Kent and Rhoda had an engaged group of pastors, deaconesses, and laity attending their seminar on adult faith formation at the Institute of Liturgical Studies, held at Valparaiso University, their alma mater. There were both those with extensive experience in using faith formation practices and those who were neophytes to their use. The Rite of Acceptance, with its anointings of various parts of the body, was especially compelling. Through presentation, discussion, reflection, and the experience of aspects of the catechumenate, we were all enchanted by the possibilities for the church’s life through faith formation.
We were excited to share our research with the group.Several deaconesses attended the seminar.We did some experiential learning in small groups.We had a cross section of generations participating.Rhoda (right) with her deaconess sisters.We thank God for our collaborative partnership for the sake of the church.
As we prepared for our July workshop on Adult Faith Formation, we included three timeslots to present different approaches to Scripture meditation and study designed to engage “inquirers”—people who may have little knowledge of the Christian faith and content of the Bible but who, through the work of the Holy Spirit, have expressed an interest in exploring Christianity and learning about Jesus. Kent sent me the instructions for one such model called the “Visualization Scripture Study,” and when I read through it, my first reaction was, “I would get up and leave the room if I were asked to do this in a small group.” While firmly doubting the value of this method, I dutifully proofread the document and made sure that Kent would lead this section of the workshop.
All the Scripture meditations we practiced with the group start in a similar manner: the Gospel reading for the previous Sunday is read aloud, silence is kept for a time, and members of the small group share with one another a word, phrase, or image that caught their attention. The text is read a second time with a different prompt. Then, the instructions for the visualization method continue, “Each team collaborates creatively to visualize the story in some way.” Examples given include acting out the story, drawing the story, writing a song or “a poem or haiku (or even a limerick).”
The appointed Gospel reading was John 3, Nicodemus coming to Jesus by night and questioning how one could be “born again.” After the reading, silence, and sharing, the teams were giving the above instructions. At first, there were tentative, quiet conversations, but soon each group worked earnestly, and some with joy and laughter. This doubting Thomas’s resistance to the process began to break down, and I was completely transformed to the possibilities of this method when the teams presented their work—full of fun and deep theological insights into the text.
There were two “dramas” of the story, both starring “Nick and Josh,” with one drama set on a fishing boat in a Minnesota lake. I wish I had recorded it to share here! I did capture photos of the poems, which include a haiku and limerick, shared here. Note the way each one captures the essence of the story and the saving work of Jesus.
As we debriefed the process, Anna, trained as an educator, pointed out that this activity taps into multiple learning styles, including the creative process, which is at the top of Bloom’s (revised) taxonomy of educational goals. Click here for more information.
Tom, one of the pastors, described his reaction to the activity. First, he said, he experienced “resistance,” but then moved to “engagement and then acceptance.” His experience, he said, “could be the journey of a catechumen.” Or, I would add, of this Doubting Thomas.
An often asked question about the catechumenate is, “Where can I find a curriculum for the catechumenate?” While from the perspective of efficiency it would be desirable to have a curriculum that could fit all places and circumstances that desire works against the nature of the catechumenate. While some Roman Catholic dioceses do provide catechetical/doctrinal curriculums for the RCIA, those usually only focus specifically on catechetical knowledge and aren’t intended as a curriculum for the entire catechumenate. This is why Diana Macalintal titled her book on the RCIA’s life within the Christian community: Your Parish IS the Curriculum. (See my series of blog posts on her book from July 15 through August 20, 2021). Since the catechumenate is aimed toward forming seekers into the Christian faith within that particular congregation’s life as the Body of Christ, their life together is the curriculum for formation. An abstract curriculum from outside the parish would run counter to that type of formation.
But I don’t want to be accused of punting on the efficiency question. Yes, the catechumenate requires a deliberate, intentional, and, at times, slow approach to forming disciples. But that “built-in” inefficiency shouldn’t be shouldered solely on the backs of the pastors, church workers, catechists, and sponsors who work the catechumenal process. Rather, the inquirers and seekers themselves should shoulder that load since the intentionality and slow pace of the catechumenate is for their benefit as they walk the road to conversion.
So what might a curriculum look like that is oriented to the seekers and more efficiently responds to their seeking? Roman Catholic Nick Wagner in his book, Seek the Living God: Five RCIA inquiry Questions for Making Disciples (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2017), advocates for a curricular approach that is seeker-centered and oriented toward the adult learner. We must ask the question of each adult seeker, “What are you actually seeking?” This allows the seeker to be the primary person for determining the shape of a curriculum in the catechumenate that is tailored for their individual journey. Wagner encourages the use of contract learning in which the seeker and catechumenal team develop a contract that will facilitate their formation toward baptism and participation in the Body of Christ. Developing that contract entails for Wagner asking five questions of the seeker:
Where have you been?
Where are you now?
Where do you want to get to?
How are you going to get where you want to go?
How will you know when you have arrived?
Answering these questions leads to designing a learning contract that will facilitate participation in the Body of Christ in accord with the seeker’s background, current needs, and the journey they wish to make. The seeker is the one looking to make this journey and the opportunity for accomplishing it is placed on them. All the participants in the catechumenal team can then play their role in facilitating this journey. Given the uniqueness of the journeys of each seeker, there is not a one-size-fits-all curriculum for the catechumenate. But this individualized approach, with the necessary involvement of a diverse catechumenal team, creates significant commitment to the process for the seeker that will lead to lifelong formation for Christian life. Wagner’s book calls for further reading, which I intend to do. I commend it to you. And encourage you to explore constructing a catechumenate curriculum that is seeker-centered, forming them for continual participation in the life of Christ’s body.
Last week, Rhoda reflected on the Rite of Baptismal Thanksgiving that participants at our two workshops experienced. In addition, we celebrated two rites that punctuate the catechumenate at points of transition: the Rite of Welcome/Acceptance and the Rite of Election/Enrollment. We also participated in a prayer experience during the Period of Inquiry. We experienced these rites, then allowed time for individual reflection, one-on-one reflection, and entire workshop reflection. Questions we asked to facilitate reflection included: What was most compelling? What surprised you? What might make sense and be helpful in your congregation? How does the rite express Lutheran theological convictions? Participants received these experiences as genuine moments of worship of the Triune God and as revelatory experiences for how the rites of the catechumenate might be received into their congregations.
We participated in the Rite of Welcome/Acceptance and the Rite of Election/Enrollment as they are enacted at Redeemer Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Bronx, New York under the leadership of Pastor Dien Ashley Taylor and Deaconess Raquel Rojas. The Rite of Welcome/Acceptance transitions the inquirer into the catechumenate proper, the period of more intentional study of God’s Word and of the possibilities for life within the church. It includes the anointing of various parts of the body in accord with how the entire body is being conformed to Jesus Christ. We anointed the forehead, lips, eyes, ears, shoulders, heart, hands, and feet of participants while others served as sponsors. Reflections noted how intimate the experience is and wondered how that might be received by some. Yet, the association of the action with the Word of God and the way in which it was done (without ostentation or creating the opportunity for embarrassment) allowed all to participate in very meaningful ways.
The Rite of Election/Enrollment which transitions the catechumen into the focused period of preparation for baptism during Lent includes the elect’s announcement of being affirmed by the Christian community for participation in the church and the elects’ writing of their names in the Book of the Elect. Much to my surprise, this rite was even more unsettling to participants than the Rite of Welcome. Potential associations of the Book of the Elect with the Book of Life troubled some of the participants, but when the signing was explained as recording the name of the Elect in the congregation’s family “photo” album that helped to blunt some of the reticence of those potential associations. All agreed that the association of the sponsors with the elect (through the laying on of hands on their shoulders) and the congregations’ support also shown through the extension of hands as an act of prayer and blessing was a powerful expression of the Spirit’s work through fellowship in the Body of Christ.
Finally, the prayer experience during the Period of Inquiry allowed participants to reflect on the patterns of their prayer life, adopt the position of a sponsor, and attempt to teach and form a partner acting as an inquirer how to pray. All agreed that this was an eye-opening experience. Many had never been asked to reflect on their prayer life in this way and had never been asked to teach prayer to someone new to the Christian faith. They were able to put themselves into the experience of being an inquirer who is new to praying to the Father through his Son Jesus Christ by the power of the Spirit.
All of these experiences provided a worshipful context for the catechumenate and a potential vision for how these rites and experiences might be useful in forming new Christians toward a life of faith in hope in Jesus Christ.
“When I heard the sound of the water poured from the pitcher as the words were being spoken, the memories from the abundant use of water from the videos we watched flooded my mind.”
“I experienced the prayer time at the end of the service more intensely than I usually do.”
I warned the participants (all ten who attended our workshop on adult faith formation in early July) as we reviewed learning goal #3—”to experience rituals that might be used in your context to foster a missional ethos and welcoming spirit in your congregation”—I warned them that “Kent and I are liturgy geeks” who know firsthand about the transformative power of ritual done well, full of grace and beauty. We wanted to give them a taste of such ritual.
Built into the workshop schedule were ritual experiences that are the normal part of the typical adult catechumenal formational process, rituals that mark the transition from one stage of the catechumenal process to the next. After enacting rituals with the workshop participants in the roles of catechumens and sponsors, the participants had time to reflect individually and then discuss in the group how they experienced these tactile, aural, and olfactory rites. We ended the second day by viewing a “classic” video, “This Is the Night,” of adult baptisms administered in a large, walk-in font at a Roman Catholic parish during the Easter Vigil, followed by a video from Redeemer Evangelical Lutheran Church in The Bronx during their Vigil as a young adult was baptized with an abundance of water. The Service of Baptismal Thanksgiving—with baptismal invocation, song, Scripture, a thanksgiving for baptism spoken as water was poured into our make-shift font, renunciation and confession from the rite of baptism, and an extended time of intercession—began our third and final day. The above quotations are responses from participants as we discussed how they experienced the baptismal renewal ritual. I, too, had been deeply moved by the time of intercessions for the church, world, and all in need, offered by many participants and was reminded of Martin Luther, writing in his treatise The Freedom of a Christian,
Not only are we the freest of kings but we are also priests forever. This is far better than being kings, for as priests we are worthy to appear before God, to pray for others … Thus Christ has made it possible for us, provided we trust him, to be not only … fellow rulers of his kingdom but also his fellow priests. Therefore, we can come before God boldly in the spirit of faith and cry, “Abba, Father.” Praying for one another, we do all things that pertain to the duties and visible works of priests.
The Freedom of a Christian, Study Edition translated and with introduction by Mark D. Tranvik, p. 67.
Adult faith formation is designed to lead people to the freedom we have in Christ, who takes on all our sin in exchange for his righteousness, and who frees us for lives of thanksgiving to God and service to our neighbor.
We are pleased to announce that 10 people are currently attending our Visioning Lab, “From Font to Table: Welcoming the Stranger into Christ and Congregational Life” at Concordia University – St. Paul (CSP). We are thankful for the partnership between Concordia Seminary, St. Louis and CSP that made this event possible, especially Erika Bennett, Director of Continuing Education at the seminary, and Jane Wilke, Director of Church Relations at CSP.
We’re sharing a few photos of the group, which includes pastors, commissioned ministers, and laity among the participants; they have come from Minnesota, Iowa, South Dakota, and New York.
If you cannot see the pictures, open the email message in a web browser.
Dr. Kent Burreson and Dr. Rhoda Schuler will offer two workshops this summer as part of the Concordia Seminary Prof Insights Workshop Series. The first led by Dr. Burreson will be in Ottawa, Kansas, near Kansas City, June 26-28. The second led by Drs. Schuler and Burreson will be at Concordia University, St. Paul, Minnesota, July 5-7. The workshops, conceived as visioning labs, will provide background material on adult faith formation, facilitate small group studies and discussions, lead participants through experiential learning on ritual, and moderate structured time designed for participants to formulate a plan for introducing an adult faith formation process in their congregations. You may register for these workshops by clicking on the title above which will redirect you to the seminary’s continuing education workshop page. The schedule for the workshops is as follows:
Wednesday, July 5
1:00 – 1:45 A Vision for Faith Formation and the Stage of Inquiry
1:45 – 2:30 Wisdom from the field (we’ll have a pastoral expert address the group via Zoom)
2:30 – 2:45 Break
2:45 – 3:15 Inquiry Experience (Prayer)
3:15 – 3:45 Scripture Study: Hoffman Method
3:45 – 4:15 Planning your Catechumenal Experience: Inquiry
4:15 – 5:00 Enrollment and the Stage of the Catechumenate
5:00 – 5:15 Closing Prayer
Evening Free
Thursday, July 6
8:30 – 9:15 Enrollment Experience and Video
9:15 – 10:00 Wisdom from the field (we’ll have a pastoral expert address the group via Zoom)
10:00 – 10:15 Break
10:15 – 10:45 Planning your Catechumenal Experience: Enrollment and Catechumenate
10:45 – 11:30 Election and the Stage of Enlightenment
11:30 – 12:45 Lunch
12:45 – 1:15 Scripture Study: African Method
1:15 – 2:00 Wisdom from the field (we’ll have a pastoral expert address the group via Zoom)
2:00 – 2:15 Break
2:15 – 3:00 Election Experience and Video
3:00 – 3:30 Planning your Catechumenal Experience: Election and Enlightenment
3:30 – 4:30 Initiation Rites and This is the Night
4:30 – 5:00 Planning your Catechumenal Experience: Initiation
Evening Free
Friday, July 7
8:30 – 9:15 Mystagogy
9:15 – 9:45 Scripture Study: Visualization Method
9:45 – 10:00 Break
10:00 – 10:45 Wisdom from the field (we’ll have a pastoral expert address the group via Zoom)
10:45 – 11:15 Planning your Catechumenal Experience: Mystagogy
11:15 – 11:45 Wrap-up on Implementation
11:45 – 12:00 Closing Prayer and Experience: Rite of Vocation
