Last week I quoted a section from Lifelong Faith Associate’s Faith Formation 2020 report about the important role parents play in the faith formation (development) of children and youth. And that made me think about the importance of faith formation for all adults in our congregations. Once again, my colleague Sue Sinnamon from the Thomas Jefferson district has pointed out that the folks at Lifelong Faith have a resource already available on the subject. The current issue of their journal Lifelong Faith is dedicated to adult faith formation. Here’s some of what they have to say:

  1. Adult faith formation addresses the diverse life tasks and situations, spiritual and religious needs, and interests of adults in the church by offering a variety of content topics and learning activities out of which adults can develop their own personalized learning pathway.
  2. Adult faith formation recognizes that learning is a process of active inquiry with initiative residing in the adult learner and that adults are motivated to learn as they experience needs and interests that adult learning activities will satisfy.
  3. Adult faith formation views learning as a lifelong process that involves both formal and informal learning, intentional or unexpected.
  4. Adult faith formation utilizes a variety of learning models to address the diverse life tasks and situations, religious and spiritual needs, and interests of adults; and incorporates both face-to-face, interactive learning activities and virtual, online learning activities.

Imagine the kind of adult faith development opportunities we would have in our congregations if we spent as much time and energy on them as we do on our programming for children and youth. And, if it is true that “we’ll get what we are,” imagine the results of such an effort on the future of our movement.

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