What is Adult Faith Formation?
Adult faith formation facilitates continuing spiritual and catechetical growth for all parish adults.
Why do we have Adult Faith Formation?
The United States Catholic Conference of Bishops in 1999 authored a pastoral plan for adult faith formation in the United States entitled Our Hearts Were Burning Within Us. This document made clear a new priority for adult faith formation. We are called to grow in discipleship throughout life, to build vibrant parish and diocesan communities of faith and service.
What is the goal of Adult Faith Formation?
As the Bishops stated in Our Hearts Were Burning Within Us: “We seek to form adults who actively cultivate a lively baptismal and Eucharistic spirituality with a powerful sense of mission and apostolate. Nourished by word, sacrament and communal life, they will witness and share the Gospel in their homes, neighborhoods, places of work, and centers of culture.”
Adult Faith Formation sessions are open to everyone regardless of parish or religious affiliation. Here are a few of our upcoming opprutunities!
The Bible Timeline: The Story of Salvation
Reading the Bible should bring us closer to Christ, but understanding it is often difficult. The good news is that The Bible Timeline Study makes it easy.
Facilitated by Jim Sisak, this adult Bible Study shows you how fourteen of the Bible’s narrative books tell the biblical story from beginning to end and will give you the keys to understanding the amazing story woven throughout Scripture. The Bible Timeline divides the Bible into twelve color-coded time periods that make it easier to follow its narrative thread. Using a unique color-coded chart, you will learn the major people, places, and events of the Bible and discover how they all come together to reveal the remarkable story of our faith.
St. Mary by the Lake and St. Matthew parishes will offer The Bible Timeline beginning on September 6 at 1:00pm at St. Mary by the Lake. Participants will meet every week to view an engaging video presentation followed by lively group discussion and fellowship. This is an in-depth 24 week study, broken up into three 8 week sessions.
The Bible Timeline Study Calendar:
September 6 January 10 April 18
September 13 January 17 April 25
September 20 January 24 May 2
September 27 January 31 May 9
October 4 February 7 May 16
October 11 February 14 May 23
October 18 February 21 May 30
October 25 February 28
To register, visit www.stmarybythelake.org/BibleTimelineRegistration, or contact Heather Warner at 262-639-3616 / [email protected].
RETURN: How to Draw Your Child Back to the Church
St. Matthew and St. Mary by the Lake parishes will be studying how to talk to and guide back into the Church our loved ones who have stopped practicing the Faith. Over the course of 8 monthly sessions, we will learn to listen, model our own faith through our words and actions, and talk with and explain Church teachings to help our loved ones find their way home. While the book is geared toward parents of children who have fallen away, this prayer group is for anyone who’s loved ones have left the faith. The study does require reading a section of the book before each session.