5 November 2009
Group 3 Introductions
Group 3 is comprised of all MA CYF students at various stages in our degree plan. It will be fun to share our common areas with each other over the next few weeks. Our ages and experience levels vary greatly, but we all have a passion for Christian education.
Faith Development: Family church involvement played a significant role in our faith development as group members. One member stated that his mom was “relentless” in getting him to church. Several members of our group grew up in the Lutheran church. In addition to family influence on our faith, church played a significant role – Sunday school, confirmation, and youth groups all guided our education. Pastors played important roles in our faith development, too. Participation in church camp ministries also helped with faith formation. Formal religious education at seminary has also been instrumental in educating group members about faith.
Knowledge of other religions: Our knowledge of other religions comes from direct exposure to members of other faiths and from formal education. One member grew up around people of varied religious backgrounds and experienced a wide variety of religious traditions. Another member studied and researched to gain a better understanding of world religions.
Opportunity to teach about our faith: All members of our group have shared and taught their faith in some capacity. We have taught Sunday school from age 2 through high school, taught confirmation classes and lead youth ministries. We have taught our own children or family members about our faith. Several members were camp counselors and small group leaders. We all have a passion to share our faith with children and youth and with those of different faith backgrounds – or no faith background. Most of the group members have always been involved in the Christian teaching ministry in some capacity. There is a strong sense of call with the group members to share our faith journey stories with others.
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6 November 2009 at 12:43 am
It sounds like you have a lot in common. It’s nice to hear that your pastors played an important role in your faith development- statistics show that not many people say that…but then again they probably don’t ask a lot of seminary students for their survey =)
6 November 2009 at 1:19 am
Well I can certainly see the components of community, service, worship, proclamation and instruction in the summary of your groups faith development story. Thank you for sharing this!
6 November 2009 at 8:23 am
group4 says...
Your stories sound similar to my group, group 4. It affirming to see how that all our persistance to getting our children to church really does pay off. Also overwhelming to think how much the church leaders have an influence on the raising of faith in the community they serve.
6 November 2009 at 1:53 pm
I think your introduction shows that faith formation can take place in many different ways. I love how each of you have been exposed to different religions. I think it is so important to understand others, before we can ask them to understand us.
6 November 2009 at 2:24 pm
Hi Group Three,
I am curious as to where one of your group member grew up that they experienced other various religions and practices? Was this just in their expample of learning about other religions or did it also play a role in their learning of their own faith and faith development?
Where did some of you go to camp? Anyone from LutherCrest or LO in South Dakota?
Rebecca
6 November 2009 at 10:07 pm
What is the origin of group members’ sense of call to share their faith journeys–evangelism or modeling prior experiences with family or faith community? Family influence is important for faith formation but could being relentless in getting children to worship backfire and turn some children away from church when they leave home? Just curious?
Frieda
7 November 2009 at 1:17 am
dgrier says...
The variety of faith formation models here is great! My previous understanding was that the home is where faith is nurtured, with the larger faith community coming alongside to support the family. I was surprised to hear how many of us named institutional communities as our primary learning places. For those whose faith learning happened primarily in formal community (congregation/classroom) settings, how did/does/will this shape teaching your own kids?
8 November 2009 at 2:27 pm
hessma says...
Mary Hess here: I think the question about family influence for faith formation is a really crucial one, but I think we need to keep in mind that faith formation is a 24/7 process. People are learning about their faith (or learning not to speak of it) all the time. I think “being relentless in getting children to worship” can indeed backfire, in multiple ways! What if the worship you’re taking them to makes them leave in the middle of “”children’s church,” thus implicitly teaching them they don’t belong. Or what if the worship experience is of a sort that doesn’t give them room to be themselves, but rather demands that they sit perfectly still and in silence in the back of the church when they are small? and so on.
9 November 2009 at 10:35 am
I agree with what has been said. Your family certainly influences your faith understanding. Since you have taught such a wide age variety of children my question to you all is this: have you ever in your experience met a child/teenager who clearly didn’t agree with Christianity and may have been borderline atheist/agnostic? What do you all think should be our responsibility, as future leaders, to these questioning children/teenagers?
9 November 2009 at 7:42 pm
hessma says...
I actually think that agnosticism — particularly if it’s genuinely rooted in real questions — is actually a normal stage of faith development. So our responsibility is to be present, to be witnesses to the depth of the treasures we recognize in the tradition, and to share our faith. It’s a little bit like what they say about parents, toddlers and food. Your responsibility as a parent is to put nutritious food of a texture they can handle, in front of them. Their responsibility is to eat it. If you’re keeping up your end of that process, the rest takes care of itself. Same with faith! It’s the Holy Spirit’s responsibility, we simply walk alongside.