Shortly after agreeing to speak about faith formation at a Presbyterian Camp next spring, I came across a blog post in which Paul Hill raises some important points about how church can nurture faith formation the way many church camps do. He likens Christian camping experiences to the sort of Emergence Christianity that Phyllis Tickle describes in her new book.
Here’s a quote:
Church does need to be more like camp in the sense that effective faith formation in the congregation is…
- Deeply relational and communal and less ethnic and tribal.
- Committed to sharing our stories while weaving in the Biblical and less doctrinal and orthodox, (or emphasizing the narrative of Christianity vs. the “right doctrine” of Christianity).
- Involving nature and the out of doors and less about God in the box.
- Experiencing the faith through doing faith practices and less talking ABOUT the faith. This is sometimes called emphasizing “orthopraxis” as opposed to “orthodoxy”.
Read the post at http://thoughtsfrompaulhill.com/2012/10/30/why-cant-church-be-more-like-camp/
