Faith Formation in Christian Practices

There is no greater challenge for churches today than to offer people of all ages a compelling vision of a Christian way of life that is worth living and to guide them in developing that way of life.

The central challenge for pastoral ministry today concerns the most important mark of good ministry: the ability effectively to mediate faith as an integral way of life to persons, communities, and cultures.(Miroslav Volf)

In my view, an essential task of education in faith is to teach all the basic practices of the Christian faith. The fundamental aim of Christian education in all its forms, varieties, and settings should be that individuals—and indeed whole communities—learn these practices, be drawn into participation in them, learn to do them with increasingly deepened understanding and skill, learn to extend them more broadly and fully in their own lives and into their world, and learn to correct them, strengthen them, and improve them.(Craig Dykstra)

The Faith Formation in Christian Practices Project seeks to empower
and equip, encourage and support individuals and households at each stage of the life cycle to integrate Christian practices into everyday life, so that they become an integral way of life for people today. The Project is guided by the understanding of Christian practices presented in the book, Practicing Our Faith edited by Dorothy Bass and Craig Dykstra (Jossey-Bass, 1997) and the work that is being done through the Valparaiso Project on the Education and Formation of People in Faith. As Dorothy Bass writes, “Christian practices are shared patterns of activity in and through which life together takes shape over time in response to and in the light of God as known in Jesus Christ. Woven together, they form a way of life.”

• Read Dorothy Bass’s introduction to Christian Practices, “What is Christian Practice.”
  What Is Christian Practice (93 KB)
  
• Planning Guide and PowerPoint Presentation The Guide for Developing Faith Formation in Christian Practices provides a variety of ways to integrate Christian practices into your church’s faith formation curriculum and to design faith formation programming on Christian practices. The PowerPoint presentation provides an introduction to the Christian practices and a presentation of the strategies for developing faith formation in Christian practices (founded in the Guide).
  Planning Guide (152 KB)
  Faith Formation in Christian Practices - Powerpoint Presentation (5475 KB)
  

The Faith Formation in Christian Practices Project has created the following resources for home and church:

• Living Well: Christian Practices for Everyday Life presents twelve essential practices for a Christian way of life: Caring for the Body, Celebrating Life, Discernment, Dying Well, Eating Well, Forgiving, Keeping Sabbath, Managing Household Life, Participating in Community, Praying, Reading the Bible, and Transforming the World. Written for adults, parents, and families to use in learning about and living Christian practices, each chapter presents the Biblical foundation of the Christian practice and a variety of practical suggestions for living the practice and how to make it an integral part of everyday life.
  Living Well is available for purchase as a book for $24.95 (quantity discounts are available) or as individual chapters that churches can reprint for local use only ($20 per chapter).
  For purchase information go to the Living Well section of our Online Store
  Free Download!
  Download a sample chapter from Living Well: Christian Practices for Everyday Life!
  Living Well - Celebrating Life (Sample) (1407 KB)
  
• The Living Well Children’s Workbook is designed for parents to use with their children or for older children to use alone. Each chapter presents a Christian practice through activities, Bible passages, and practical ideas that children can do alone or with their family. The Workbook is $9.95 (quantity discounts are available).
  For purchase information go to the Living Well section of our Online Store
• Learning Activities and Small Group Study Guides for the 12 Christian Practices. Church leaders can download a learning design for each of the 12 Christian practices in Living Well and use the learning activities to create an adult or parent program, a family program, or an intergenerational program. There are also small group study guides for each the 12 Christian practices in Living Well. The learning activities and study guides are available in Word and PDF formats.
  Click here for Living Well Learning Activities and Small Group Study Guides
• Household Activities. Individuals and families can download activities that extend the ideas in the Living Well book and support living each of the Christian practices in daily life through prayers, rituals and celebrations, service and action projects, and learning activities.
  Click here for Living Well Household Activities
• By the Way We Live (Christian Practices Song). Tom Kendzia (OCP recording artist) and Mary Carol Kendzia (editor of the Living Well resources) have produced a song, “By the Way We Live,” to accompany the Living Wellresources. Two versions of the song are available for download in MP3 format: voice and instrumental. The words are also available in a PDF file. Churches have permission to download “By the Way We Live” and use it in worship services and educational programs on Christian practices. For any other use please contact John Roberto at jroberto@lifelongfaith.com. The song will appear on Tom's new CD from OCP, due out in 2009.
  Download the MP3 for the song “By the Way We Live”
  To save: Right-click and select "Save Target As.." or "Save Linked File As..."
  
  Download the MP3 for the song “By the Way We Live - Instrumental”
  To save: Right-click and select "Save Target As.." or "Save Linked File As..."
• The Christian Practices Resource Center. Recommended books for each of the Christian practices are available in the Christian practices bookstore with brief descriptions of their content. You can then purchase them, at a discount, through Amazon.com.