April 29th in Wenatchee, WAGrace Lutheran Church in Wenatchee, Washington and Pastor Paul Hoffman (North American Association for the Catechumenate) invite you to join them on Saturday, April 29th for the "Faith Forming Faith" Catechumenal Training Event at Grace Lutheran Church. This event is open to ministry teams, church groups, pastors, congregational leaders, and anybody interested in the Catechumenate, whether you're an experienced practitioner or you've never even heard of the Catechumenate!
Pastor Paul Hoffman, author of Faith Forming Faith: Bringing New Christians to Baptism and Beyond, has been an ELCA Pastor since 1982, and was Lead Pastor at Phinney Ridge Lutheran Church in Seattle for 17 years where he led The WAY, a twenty-first century adaptation of the Catechumenate, an ancient practice of bringing new Christians to faith through a yearlong mentoring process in discipleship. Paul now devotes his full-time energies to this ministry in which through preaching, teaching, lecturing and training, he brings Catechumenal ministry to individuals and congregations of various denominations. In January 2013, Paul was called by the Northwest Washington Synod as a writer and teacher for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Paul brings a wealth of experience from leading The WAY at his congregation in Seattle for 17 years. He has worked ecumenically and led workshops and training events in the US and Europe, having spoken and taught at Oxford, Paris, St. Petersburg, and in local congregations in North America. |
What is the Catechumenate?The catechumenate — a process of faith formation and discipling that began in the early centuries of the Christian Church — has been reclaimed in the twentieth century, primarily as a result of the work of the Roman Catholic Church in the development of the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults. During the past two decades, non-catholic Christian churches have slowly begun to understand the catechumenate as a process of faith formation and spiritual development for twenty-first century people who have little or no previous association with the Christian faith. The catechumenate is also being adapted in congregations for renewal in the processes of the Baptism of infants and children, in confirmation ministry, and in the affirmation of Baptism or the reaffirmation of the Baptismal covenant by the already baptized.
The catechumenate focuses on the development of the disciplines of faith: corporate worship, the study of Scripture, prayer, and baptismal living. The process is countercultural in that it is:
Through the catechumenate, adults on a spiritual quest are offered an apprenticeship in the life of faith and those already baptized are aided in the deepening of their faith and commitment. |
What people have said about Catechumenal Training and Rev. Paul Hoffman...
"[Paul is] a rare and fine teacher, bringing passion in a (mostly) passionless church. His witness to the faith is clear, palpable, and powerful, and though some of us are nervous to say it, Spirit driven in a way we rarely experience."
-Bishop Martin Wells, Eastern Washington/Idaho Synod, ELCA
"Who knew that good old fashioned religion could save a wretch like me? You did. I didn’t. Who knew that those corny church phrases like living water and bread for your life were not meaningless expressions, but life-sustaining realities? Not me, and not my smarty pants friends either. If this process can make a Christian out of the likes of me, I suggest you listen up. This is not a gimmick, a fad, or the latest get-people-back-into church plea. What Paul Hoffman has to teach and how he teaches it shows us all how Christ creates disciples."
-Donna Linn, Child of God
"Hoffman, whose professional life has spanned the last thirty years of tumultuous changes in American Christianity, is a seasoned and practical guide to the how and why of contemporary communal formation. He is also a very passionate and persuasive one."
-Phyllis Tickle, author of Emergence Christianity and The Great Emergence
-Bishop Martin Wells, Eastern Washington/Idaho Synod, ELCA
"Who knew that good old fashioned religion could save a wretch like me? You did. I didn’t. Who knew that those corny church phrases like living water and bread for your life were not meaningless expressions, but life-sustaining realities? Not me, and not my smarty pants friends either. If this process can make a Christian out of the likes of me, I suggest you listen up. This is not a gimmick, a fad, or the latest get-people-back-into church plea. What Paul Hoffman has to teach and how he teaches it shows us all how Christ creates disciples."
-Donna Linn, Child of God
"Hoffman, whose professional life has spanned the last thirty years of tumultuous changes in American Christianity, is a seasoned and practical guide to the how and why of contemporary communal formation. He is also a very passionate and persuasive one."
-Phyllis Tickle, author of Emergence Christianity and The Great Emergence