Episcopal Church Foundation Vestry Papers - for leading congregations

It was hard to choose which class to take of the three offered this fall at our Center at St. Andrew’s. Dr. Ann Redding who was defrocked by Bishop Wolff of Rhode Island for becoming a Muslim is offering, “Making Peace with Islam: An Introduction.” Two parishioners with long backgrounds in the field are teaching, “Not If but When: A Class on Emergency Preparedness.” But the one that caught my imagination is “Kids, Parents - Exploring Questions of Faith: A Class for Adults.”

In my role as pastor I am constantly approached by parents about how to talk with their children about religion, spirituality, and belief. It was not a topic that was well covered in seminary and I have had little training in this area except what I have learned on the job. So this fit one concrete need I have and besides it is so nice to take a course at my church rather than teaching one.

Our instructor is Cindy Spencer, Children and Youth Ministries Coordinator at our cathedral, St. Mark’s. She has worked in children, youth, and family ministries since 1988. She is seminary trained and an accredited Godly Play teacher trainer who loves growing in her own faith together with children and youth. She knows her stuff.

Here is the first of three things I have learned. Cindy shared what are the top seven influences that lead to a life of faith. In order they are:

1. Modeling of faith by the mother
2. Modeling of faith by the father
3. Conversations about faith with the mother
4. Conversations about faith with the father
5. Conversations about faith with another adult
6. Service in the community
7. Family devotions

What I noticed right away is that except for getting the kids involved in community service and connections with other faithful adults, faith formation takes place in the home. Cindy went on to explain that a study by group called Vibrant Faith that used these findings has identified four times in the life of a family as the best times for these home-based encounters: meal time, car time, sick time, and bed time.

My first big take away from this course is the learning that the role the church needs to play is to equip households for faith formation, not take on the task ourselves as if church school is number one on the list.

Next week I will share two other important insights from this great class. I am so lucky to serve in a parish whose learning community offers so many rich choices and experiences each and every season of the year. It’s great to be a student as well as a teacher at St. Andrew’s.