Why we need an Embodied Apologetic in Faith Exploration and Catechism

Look what I found!

 I read a couple pages on line, succumbed to temptation and promptly ordered it.

It seemed to make especially good sense to me as I prepare for some resourcing with our pastors on thinking through the issues surrounding the experience of Faith Exploration and Catechism for Anabaptist Mennonite youth.  Here is an assortment of my thoughts and book quotes after reading just a couple pages from Embodying Our Faith: becoming a living, sharing, practicing church by Tim Morey, IVP, 2009. 

• Some of us question our faith from time to time and wonder, "How can this belief-set possibly be true?"  What if the church's response to these queries comes up lacking because we observe the church's practice overriding it's spoken values and ethics.  (When I was 16, I called this hypocrisy, and left the church for a while.  Today...I must be part of the problem!).
• If the methods are the message, then the Gospel we present must be repackaged,, while remaining  faithful to scripture.  Well ... Dah!  Leonard Sweet says it this way: "I am virtually a fundamental about content, but I am virtually a libertarian when it comes to the container."
• Therefore the "apologetic" that we offer to our Anabaptist Mennonite youth through the experience of Faith Exploration and Catechism should be based more on the weight of our actions than the strength of our arguments.  This, according to Morey, is "an apologetic that is high-touch, hands-on, engages people relationally, takes place in the context of on-going friendship and addresses the needs of the folks asking the questions."  
• An embodied apologetic provides the transformative edge and opportunity that reason and head knowledge alone cannot.  
• An embodied apologetic could be designed around the practices of the Christian faith.  This may or may not be good news, because in part, this will depend on the youth observing how their congregation lives out the Christian practices. (Seriously, do we really want others to watch us try to be Christian?)
  

And so - I pose these questions to pastors and church teachers as they foster an environment ripe for questions during Faith Exploration and Catechism:

• In what way do you present the Anabaptist Christian Faith as an Embodied Apologetic?
• In what way do you empower your students to be high-touch, hands-on, and reflective?
• In what way are you encouraging them to observe and participate in the practices of the Christian life, both individually and in community?
• In what way do you involve other adults, parents, mentors, youth sponsors in this initiation journey, helping them to see that they are never alone, in their decisions, in their discernment and in their faith development?

Let's keep this conversation going!