Book of Faith Great - Got suggestions for how to begin

[Janie Settlemyre Beard]

I've just signed up and would really like some input on how to get things going. I come from an older congregation and have attended several workshops on Book of Faith and love it and have been assigned to the task force to get some ideas started on this. We are having a meeting Sunday, July 12 and our interium pastor wants some ideas to take to the council. Help!

[Dwight DuBois]

Janie: I'm surprised no one else responded, so I'll take a stab. One place to look for help is to contact your synod's Book of Faith advocate. The synod office should be able to tell you who that is.

Outside of that, remember this: Book of Faith is intended to get congregations to identify the specific needs they have (in terms of biblical encounter, reading, use, study, engagement) and then to find or develop resources that will meet those particular needs. Every congregation's needs will be different. (This also means you don't need to start over, but start where you are and move forward.)

The best way to "get started" then is to use the assessment tools in the back of "Opening the Book of Faith" (the first book published in the BoF initiative) in order to find out what your particular needs are. See this conversation for helpful info: http://bookoffaith.ning.com/forum/topics/assessment-tools?page=1&am...

The assessment tools are also available online: http://www.bookoffaith.org/Resources/Pages/assessment_tools.aspx

Hope this gets you started.

[carol goulet]

I agree it is good, just finished with a webaner through Augburg fortress (there is a link on the home page of the book faith)
Found out about some of the new tools they have.
We have a bible study Sept-June that looks at the upcoming Sunday scripture and i discovered the Book of Faith series has a Study called 'Together in faith' that actually follows the lectonary, I think that will make my preperations a lot easier and am very eager to start using it.
We have used a number of the studies available, 'rediscovering the book of faith', 'opening the book of faith' and I'm currently looking into 'Making sense of the book of faith' (all augsburg studies). We also encouraged our members to use a devotional on th Lords prayer 'Lenten Journey'
We are very happy with what we have used so far, I was particuarly impressed with 'Rediscovering the book of Faith'. We used it at Lent for 4 weeks as an after church study, the confirmands were required to attend but the group consisted of an additional 15-20 individuals of all ages. The book created a connection between young and old through the use of getting together activities. It provided our young people a chance to actually sit and talk with our older members and vice versa. The material was basic, what the bible is, the type of writings, how it was collected etc. and with it didn't matter what level of bible study someone was at it provided a kind of jump start to wanting to know more.

[Anna Marsh]

Hi Janie,

Welcome to the conversation! Along with Dwight's comments, we actually have a whole category of conversations on this discussion board about this very matter. It takes some time to read through them all, but if you click on "Conversations" above, it will take you to the complete list. From there, click on "Getting Started with the Book of Faith Initiative". There are lots of conversations, and you certainly don't need to read them all, but there are some really great ideas in there. I'd suggest starting with the ones that have the most replies--it's a good sign that they are/were very lively conversations with lots of ideas being shared.

Stay in touch--the grass roots nature of the Book of Faith Initiative depends on your sharing of both good ideas and struggles!

Peace,
Anna Marsh

ELCA Book of Faith Initiative
Web Coordinator & Administrative Assistant