Last week, I attended an RCIA formation session at Holy Trinity church in Washington, DC for the first time. Being that I’m not Christian, this was actually my first exposure to Christian church services, and to learning about Christianity outside of a classroom. Coming into the experience, I did not know what to expect in terms of whom I would meet, what I would discover, and what value I would find in the session. My rough expectation was that the session, especially given that it occurred the Tuesday before Easter, would simply serve as an informational briefing on the significance of Easter in the Christian calendar. What I found was far more interesting, and in my opinion, enlightening. The RCIA faith formation session I attended moved …show more content…
Mr. Steinberg described to me his excitement about his upcoming baptism that Saturday at the Easter Vigil, something he had been working towards for nearly a year. Thought not born a Christian, Mr. Steinberg was motivated to convert after many years of marriage to a wife that was raised catholic. When speaking with Mr. Steinberg, it was immediately clear how important his baptism, and the faith formation sessions, were to him, and how much more they represented to him than mere classes. Mr. Steinberg seemed delighted at the opportunity to tell me as much about the sessions and his life story as possible, and displayed an unbridled level of enthusiasm for the church and theologies he has been learning. If Mr. Steinberg was merely taking these faith formation sessions to appease his wife, I doubt he would have been so excited to describe these sessions and his journey in detail. He also would not have used such powerful language when describing how important these faith formation sessions were to him. Further than just describing how these sessions helped him tremendously with the imagery of the bible and the central stories that make up Christendom, Mr. Steinberg told me that he would be “clueless” without the faith formation sessions, and how he feels that his impending baptism would mean a lot less without them. This directly …show more content…
If I had to make one criticism about the session, it would be that the session gives its attendees a lot of credit, and asks a group of people (who are largely still in the early stages of their faith development) to take in and consider a ton of educational material. This problem, however, is completely mitigated by the presence of caring members of the group that are more familiar with Catholicism, like Mrs. Steinberg. This effect is also heightened due to the presence of a few Neophytes in the group (the newly baptized/those who have been baptized in the past year ), which again further speaks to the strength of community at the faith formation sessions. The strength of the community was further proven to me by the grateful and somber words of a man who announced to the group that he would be moving away from DC for a job opportunity. He seemed so happy to be among a group of people he truly enjoys being around, and yet it was clear that he was harboring a great amount of sadness because he had to leave such wonderful
...ethnicity or culture; it happens to anyone such as, doctors, lawyers, teacher, judges, students and many more. My observation of the meeting was that every member seemed to really listen to each other’s sharing, where each member shared an experience, and others could relate to that particular experience or had similar experiences, such as struggling with promiscuous behavior or relapses in attending meetings, but they still stuck with the program because they wanted change in their lives. No one was rushed in their sharing, and everyone was opened and friendly. It was a cohesive group. I felt a sense of that openness, when I was introduced to everyone, and included at close of the meeting, where everyone one formed a circle, held hands and recited the serenity prayer. Overall, it was a new and knowledgeable experience Another Chance gave me.
Mead, Loren B. The Once and Future Church Reinventing the Congregation for a New Mission Frontier . The Alban Institute, Inc., 1991. Kindle eBook file.
Out of the desolation of World War II sprang the Australian Committee for the World Council of Churches. This developed into the Australian Council of Churches which, in 1994, grew to be the National Council of Churches in Australia. The NCCA is 15 Christian churches, gathered from across Australia, who have embarked on a pilgrimage together . Each brings a widely diverse record of place, experience, and theology, but all share a mutual faith and confession in the Jesus Christ as God and Savior. All share a common future as they are confident that the future of Christians in Australia lies together, not in division. The aim of the NCCA is to deepen the relationship of member churches so as to communicate more visibly the unity willed by Christ and to rally towards the achievement of their mission of common witness, proclamation and service .
In an age when culture continues to lower standards of intellect, Marva Dawn makes compelling observations and suggestions for the Church to rethink its strategy on impacting society. How do we evangelize without weakening the message of what we are communicating? The majority of her text focuses on the worship environment generally, but later she focuses on music, preaching, and liturgy specifically. According to Dawn, a gathering of believers should emphasize God as the subject and object of worship, challenge each individual to grow in godly character, and accentuate the community of believers (not only in the room, but throughout history as well). Through this grid, she encourages leaders and participants to evaluate each worship element.
Christian faith and Ethos is the class I am taking this term. The professor 's name is Reverend Leroy Leach Jr. The class is about God, the creation, and how to read the Holy Bible.
into a richer experience of worship and a more effect life of service" (Crabb, 1977, p.31). The method to establishing an
In Catholicism, one of the many temptations that can be wrought in the mind that is not prayerful is the temptation to doubt the faith and its tenets. The Catholic Church differentiates between doubt and legitimate questioning. Doubt, it says, is that emotional state in which we call into question that which has already been sufficiently proven or shown. This emotional state is contrary to reason and since God’s nature is reasonable, consenting to such a state of irrational doubt is an act against the very nature of God. Additionally, freely consenting to the sin of doubt can have disastrous consequences such as abandoning the Catholic faith without sufficient cause or disobeying the commands of God’s law. Legitimate questioning, on the other
Johnson, Rev. George, Rev. Jerome D. Hannan, and Sister M. Dominica. The Story of the Church: Her Founding, Mission and Progress; A Textbook in Church History. Rockford: Tan Book and Publishers Inc., 1980.
With this in mind, the following will focus on the spiritual formation process within the Christian community. The concept of Christian community stems from the Bible with the perspective of the body of Christ. The body of Christ is compared to the humane body, a whole comprised of numerous parts; each individual part is required and created by God to form a cohesive whole, no matter believer or non-believer or social status (1 Corinthians 12). Similarly, the spiritual community is also comprised of bountiful parts and can be customized to the individual as the formation. Ashbrook appraises the significance of individuals and community, “Our spiritual formation is designed by God to happen in the context of Christian community, the chu...
Southern Baptist Convention “How to Become a Christian” SBC.net 1999 Web access November 30, 2013
Bolger, Ryan & Gibbs, Eddie. Emerging Churches: Creating Christian community in postmodern cultures (Grand Rapids, MI) Baker Academic, 2005
Many sources define faith as a belief in something not based upon proof, an intangible trust that a person holds close to their heart despite inconclusive evidence. This notion of faith depicts both ones wishes that their favorite sports team will win a match tomorrow and a hope that they will return safely from distant travels. Many also use this same term – “Faith” – to describe an individual’s given religious beliefs. This notion of religious faith infers that faith in God is something exclusively spiritual and nonconcrete – a belief only supported by inexplicable ideas as opposed to facts and evidence. Yet, as one begins to examine faith further, they come to realize that faith reaches far beyond an individual’s spiritual experience. Although many classify faith as intangible and lacking in proof, religious faith is in fact a concrete reality of life that displays the emotional, physical, and experiential aspects of the human soul. In Proverbs 3: 1-12, the author exemplifies how the emotional, physical, and experiential aspects of faith should play out regularly in everyday life.
Spiritual formation is one subject that I like to discuss in that it really helps one reflect on their own spiritual journey and where they are in that journey. The devil wants to steal, kill, and destroy any step forward towards God. He is not after anything tangible that we possess, rather, he is only after our faith in God and belief in Jesus. Knowing this is part of our spiritual journey as fighting against the enemy requires spiritual warfare in which the only one that can help is Jesus. A transformation in our character to be like Jesus is essential to our spiritual growth. This cannot be done without being intentional with our time, finances, and disciplines.
It is hard to define religious experience as a large part of it is subjective. By their very nature religious experiences are incredibly personal and differ wildly from individual to individual. Everyone is going to react to a religious experience differently; some will dismiss it, others will take it to heart and it can change their lives. Religious experiences can happen from almost anywhere, from the beauty of being out in nature or in the middle of a church service. How one interprets a religious experience is largely “depends on the culture, ideas, and language of that particular time and place” (Thompson, 7).