formation

A response to Will Willimon and Stanley Hauerwas

Yes, says Yuval Levin. But only if they serve a formative function.

Scot McKnight looks to Paul to define the pastoral task.

If Christian liturgy works on the imagination, so do disordered secular liturgies. Social media—despite its good uses—might be one example.

"Progressive Christians do a good job with issues like LGBT rights," says Dennis Sanders of First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Minneapolis. "But we're less good at helping people become disciples of Jesus."

Offering the elements to the unbaptized can be seen as a development and not a revolution, but it is a significant change. Is it a good one?

The resources for faith formation have grown in recent decades, yet the task remains elusive. After all, everything the church does is formative—and one can never predict how formation will happen.

Working in the shop gave bone and muscle to my pastoral identity. But it also taught me to anesthetize anxiety with long hours, to work out of fear of failing.

The term theological education brings to mind formal study. But people's deepest
convictions about God and their deepest stirrings of faith are often
formed at an early age.

I can see it in their eyes. It's orientation night for those who are considering our church's catechumenal process. You want me to do all that?

Formation in faith does not happen by accident. It happens when churches
puts commitment and creativity into the process and believe that the
Holy Spirit is sure to show up.