Dean’s Letter: Why Adult Formation?

Hello St. Paul’s,

As the fall gets underway, we are planning a variety of adult formation programs for all to enjoy. But you might wonder, why do adults need formation? If you grew up in a faith community, you likely attended Sunday School as a child and adolescent. Maybe you feel that you got enough formation in your first couple of decades. Or maybe you feel that attending worship and hearing sermons gives you all the formative material you need as a Christian. These are valid opinions, but let me make the case for engaging in additional formation, either formal or informal, as an adult.

The life of faith is intended to be a continuous spiral of growth and learning. As children we learn about God at a level appropriate to our development, but if we never intentionally move beyond that level, we are missing out on opportunities to understand more fully who God is and who we are. As adults we can examine the church’s traditions and teachings with a critical eye, moving beyond the simplistic understandings of childhood. Sooner or later we all run into situations that test our faith –  losses, disappointments, injustices – that the childhood level of faith is inadequate to address.

Scripture has innumerable layers of meaning:  I’ve been mining the Bible for its riches for 27 years as an ordained person, and every time I come back to a passage I find something new in it. If Scripture is the longest of the three legs of our Anglican three-legged stool (Scripture, Tradition, and Reason), we surely want to learn as much as we can about it. And the Episcopal Church is particularly open to entertaining questions and doubts, as we teach that there is no one “correct” way to live as a Christian: this philosophy often leads to very interesting conversations!

Our focused fall formation activities this year include the “What is a Christian?” class for newcomers and anyone looking for a refresher on the basics; two book studies, one focused on the movement towards reconciliation with the indigenous people who lived here first, the other on gaining greater understanding of Jesus as “the Son of Man” in a particular time and place; and our weekly Sunday forum that offers a smorgasbord of food for thought  on a broad range of topics that relate to our life in the church and the state of the world.

Our group formation activities provide opportunities for us to develop friendships that will support and accompany us, as we learn and share together. Outside of formal classes, our many small group ministries are fundamental to our life at St. Paul’s: they include Stephen Ministers, EfM, Centering Prayer, Choir, Chapter, Altar Guild, Morning Prayer, and Simpler Living, among others. When we pray, learn, and work as a group, we grow in our understanding of what it means to be the Body of Christ. We grow closer to one another as we share the ups and downs of our lives. And we may find a community of love and friendship that will be there for us throughout our lives.

I hope this fall will find you engaged in some kind of formational activity as you pursue your unique call to ministry among us and continue in the lifelong pursuit of growing into the full stature of Christ.

See you on Sunday.

Your sister in Christ,
Penny