Faith
Development
“Everything is religious education” was the premise of the first course on religious education which I took in theological school. This statement, which has guided my thinking since that class, can have both trite and profound implications. Religious education, or faith development, as it is also known, is the container for all the “big-enough” questions that activist Sharon Deloz Parks identified, those that re not easily or finally answered and the answers to which can shape how we live our lives. “These are questions of meaning, purpose and faith,” she writes. “They are rightly asked in every generation, in young adulthood and throughout adult life.”
Teaching is one of the most rewarding activities in my life. Whether it is a guest appearance in a classroom of second through fifth graders, leading the Time for All Ages in the services, or watching adults grow in excitement as they explore new avenues, being witness to this process is one of the greatest honors I know. Over the past decades, I have come to understand how much my ministry is a teaching ministry and how if everything is religious education, then ministry must have teaching as a centerpiece. I have had the opportunity to see the way people lives change as a result of learning and that is truly astounding.
As a volunteer, I taught religious education for several years, staying with a single class from pre-K through fourth grade. I also was a coming-of-age mentor and one of the core leaders for another coming-of-age group.