“So come on, let’s leave the preschool fingerpainting exercises on Christ and get on with the grand work of art. Grow up in Christ. The basic foundational truths are in place: turning your back on “salvation by self-help” and turning in trust toward God; baptismal instructions; laying on of hands; resurrection of the dead; eternal judgment. God helping us, we’ll stay true to all that. But there’s so much more. Let’s get on with it!”             ~Hebrews 6:1-3 MSG

If you didn’t read the scripture above, please pause here and read it. It’s okay…..I’ll wait…..

I love this version. It comes from The Message Bible. “Let’s leave the preschool fingerpainting exercises and get on with the grand work of art.” This letter to the Hebrew church by Paul is a reminder that we are not supposed to stop growing our faith, that we need to move past what we were taught as children, into a more mature faith.

The reality is, growing in our faith is a life-long process. It isn’t measured like school—where you go up through a certain grade and then graduate.

Unfortunately, this is how we often see faith formation in our churches. We send our children to Faith Formation classes (Sunday School),  for some, we make them go to Confirmation or Baptism class, then youth group. But after that, it is seldom that we ourselves attend adult Bible Study or Faith Formation classes. We believe that worship is enough. But it isn’t.

Did you know that we have both Children and Adult Faith Formation classes on Sunday morning? Adults begin at 9:00 a.m., led by Sharon Perreault, and Children begin at 9:15 a.m., led by Jill Pepper.

Sadly, we don’t have many who attend either one, for obvious reasons. We just don’t have families with children and youth. So, we have decided it is time for a change!

Beginning in January, we will be doing Faith Formation differently. We will be holding Intergenerational Faith Formation. We—ALL AGES—will gather together in the Fellowship Hall at 9:15 a.m. We will begin with a little music, and then hear the story of the morning. This story will be told by different people, in different ways. Some may have others act it out with them, some may use puppets, some may tell the story using props. But we will all hear and witness the story together.

Following the story, we will break into our age-appropriate groups to discuss the story: Jill will lead the children, Sharon and Jim Perreault will lead the youth, and I will lead the adults.

Finally, when it is time to close, we will come back together to pray.

We are very excited to be trying something new, and hope that you will come to experience it once….maybe twice…

Until January, we will still have our Children’s and Adult’s Faith Formation classes. The adults are about to begin studying the Gospel of Mark.

Also, please watch for upcoming dates for other new Faith Formation groups:

*Youth Group

*Young Adult Group

*Men’s Group

When we make our baptismal vows, or vows for our children, we covenant to grow our faith in Jesus Christ. By joining us in Faith Formation groups, you are fulfilling that covenant.

So come and check things out. You never know what you might learn!

Always Peace, 

Pastor Heidi