Faith Formation

We are all spiritual beings. We have physical bodies, but our lives are largely driven by an unseen part of us. There is an immaterial center in us that shapes the way we see the world and ourselves, directs the choices we make, and guides our actions. Our spirit is the most important part of who we are. And yet we rarely spend time developing our inner life. That’s what Spiritual Formation is all about.

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Faith Formation is a process, but it is also a journey through which we open our hearts to a deeper connection with God. We are not bystanders in our spiritual lives, we are active participants with God, who is ever inviting us into relationship with him.

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Jesus said, ​“I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.” (John 10:10, The Message). We believe that such abundant life is possible here and now because Jesus showed us the way to it. As we take on the life of Jesus – become like him – we experience a richness in life and faith that is truly renewed day by day (Colossians 3:10, adapted from Renovar'e)

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In the United Church of Christ, we can understand faith formation to be “an engaged process of learning and practice integrated throughout all aspects of congregational and daily life.” This definition highlights the initiative and action we must take in our own faith formation. In essence, we become clay so that we are formed and transformed by the Holy and by one another. But throughout all of our doing and being, we are reminded that God’s “hands” are continually present in our efforts to gain both “head” knowledge found in education and learning and “heart” wisdom discovered through prayer, ritual, and practice.