Introducing a New Curriculum for the Whole Church
Kathy Gillmore, Mission Resource Team and Director Christian Education, First Huntsville
In a recent and wonderful article by John Roberto in his WHAT IF…Imagining the Possibilities series at Lifelong Faith, he posits a shift the church needs to make to serve a post-pandemic world. Our denomination has a new curriculum coming out this summer to help us do just that.
These are a few excerpts from John Roberto’s article, How Shall We Live Now? To read the whole article at lifelongfaith.com click here (https://www.lifelongfaith.com/april-5-2021.html).
I believe that faith formation (and the whole church) in the emerging post-pandemic world will need to help people of all ages answer the question “How shall we live now?” The pandemic has disrupted our lives in ways that we have only begun to name. We are searching anew for meaning and purpose – now in a post-pandemic world.
I’m sure you’re familiar with the three-word dynamic of coming to faith: Believing, Belonging, Behaving. Since the Reformation and the era of catechisms the formula has been we Believe certain truths about the Christian faith, then we Behave in a way that reflects these beliefs, and finally we become a (full) member of that particular Christian tradition (Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican, Wesleyan, Calvinist, et al.). This approach continues until the present day.
If the central question in the post-pandemic world is “How shall we live now?” then our focus needs to shift to Behave (practices) – Belong (a community living those practices) – Believe (how the tradition informs our practices). Understanding the ancient Christian practices and their applicability today is the key.
A new PCUSA curriculum coming out this summer, Follow Me – Biblical Practices for Faithful Living, will help us make that important shift in focus. With this new approach our denomination recognizes that a living faith is so much more than simply believing in God. Jesus called all sorts of people to follow him to God, showing concrete ways to love God and one another. When we do these actions together, faith develops, lives change, and communities transform.
In developing Follow Me they realized that we all wonder what to do, why we do certain things, and what it means to be a Christian. They looked at what Jesus did, identified faith practices, narrowed the list down to 36 practices, and sought to show how we can do what Jesus did, too. The result was a plan to cover these 36 practices, 12 each year, over the course of 3 years beginning with the 2021-2022 educational year.
It’s affordable in that a church can purchase just what it needs. It’s adaptable for churches of all sizes. It’s designed to be used for as little as one class to as much as a whole congregational study including helps that work to support an integrated sermon series. To learn more about this fresh, new approach visit these links:
Click here to view a video introduction. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IY2WsitU_xE&t=4s)
Click here to visit the Follow Me page at pcusastore.com where you can see a chart of the faith practices covered and download a sample. (https://www.pcusastore.com/Pages/Item/15439/Follow-Me-Curriculum.aspx)
If you have questions about this new approach please contact me at dce@fpchsv.org or call me at First Presbyterian Church in Huntsville, 256-536-3354 ext 129.