“Congregations make intentional discipling a priority.
Faith formation and education for the congregation,
connecting with the wider community,
are vital for discipleship and mission.”

Here are 20 statements for discussion among church leaders about Christian faith formation and education. They arose from my doctoral research completed in 2018. I initially interviewed 25 leaders from across 22 churches about faith formation and education, leadership, discipleship and mission.

“Congregations are ‘open systems’ of discipleship
– regularly bringing in outside people and resources,
making active connections with the wider church
and world to nourish lively faith.”

During my research, these were provisional findings. After working on my research interviews, I sat down with a blank sheet of paper to ask myself what I had observed. It was a way of surfacing what I had intuitively observed across the data.

“Congregations are ‘calling communities’
– active and permission-giving in encouraging people
to discover and develop their gifts
in response to God’s call to mission.”

I later reduced the sample to 13 churches, both to correct some sampling bias and to make the whole project more manageable. These preliminary findings then gave me a litmus test for reviewing the smaller sample in more detail. Did these assumptions hold true or would they change?

“Faith formation takes place in relationships and conversations;
faith permeates everyday interactions, whether on church premises,
around church activities, in households or community life.”

While some of the emphases did change, these initial observations held for the larger sample. They provide a way to open conversation with church leaders about the intentionality, shape and culture of faith formation and education (discipling if you prefer) that a congregation enables.

DOWNLOAD 20 POSTERS (PDF)

DOWNLOAD 20 POSTERS – COLOUR VERSION (PDF)

Here are a few simple ways to use the posters. Introduce the activity by saying that these statements are based on observations of a diverse sample of Australian churches who were seen to be effective in forming lifelong disciples. Feel free to mention me as the researcher.

Divide leaders into groups of 3 or 4. Select a poster to give each true. Ask them to discuss the following.

1. Talk about what you think the statement means – in other words, restate it in your own words.
2. Imagine that this is speaking of the ideal church. Do you agree or disagree with the statement? Why?
3. Imagine that this is speaking about a real congregation. What would be some signs or evidence that it was true? What would be happening?
4. To what extent is this statement true for your congregation?
5. What are two or three ways in which you might encourage this kind of growth in your ongregation.

Select posters to place around the walls (no more than half the number of people present – i.e. 20 people, 10 posters).

1. Invite people to walk around the room and read the posters.
2. Ask them to stop by a poster that they particularly like.
3. Invite them to talk with the person standing nearest to them
   – What appeals to you about this statement?
   – How do you see it reflected in the life of your church?
   – What might it look like to see it reflected more in the life of your church?
   – When and how do you talk about this as church leaders?
   – How might you be more intentional as a leadership team in working on this?

Divide leaders into groups of 3 or 4. Select a poster to give each true. Ask them to discuss the following.

1. Talk about what you think the statement means – in other words, restate it in your own words.
2. What would be different about your church if this statement was true?
3. Imagine that you have been given unlimited resources to help this happen? What would you do? Where would you start?
4. What kinds of changes would be required for you personally as a leader to help this happen?