Preface
Series Preface
These are the journeys of the Israelites when they came out of the land of Egypt by their divisions under the leadership of Moses and Aaron. At the Lord’s command, Moses recorded the stages of their journey. These are the stages listed by their starting points. Numbers 33:1–2
Moses wrote their goings out—When they set out, God ordered him to keep a journal of all the remarkable occurrences in the way, that it might be a satisfaction to himself and an instruction to Others. It may be of use to Christians, to preserve an account of the providences of God concerning them, the constant series of mercies they have experienced, and especially those turns which have made some days of their lives more remarkable. John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament
Growth in life and faith occurs in stages of development. Just as there are common markers for biological maturity, so can we discern noteworthy milestones in spiritual formation. In order to help individuals and communities mature, we do well to mark and celebrate these milestones. Even better, to foster intentional spiritual formation that coincides with natural life development is a compelling vision to help establish believers and churches in the faith. Such a process would offer a helpful means of passing down “the faith entrusted once for all to the saints” (Jude 3). Certainly, maturity in the faith has an intergenerational scope: delivering the ancient faith intact and unalloyed to the future generation. As such, processes and strategies of Christian formation must pay special attention to natural phases of human development and commonly discerned dynamics of spiritual growth.
With this vision of Christian spirituality, one can imagine a number of ways to foster Christian maturity across the generations. In fact, faithful parents and church leaders have diligently discharged this duty through the ages. We must learn from them as humble apprentices while we also consider the unique context of our contemporary world. Christians have a duty to both preservation and innovation. On the one hand, we must heed Paul’s instructions to Timothy: “guard the treasure entrusted to you, with the help of the Holy Spirit who dwells in us” (2 Timothy 1:14). On the other hand, we must be like the men of Issachar “who understood the times and knew what Israel should do” (1 Chronicles 12:32). The Christian life is lived at the intersection of timeless truth and contemporary dilemma, where God’s inspired word addresses the great need of mankind. Until the return of Christ, a time we long for with great anticipation, we will constantly live at this crossroads. And, the complexity of the crossroads for each age serves as a fortuitous opportunity—an ever-ripe ministry occasion—to prove the relevance and veracity of God’s timeless truth in all cultures and generations.
To this end, we offer this series as a tool in Christian formation. Essentially, it is a Christian approach to rites of passage. The title of the series speaks of its fundamental aims: Passage: Crossing Thresholds in the Sojourn of Life. At its core, this tool views the Christian life as a sojourn. More than a temporary excursion or one-time outing, the voyage of life is an extended pilgrimage that encompasses our whole life. This sojourn is also a journey of advancement, development, and maturation across successive stages. The overall forward movement of the Christian life—even if it is necessarily fraught with its detours, roundabouts, diversions, and wanderings—occurs across various phases of progress. Because there are phases of development in life and faith, we are (at times) able to mark the thresholds when we cross from one phase into the next, from one region into another.
To become aware of your current location in the journey and to be cognizant of upcoming legs of the pilgrimage is quite helpful. It can provide encouragement for the weary, humility for the proud, motivation for the slothful, and hope for all. Crossing thresholds together with other travelers—a company of pilgrims—provides camaraderie, companionship, and solidarity for the difficult terrain that we must traverse. As we cross these thresholds together, we are making passage into new territory. These passages will be myriad in life. To mark the successful arrival at each juncture in a journey affords a time of reflection on the past, celebration in the present, and preparation for the future. Marking these milestones of life and faith helps pilgrims remain oriented to the road ahead, focused on the final destination, and vigilant against many dangers and snares they might face. Said shortly, this series aims to help Christian disciples mark, measure, and make passage through important milestones for life and faith.
Many cultures and societies have rites of passage. Typically, these ritual-based experiences assist a person (and the community) in explicitly marking a change of status in life and development. Broadly speaking, these rites of passage can mark many seasons of life: birth, puberty (coming of age), marriage, childbearing, vocational achievement, eldership, and death. Commonly, the rite itself involves a temporary separation from society, an initiation through a challenge, and a reintegration with the community under a new status.
It must be said that Christians are not beholden to cultural rites, rituals, and ceremonies. In Christ, believers have been set free from the man-made tradition (Matthew 15:1–20). Nevertheless, to ritualize an experience is nothing other than attempting to invite community members to participate in an experience with regularity, repetition, and patterned form. Participation in such an experience helps to shape us. For the church, Christ has only commanded two ritual practices: baptism and the Lord’s Supper (communion or the eucharist). Baptism is a one-time initiation rite into the community of faith. The Lord’s Supper is an ongoing revitalizing ritual to sustain and support God’s people through an act of covenant renewal. Even though other rituals are not commanded in Scripture, we offer this Christian approach to rites of passage as a way of marking major milestones of life and faith. These are not ever to be held with the same status as baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Nevertheless, they offer a concrete way to guide people and communities in faith formation.
By labeling this series Passage, this curricular approach to rites of passage focuses on the borderlands: the liminal moments and crucial junctures when we cross over into a new phase of our faith journey. Different than an establishing process or catechetical course, this series aims to measure, mark, and commemorate transitions across seasons of life and faith. Sometimes people cross into new life seasons without realizing it. When we remain unaware that a major life transition has happened, we can unnecessarily prolong immature habits and life patterns from an earlier phase of life. On the contrary, to prematurely encumber a child or youth with adult responsibilities before they are ready can be overwhelming (at least) and detrimental (at worst). Consequently, this series has a preparatory and demarcating function. It seeks to help a person understand to consider what an upcoming season of life might entail while it also helps to make this seasonal transition explicit and noticeable.
Over the course of this series, we hope to provide concrete and flexible tools for navigating the transitions in life and faith. This curriculum is unapologetically Christian. While people may be able to use the tools to discern general principles of life formation, this series is explicitly a summons to faithful Christian pilgrimage across life’s thresholds. As such, the composition of this tool is designed to be church-based, family-oriented, biblically-rooted, and theologically-reflective. In the end, we humbly offer this as a gift to the church so that believers and communities might join the psalmist’s words as a refrain of life: God’s “statutes are songs to me in the house of my pilgrimage” (Psalm 119:54).
July 2024 York, Pennsylvania
Preface
Then our sons will be like plants nurtured in their youth, our daughters like corner pillars carved to adorn a palace. Psalm 144:12
The power for good or evil that resides in a little child is great beyond all human calculation. A child rightly trained may be a world-wide blessing, with an influence reaching onward to eternal years. But a neglected or misdirected child may live to blight and blast mankind, and leave influences of evil which shall roll on in increasing volume till they plunge into the gulf of eternal perdition. George Müller, A Brief Narrative
Children are very important to God. Each child is uniquely created by God and represents his intricate handiwork and skillful design. Parents also celebrate children as amazing gifts. While mothers and fathers provide a safe and secure environment for their sons and daughters, children (unbeknownst to them in their early years) are an unspeakable blessing to their parents. For society, children represent the hope of a thriving and flourishing future. Jesus himself commended a child for our spiritual consideration: “unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3). The season of childhood is to be protected, enjoyed, and upheld as a gracious gift of God.
Along with the joys of childhood, challenges abound. A child’s weakness and incapacity is glaring. Children were not meant to live (let alone survive) on their own. When this unfortunate situation occurs—whether because of war, broken families, or tragic deaths—the damaging effects on a child are severely felt.
Even in the best of home environments, a child demonstrates immaturity, naiveté, and ignorance. Typically, a child is no master at navigating the complexities of the world or the journey of the Christian faith. Parents and church leaders must help children overcome their childish immaturity while maintaining a childlike faith in God. As children move into their youthful years, the believing community is responsible for helping youth successfully enter into this season of life. This resource attempts to assist youth, parents, and churches in this most noble and God-honoring endeavor.
Specifically, this tool is an initial installment in a series on Christian rites of passage called Passage: Crossing Thresholds in the Sojourn of Life. This specific tool helps children transition into a season of youthful maturity, encouraging them to take their life and faith seriously. Aimed at children ages 8–12, this specific tool is designed to mark a child’s entrance into these teenage years. The rite of passage is organized around an outdoor camping experience in order to facilitate this life season, often labeled as a “coming of age” moment. As such, this resource is titled BaseCamp: A Rite of Passage into Christian Responsibility and Accountability. As a child starts to take their life and faith seriously—that is, to embrace the fact that they are emerging adults—this child will grow in Christian responsibility, viewing themselves as accountable to God for their lives.
The overall structure of this rite of passage is threefold. The first phase (Part One) involves a preparatory exploration of Christian responsibility. Specifically, youth will complete a six-session study that outlines key areas of responsibility: God, self, family, church, the world, and the needy. Throughout this wisdom-based and gospel-centered exploration, youth will develop a biblical framework for a life of Christian maturity, providing a theological and practical foundation for these early years of youth development and faith formation. The second movement of this process (Part Two) is an outdoor camping experience. During this time outdoors, youth will spend time in communion with God, learn about basic survival skills, and cultivate their relationships with one another. This outdoor experience is presented as a challenge experience. Youth will be given a supportive environment to learn basic survival skills and demonstrate competency to do them for themselves. The final phase (Part Three) of this process is a celebration and ceremony. After the camping trip, youth will prepare a personal testimony, reflect on their faith commitment, and participate in a celebration ceremony to mark their completion of this process. Since the overall process of this rite of passage is aimed at spiritual formation, the back portion of this tool (Part Four) provides journal space for youth to record their learnings, capture their experiences, and reflect on their own spiritual formation.
Under the care of his earthly parent(s), Jesus himself submitted to parents. During Jesus’ infancy and childhood years, we observe that his parents had “done everything required by the Law of the Lord” (Luke 2:39). Additionally, when Jesus turned twelve years of age, his parents obeyed God’s law and did “according to the custom of the Feast” (Luke 2:42). In this context where life and faith were taken seriously, Jesus “grew and became strong,” he “was filled with wisdom,” and “the grace of God was upon Him” (Luke 2:40). This picture of Jesus in his youth is a model of faith maturity and Christian responsibility.
As each youth grows in life, several important factors contribute to spiritual formation. The basis of a life of maturity is one’s relationship with God. Without being reconciled to God and learning how to continually abide in God’s presence, youth will not realize the depth of maturity that God desires. Established in relationship with God, youth develop as they study and embrace the Scripture as their rule for faith and godliness. Without the Scripture, one stands on unstable ground. A youth also thrives when surrounded by a loving and supportive church community. This involves fellow believers who are also taking the journey of faith seriously: both peers and mentoring leaders. One major gap in youth is experience. Not having a long record of life experience makes maturity difficult. Consequently, youth grow in maturity as they are placed in challenging circumstances where they gain experience, persevere through failure, overcome hardships, and develop fundamental skills for life and faith.
While the only inspired guide to Christian responsibility is the Bible, this tool is an attempt at guiding youth into the oftentimes tumultuous teenage years in hopes that their faith will flourish and bear much fruit as they align their lives to God’s revealed truth. Admittedly, “neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything” but “only God … makes things grow” (1 Corinthians 3:7). The formidable task of raising godly, mature, and responsible youth may be beyond our capacity, but we serve a God who can “turn the desert into a pool of water” (Isaiah 41:18) and to “plant cedars in the wilderness” (Isaiah 41:19). For the glory of God, through the grace of Christ, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, we may be able to participate in raising youth that “will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified” (Isaiah 61:3). Toward this end, whether we are youth or church leaders, we embrace a life and ministry of “striving with all His energy working powerfully within [us]” (Colossians 1:29) knowing that “it is God who works in [us] to will and to act on behalf of His good purpose” (Philippians 2:13).
July 2024 York, Pennsylvania