Study Guide to John Shelby Spong A New Christianity for a New World.   ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: Session 2

 

The following materials were prepared by Keith McPaul for his NCNW study group at Maleny, Queensland:

Extract from Michael Morowood

Paraphrase of the Lord's Prayer (NZ Anglican Prayer Book)

2 Poems by Edwina Gateley

 

Keith has also provided materials prepared for a preliminary session and for sessions 1, 3, 5 and 6.

 

Michael Morwood

ADULT FAITH DEVELOPMENT

"Experts on how adults develop their faith understanding tell us we should not be surprised either by the questioning or by the challenge to justify our religious beliefs." This questioning is basic to healthy adult faith development.

"Many Christians become disturbed by their doubts, thinking they are 'losing their faith' when in fact they may well be on a personal journey into a far deeper Christian faith."

'Conventional' faith is what we are taught and what we learned from external sources, such as at Sunday School. It is where we learn the basics of our belief.

"Ideally, this is only a stepping stone towards a more mature faith, in which people bring their own thoughtful reflection, increased knowledge of the world, personal experience, and their powers of critical reasoning to reexamine the faith they have acquired."

"Failure to move on to this more mature level of faith can result in adult faith with childish, dependent characteristics."

Adult faith arrested at this conventional stage of development can lead to childhood images of God as their framework for prayer, worship, and thinking. For example, "God is male, external, and 'looks down' on us. God will punish bad people. God will love me more if I do more good things. God reacts. God can do anything. God locked us out of heaven. God sent His Son down from heaven because Adam and Eve sinned." Unfortunately, childhood belief can become adult conviction.

A sad feature of contemporary Churches is that adults are often encouraged to stay at this unquestioning stage of faith development.

"An essential feature of being an adult lies in accepting responsibility for ones beliefs and actions. An 'adult' Christian ought to be a Christian not simply because of being born into a Christian family. At some stage in our adult life we have to take personal responsibility for being a Christian. Essential to this responsibility is being able to articulate what we believe and why we are prepared to keep on believing it. Faith is deepened when we have personally thought it through, seen the 'truth', wisdom, or value, and have affirmed its importance for the way we live." (Michael Morwood, Melbourne, 2001.).

 

Some call taking responsibility for your own beliefs being 'born again', some call it a natural process of growing up. Someone I know calls it 'not leaving my brains at the door when I go to Church'. What do you think?

 

 

Paraphrase of the Lord's Prayer

 

Eternal Spirit,
Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver,
Source of all that is and that shall be,
Father and Mother of us all,
Loving God, in whom is heaven:

The hallowing of your name echo through the universe!
The way of your justice be followed by the peoples of the world!
Your heavenly will be done by all created beings!
Your commonwealth of peace and freedom sustain our hope and come on earth.

With the bread we need for today, feed us.
In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us.
In times of temptation and test, strengthen us.
From trials too great to endure, spare us.
From the grip of all that is evil, free us.

For you reign in the glory of the power that is love,
now and forever. Amen.

  (from the New Zealand Anglican Prayer Book, p181

 

Edwina Gateley

 

Send us your suggestions for further supplementary materials!