Adults are still growing in faith, too

by Shana Peachey Boshart
Conference Formation Minister

When we think of faith formation, we often think first of children and youth. But if Christian faith formation means we are becoming more like Jesus...well, that takes a lifetime!

How are you tending to your faith formation as an adult? What are the settings that form and nurture your faith now?

Certainly the Sunday worship service is one setting. We are shaped by the scriptures, sermon, singing and sharing. In Sunday School, we study the Bible and discuss how it applies to our lives. Perhaps you are also in a small group, or have other settings that nurture your growth in faith.
 
These are some of the patterns we’re accustomed to, but we are changing the way we do things in church, and in years to come, faith formation may look a bit different for us.
 
In Matthew 13:52, Jesus says to his disciples, “Therefore, every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.”
 
Jesus is saying that those of us who are training for the kingdom of heaven will recognize that sometimes we find treasure in the new and sometimes we find treasure in what is old, or what we already know. 
 
Living the Way of Jesus continually challenges us to discern the way forward.  Sometimes the thing that helps us will be some entirely new practice or idea, and sometimes what we need the most is a habit or idea that has been around the church for a very long time—millennia, even. 

What old ways are still working for you?  What old ways need to be laid to rest?

In what new ways are you growing in faith?  What new things are you or your congregation ready to try?

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