Philosophy and Vision
Growing up in a Christian home and within a community of believers, my earliest memories are marked by a keen awareness of God's love for me. At age six I responded to Christ's call to follow him. Though I didn't fully realize the demands of the journey on which I was embarking, I firmly believe that God readily and lovingly accepts our first steps on the pilgrim journey, no matter what our age or stage in life.
With all of my six-year old understanding, I placed my life into God's care and keeping. It was later that I came to a more complete realization that God's desire is not just to "stamp us saved," but to grow us up into the likeness of Jesus Christ.
Christian formation concerns that process of growth toward wholeness in Christ. We define Christian formation as our continuing journey of being transformed by the Holy Spirit into the likeness of Christ, experiencing and expressing love for God and others.
The word formation is derived from the Greek word "morphe", suggesting that the inner being of a person is radically altered in this process. Paul used this word in his letter to the Galatians: "...until Christ is formed in you." Paul agonized, he said, as a woman in labor, toward the end that those who had chosen to follow Christ would express Christ's character and goodness in their whole being.
The staff of the Department of Christian Formation strives to help Covenant churches become vibrant communities of life-long learning...communities that regularly see the transforming power of Jesus at work in people's lives. It's our strong desire to see children, youth and adults GROWing in grace and knowledge, becoming more and more like Jesus Christ.
Doreen Olson
Executive Minister
of Christian Formation
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- Meet the Christian Formation Staff
- Christian Formation: Reconceptualizing Christian Education and Spiritual Formation by Paul Bramer, Associate Professor of Christian Formation, North Park Theological Seminary, Chicago, IL. This article was originally published in Covenant Quarterly 59, no. 4 (2001): 27-38. It was given as part of a seminar at the Conference of the North American Professors of Christian Education, Quincy/Boston, MA, 2003.