Church Life
I’ve spent the past few days at a conference on programs of theological formation with youth, hosted by the Fund for Theological Education and the Lilly Endowment. (The conference took place in Indianapolis which, by the way, is a lovely city.)
One of the interesting things about conferences like that are the connections that you can make and the networking that happens. Case in point: I found myself in a small group setting with Dr. Timothy O’Malley, a professor at Notre Dame who directs that university’s Center for Liturgy.
Tim and I were members of a great peer group at the FTE conference that looked at the challenges and aims of youth theology programs with which we’ve been involved. Afterwards we spoke about a new journal that his center at Notre Dame has begun publishing — Church Life, which focuses on the “New Evangelization” in the Roman Catholic Church, emphasizing ministries of catechesis, discernment of vocation, and liturgical formation.
From the very little I’ve learned from Tim and from perusing Church Life over the past 24 hours, the connections between what he and his colleagues are doing (in a Catholic context) and what evangelism scholars like William Abraham and Scott Jones have advocated (in a Methodist context) is striking. In preparing and teaching a course in Wesleyan evangelism this semester at Memphis Theological Seminary, I’ve become convinced by Abraham’s arguments in particular — namely, that evangelism is really about practices of Christian initiation into the Kingdom of God and its temporal herald, holy church.
In a number of posts on my old website, I let readers know about a great new online journal called Methodist Review that is “open source” (meaning free-of-charge). Church Life is available in a similar way: all that is required is a harmless online registration and then the contents of the journal can be read online or downloaded for free. If you are a Methodist interested in ecumenical relationships — particularly that most important of ecumenical relationships that we have with our Catholic brethren — then I’d encourage you to sign up and check out Church Life today.
Added note: Anyone curious about William Abraham’s work on evangelism in the Wesleyan tradition should check out his book The Logic of Evangelism, which I think is still the best book on the subject in our tradition that has been written.
Andrew, it was exceptional meeting you for the conference. At the Second Vatican Council within Catholicism, a new window for ecumenism opened. Since then, this window has grown smaller–partially because of the success of our work.
Yet, we still remain apart, not yet together. I imagine that one place that Methodists, Catholics, Presbyterians, and all sorts might work together today is through a re-commitment to evangelization in our particular contexts. Precisely, because evangelization begins with a renewal of our ecclesial life, especially through the discipline of study, practice, prayer, etc.
I hope this is a long, fruitful conversation that is commencing–blessings on your work in Memphis.
Tim –
It was equally nice meeting you and Leonard. I, too, hope this is only the beginning of a larger conversation. Thanks for contributing so much to what were invigorating conversations around the table in Indianapolis.
Grace & peace,
Andrew
Andrew,
I think every pastor and Christian parent should read Christian Smith’s article in Church Life. What he says is right on. In fact our congregation where I serve as associate pastor is looking at these very issues through some of the work being done by Mark Holmen and the Faith at Home movement. Parents have two to three times more influence over their chidlren’s faith life than anything that we do as churches. Congregations need to be planning their ministry over how they can equip parents and grandparents for this important role instead of what happens many times now. Where parents farm out the spiritual education of their children to the church. Church and Homes must work in partnership.
At least that’s my two cents.
God bless you,
Dee
Dee –
I think you are exactly right. I sometimes wonder if parents realize the influence they do have automatically — and the influence they can have in a positive way if they will only provide the kind of spiritual nurture that their children hunger for. This is something that we have to keep emphasizing over and over from the pulpit and in pastoral conversations.
Hope you are doing well!
Sincerely,
Andrew
Thanks for this resource. I completely agree with you about Abraham’s take on evangelism. Missed you at the John Wesley Fellowship this year. Hope things are going well in Memphis! BTW – I’m defending my thesis in May & Billy Abraham is my external examiner.
Kim — Great to hear from you. It was tough not being at the Christmas Conference. I hope I can start attending as a ‘senior fellow’ in the future. Christ’s blessings on your dissertation defense! I am hoping to defend mine by the end of the summer. Teaching at MTS has been wonderful thus far. Hope our paths cross soon.