Category: Uncategorized

When I first came back to the Church after a long period of atheism/agnosticism, I attended a newcomer class which sought to dive into important questions about the Church. It was informative, but I wouldn’t say it was formative.

Instead, it was the kindness of the ushers, the warmth of the clergy, the beauty of the liturgy, the sense of living tradition, and the real wrestling with questions of justice and dignity that gradually opened my heart.

We live in an age that prizes information. There is always another book to read or another podcast in the queue. But it is possible to know more about Christianity without becoming more like Christ. Information can remain comfortably in our minds. But discipleship has never been chiefly about information. It is about formation – the forming of the self toward the full stature and measure of Christ – which reaches into our habits, our loves, and our wills.

The Book of Common Prayer understands this deeply. Week after week, season after season, the prayer book forms us through Scripture, sacrament, thanksgiving, silence, and praise. The Sacraments stand at the heart of this formation.

In Baptism, we are not simply told who we are. We are united to Christ and marked as Christ’s own forever. In the Eucharist we do not merely remember Jesus. We are fed with the Body and Blood of Christ so that our lives might become a living offering to God.  

The Baptismal Covenant never asks whether we know enough. It asks whether we will live faithfully. Will we persevere in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, proclaiming the Good News, seeking and serving Christ in all persons, and striving for justice and peace?  

To every promise, the Church teaches us to answer with the same words: “I will, with God’s help.”  

In the end, that is the heart of discipleship. We are not simply becoming better informed, but allowing ourselves, with God’s help, to be formed.

We like to say you don’t have to check your brain at the door of our churches. The much harder thing is to not check our hearts, our loves, our longings, our hopes, and our dreams.  

Those are the things Christ longs to change. Those are at the heart of formation. Those are at the center of discipleship. Do we dare to hand them over to Christ?  

We can, with God’s help.

-Robert Hendrickson, Chief of Discipleship Initiatives

[Photo by Random Institute on Unsplash]

Dear Friends in Christ,

This short series is about something wonderfully simple and deeply important. It is focused on learning to tell the story of God’s friendship with us, and discovering that sharing our faith is one of the most natural expressions of discipleship.

Before we begin, one small confession. Along the way we stumbled over lines, laughed at ourselves, had microphones misbehave, found strange camera angles, and made more than a few mistakes.

The course is less than perfect because following Jesus has never been about getting everything right the first time.

Discipleship is joyful experimentation. It’s trying, learning, growing, and trusting that God is at work even in our imperfections.

We hope these sessions encourage you not only to tell your story, but to discover in new ways that God can use it just as it is and laughs alongside us as we learn and grow together in faith.

Yours in Christ,

Fr Robert Hendrickson

We are excited to introduce a new short video course to support worshipping communities growing in faith. Sharing Our Stories will help disciples understand, develop, and pray with their own stories of faith in conversation with stories from the Bible, the saints, and other Christians.

These three videos – each lasting fifteen minutes or less – are now available on the resources page, where you will also find a downloadable discussion guide and a transcript of the course. The videos are also available on YouTube.

Designed for adult formation sessions or leadership retreats, the videos may be watched in person or online in a group with guided conversation, or at home and then discussed later in small group settings. The course is ideal for one 90-minute session or three separate shorter sessions.

The course features Robert Hendrickson, Chief of Discipleship Initiatives at Forward Movement, Andrew Stravitz, Episcopal priest and Marriage and Family Therapist, and Kristin Tovar, artist, entrepreneur, writer, and community builder. In this course, they teach practices of story-sharing that will help participants further engage the story of God in their lives. Exploring a theology of friendship with Christ through modern and ancient stories, groups will be guided through a meaningful and engaging practice designed to help share your stories and to grow in love of God and neighbor.

Episode One, “The Scripts We’re Given,” explores the religious scripts we are often handed in American culture, and why they do not capture the fullness of our lives in God. Participants are guided through practices of discovery and bearing witness to their own stories.

Episode Two, “Friendship with God,” deepens the engagement with Jesus’ stories of friendship, with special care to plumb those stories and our own with responsibility and love.

Episode Three, “You are the Letters of God,” explores where Jesus is most active in Scripture and in our own lives. Participants are led in an exercise to help them explore and share their own stories in light of Scripture.

As a pilot course for Cedar, feedback is welcome as future short courses are in the works. Please send a message to Taylor Devine, Church Relations Coordinator for Discipleship Initiatives, using the button below, to request a review form or to provide feedback.