Faith Formation
You shall put these words of mine in your heart and soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and fix them as an emblem on your forehead. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise.[1]
In the section on worship as pastoral care, we identified
pastoral work with the task of seeking the fruit of the Word among those who
hear it. There is a presumption here that those who hear the Word of God do not
receive it passively; rather, they are being formed for discipleship in much
the same manner as the very first disciples who followed Jesus and listened to
his teaching. What we are talking about here is a lifelong process of spiritual
growth and faith formation, or as the Apostle Paul puts it in 2 Corinthians
3:18, “being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to
another.”
Faith formation takes many forms. It occurs in worship, not
only as we attend to the Word of God, but also as we pray and sing and gather
around the Table. Faith formation thus consists of didactic
(preaching/teaching/instruction) and doxological (praise/worship/prayer)
elements. We are formed in mind and spirit. It is important to hold these two
things together. Faith formation that focuses on the didactic and neglects the
doxological risks becoming impersonal and theoretical. Conversely, faith
formation that focuses on the doxological and neglects the didactic risks being
superficial and sentimental.
A key aspect of pastoral care will be the encouragement that
is given to people to keep growing in the Faith, personally and in community.
In 1 Corinthians 3:2 a contrast is drawn between infants in Christ who are fed
with milk and spiritually mature people who are ready for solid food. Some
people show no desire to move beyond the infant stage; however, allowing people
to stagnate in faith is not good pastorally. A stagnant or underdeveloped faith
will be less able to cope with challenge and change. Opportunities for growth
might include home-groups, Christian education programmes, baptism and
confirmation classes, prayer groups, personal mentoring, spiritual supervision,
spiritual disciplines, journaling, personal devotions, reflective reading of
scripture, pastoral conversations, spiritual retreats, mission and outreach
activities, and courses in biblical studies and theology.
Behind this range of opportunities is a wide range of people
involved in the task of faith formation. It is not just the task of ministers,
paid professionals and volunteer leaders. In recent decades, one of the most
neglected contexts for faith formation and pastoral care has been the home.
Within Christian history marriage and parenting have been considered vocations.
The home is to be a sign of the kingdom, a place where faith is nurtured and
disciples are formed.
What this means in practice today will, of course, vary from
home to home and will be contingent on a whole range of factors; the main point
to note is the significance of the home for faith formation and pastoral care.
This has always been a characteristic feature of the Reformed tradition. In his
manual on Christian piety, for example, a seventeenth-century Puritan, Lewis
Bayly, recommended that families, upon their return home from church each
Sunday, discuss the sermon and account for what they have learned, integrating
their learning throughout the week with daily readings from a catechism.
Moreover, Bayly and other Puritan leaders strongly advised that every family
read a full chapter of scripture at the beginning and ending of every day and
at noon, thereby enabling the whole Bible to be read in a year.
More recently, some readers will be familiar with the names
of Tom and James Torrance, two Scottish ministers and world-renowned
theologians who died just a few years ago. James’ son, Alan, taught systematic
theology at the Theological Hall in Dunedin in the late 1980s and early 90s. In
2007, An Introduction to Torrance Theology was published. It included a
personal statement by Tom’s and James’ brother David about their family
background. David wrote: “Our love for the Scriptures and our theological
education started from a very early age with our parents’ teaching. ... Our
parents had a steadfast faith in God, a love for the Word of God and a firm
belief in the power of prayer. Every day we met for family worship which was
led by one of our parents. This continued from our earliest days of infancy
until one by one we left home. ... As children, our parents expounded to us the
Scriptures. They inspired us with a love for the Lord and a love of God’s Word.
From our earliest years they encouraged us to read the Bible every day for
ourselves and to read it through each year, which we have continued to do. ...
They encouraged us to memorise fairly large portions of Scripture, particularly
the Psalms, which we have always appreciated. ... Our parents also guided us in
our Christian reading, and introduced us to various commentaries like Luther’s Galatians.
... While still at high school we were introduced to Calvin’s Institutes.”
Whilst few families today would achieve this level of
Christian guidance and encouragement in the home, we do need to ask what can be
done to combat the rising tide of biblical and theological illiteracy in our
churches. How might be better encourage and resource parents for the task of
faith formation in the home? Do we even regard this as an important thing to
do?
One of the difficulties we face in this regard is the
individualistic mindset that pervades much of Western culture. According to
this mindset, anything that threatens the autonomy of the individual is
regarded with suspicion. Many parents want their children to develop their own
personal spirituality, and they shy away from anything which they might regard
as indoctrination. Spirituality, yes, religion, no; exposure to a range of
spiritual experiences, yes, commitment to a particular faith community and a set
of practices and beliefs, no.
This helps explain the reluctance of many parents today to
have their children baptized. Not wanting to “impose” their beliefs on their
children, they adopt a position of “practical agnosticism”: “Let our children
decide for themselves when they’re old enough to do so,” they say.
There are two major problems with this reasoning though.
Firstly, it presumes that we can raise our children in a belief-neutral
environment, which clearly is not possible. Every home functions in accordance
with an implied set of beliefs and an underlying worldview, which will include
certain assumptions about what it means to be human and what the purpose or
meaning of life might be. Secondly, it is contrary to the biblical notion of
being part of a covenant community that consists of entire households and
families, not just consenting adults. Freedom, understood biblically, is not
freedom from commitment and community, but rather freedom in commitment
and community.
If you are committed to intentionally ministering to children
and families, we encourage you to join the Kids Friendly Network, of which Jill
Kayser is the national coach. Kids Friendly offer a wide range of training
events and resources for churches, including the following:
1. A “Partnering with Parents” workshop, which will:
·
Transform
parents’ thinking on faith development and help them embrace their role as
spiritual nurturers.
· Equip parents to share and practise their faith with their children
· Encourage churches to be more inclusive of young people and to intentionally disciple them.
2. A “Sharing Faith@Home” workshop designed to inspire
parents to share their faith with their children and explore ways of doing
that. A “faith@home” flyer reminds parents of the important role they play in
faith development and gives practical tips on sharing faith, reading scripture
and praying together. It includes recommended books, websites, family devotions
and other resources.
3. Family devotion resources that follow the church year,
including Advent, Lent, Easter and Christmas.
4. All-age faith-sharing resources for use in church
services.
5. A Kids Friendly library consisting of many books and
practical resources.
Why is faith formation an important dimension of pastoral
care? How can you and your church be more intentional about the task of faith
formation?
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