Formation embraces movement
As a college-age young adult, you are the future. There is a biological fact that you will die (sorry for the tres’ morbid tone). We do not know the day, nor the hour, but you can be certain that it will come. It is imperative that this message of hope we teach is passed on. It is imperative that you take your place in the church, in our movement.
You are the future, you are the present future.
We are reminded by the teachings of Paul to attain for unity of the faith. By joining in the community of Jesus followers, we are embracing a movement, a faith that has been handed down for generations, handed down to us, and is dependent on us to pass on as well.
Another writer, Jude, compels us to, “contend earnestly for the faith once for all delivered to the saints.”
We are part of a tradition
This “faith once for all delivered”, this message of hope, this gospel is our common thread. It compels us to embrace one another, it compels us to engage the great causes of our day, it compels us to strive to join our Savior in the reconciliation of everything in heaven and earth to himself. We are not just the church of the future, we are part of the church today. We are the present future. So, we engage the tradition of faith passed to us recognizing that the mantle to pass it and steward it will be placed in our care.
We encourage you to embrace a movement. As part of your formation, as part of your journey, as part of discerning next steps, we encourage you to embrace a movement of Jesus followers, a church. We encourage you to enter “covenant” with a gathering of followers, and embrace them as a key component to the furthering of your formation along your journey of faith. We find that as part of a movement, a gathering of believers, we are reminded of the things that matter most.
It is in the embracing of this movement that we will release you to be the future.