a law,
which he commanded our ancestors
to teach to their children;
that the next generation might know,
the children yet unborn,
and rise up and tell them to their children,
so that in God they should set their hope,
and not forget God’s works,
but keep God’s commandments;
and that they should not be like their ancestors,
a generation who were stubborn and rebellious,
a generation whose heart was not steadfast,
whose spirit was unfaithful.
What is the Psalm saying about passing on the faith?
3. What are we talking about?
People use many different words to talk about how and why we grow in faith.
4. Discipleship Quotes
What does it mean to be a disciple? These quotes were spread around the room for discussion.
Discipleship quotes (Download PDF)
5. Sasquatch Dance
What does it mean to be a disciple?
6. Who has demonstrated for you what it means to live like Jesus?
I told a story of a friend and invited people to tell their own stories in pairs as an act of prayer.
7. National Study of Formation and Education
I introduced the national Christian Education Study and its three exploratory themes:
- 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 process that followed involved joining people into groups of three, and numbering them 1, 2, 3. They were given the following handout. The three columns match the above three themes of community, leadership and mission. For each video clip that follows, each of the three in the group were asked to look through a different ‘lens’ and record what they saw and heard – so all three people got to look through all three lenses./
Three Lenses (PDF)
8. Video Interview #1 – Rev Tom Stuart
FED Stories – Tom Stuart Part 1 from Craig Mitchell on Vimeo.
Reflection questions
What did you hear about
- being a learning community of discipleship?
- leading a learning community?
- mission-shaped discipleship?
How does this resonate with your own experience?
9. Quotes
“The church does not have an educational program;
it is an education program.”
Maria Harris, cited by John Roberto in “Faith Formation 2020”
“People are formed and transformed in and through their participation (immersion) in the whole church community.”
John Roberto, “Faith Formation 2020”
“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.”
Richard Osmer, “The Teaching Congregation”
10. Congregations as Faith-Forming Cultures
Charles Foster says that the primary dynamic of a faith-forming (or catechetical) culture is not ideological but relational. Foster sees three key ways to encourage this”
- Hospitality – generous inclusion (including intergenerational)
- Celebration – encountering grace (primarily related to the seasons of the church year)
- Conversation – shaping identity (including intergenerational)
11. Video – Toyota Corolla advert
Let’s not envy the church down the road but be ourselves!
12. Bible Reading: Acts 2:42-47
13. Video Interview #2 – Rev Dr Ian Hickingbotham
People were invited to use the three ‘lenses’ again to view the video, but to each look through a different lens than previously.
Ian Hickingbotham – Interview 1 (Short Version) from Craig Mitchell on Vimeo.
Reflection questions
What did you hear about
- being a learning community of discipleship?
- leading a learning community?
- mission-shaped discipleship?
How does this resonate with your own experience?
14. Quote
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.
Charles Foster, “From Generation to Generation”
15. “The Teaching Ministry of Congregations”
Richard Osmer sees four dimensions of a congregation’s teaching ministry.
- Practices – congregational formation
- Curriculum – congregational education
- Leadership – congregational leadership
- Pilgrimage – congregational engagement
16. Practices – Ministries of the Church in the New Testament
- Leiturgia – Worship, Prayer
- Koinonia – Community, Care
- Didache – Teaching, Learning
- Diakonia – Service, Justice
- Kerygma – Witness, Proclamation
17. Practices – Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations – Robert Schnase
- Passionate Worship
- Radical Hospitality
- Intentional Faith Development
- Risk-Taking Mission & Service
- Extravagant Generosity
18. Dulux – Let’s Colour Project
I used the Dulux “Let’s Colour” as a metaphor for the church sharing its gifts and collaborating with others for the sake of enriching the lives of local communities.
19. Video Interview #3 – Charles Gallacher & Kerrie Lingham
Due to time constraints I didn’t show this video, but here it is. Again the intent was for people to look at the video through the third ‘lens’m the on they hadn’t previously used.
Charles Gallacher and Kerrie Lingham Interview 1 – Short Version from Craig Mitchell on Vimeo.
20. How are you colouring your community in mission?
Instead of the above video, people were encouraged to tell others (in pairs) a story of how their church was seeking to ‘colour’ their community in mission.
- What does your congregation see as its mission?
- How is your mission shaping or reshaping you as a faith community?
21. John Roberto’s “Four Quadrants”
We didn’t have time to explore this in detail, but this is the framework described in “Faith Formation 2020”.
22. Lesslie Newbiggin Quote
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’
.
23. Useful WWW Links
Lifelong Faith – John Roberto
Faith Formation 2020 – John Roberto
FED News – Assembly Formation, Education & Discipleship
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