Adult Formation at Christ Church

Dear Christ Church Family,

What a joy it is to serve alongside the adults of this parish as Minister of Adult Formation! This past year, our staff and vestry dreamed about how we might bring more robust catechesis (which simply means “instruction”) and meaningful formation to the adults of Christ Church Anglican. This May, we concluded our first year of Via Catechesis, which shaped twenty souls according to the Gospel of the Kingdom and resulted in the Confirmation and Reception of four new members to the body of Christ Church. Last year, Fr. Chase also offered two First Steps classes that introduced newcomers to our community of faith and the Anglican Way.

Here are a few other highlights:

Sixty-five of you invested in Life Groups across the Valley.

Between three to five new classes were offered each semester on Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights.

We fine-tuned our connection process so that we could communicate a clear pathway to membership.

Theology on Tap became one of our most well-loved parish events and a source of outreach for parishioners to engage their neighbors with the Gospel.

Our mighty God has been incredibly faithful and generous to us. But this is just the beginning. As I often remind folks in my classes, we are a royal priesthood—and what do priests do? They represent the love of God to the world and bring the needs of the world to God. In a broken world that longs to be reconciled with its King and Creator, God has positioned us—the Church—as the primary mode of preaching the good news of his love and Lordship. The catechesis and formation that occur on this campus go with you into the places where you study and work and rest. You are the hands and feet of Jesus.

To further equip you as you carry the Gospel into the world, we want to continue engaging you in meaningful adult formation on Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights. We want to prioritize robust, relational catechesis that will introduce wonder and joy into your life with God. We also want to equip you to reckon with the cultural changes that are happening all around us—in our workplaces, our kids’ schools, and in the media. To that end, this coming February, we are partnering with the American Anglican Council to host the Formed Conference—a conference that exists to equip you to tell the true and better story of the Gospel in a pluralistic, divided, and often culture. It is Christ Church Anglican’s mission to be a place that is truly centered around Jesus—a church community that sees both the life of the mind and the work of the hands as equally valuable in the economy of God’s Kingdom.

And in God’s Kingdom, there is an economy.

Many of you recognize this offertory sentence:

All things come of you, O Lord,
And of your own have we given you.

We need your help to carry out the vision God has given us for adult formation at CCA. As we enter this pledge season, let us remember that, by giving generously, we simply return to God from the bounty of what he has given us. Your pledge enables us to cast vision and make plans for how the adults in this parish might grow in the knowledge and love of God in 2024 and beyond. My husband, Charles, and I have committed to increasing our pledge by 8% this year—because we believe in what God is doing at Christ Church. If you have pledged in the past, thank you. We would love for you to prayerfully consider how your family might increase your pledge this year. If you have never pledged, I am thrilled to invite you to join us in supporting the work God is doing to build his kingdom through his royal priesthood at CCA.

Under His Lordship,

Deacon Bree Snow
Minister of Adult Formation