Life Changing Adult Faith Formation

8 Helpful Hints that Make Adults Feel Welcome

By Heidi Busse

1. Make sure to provide hospitality (coffee and cookies) with every Adult Faith Formation offering at your parish. Food encourages conversation and community-building. Even light refreshments are appreciated.
   
2. When searching for speakers, don’t forget about the people within your own parish. Many parishioners -- especially older people -- have a story to share. Invite them to give a presentation about their faith journey and what sustains them in their faith.
   
3. Some of the most effective Adult Faith Formation takes place away from the church grounds. Rent a bus and gather adults together for field trip to tour a local church or Basilica, visit a synagogue or mosque to learn about other faith traditions, or see a movie with an appropriate religious theme and join together for discussion after the showing.
   
4. The parish bulletin is a great way to engage adults about burning and timely issues related to the faith. Once a month, include an article about a pertinent topic as a bulletin insert or subscribe to a quality Catholic newspaper and have it sent to parishioners’ homes.
   
5. Don’t forget to provide nursery care! Young parents who are interested in Adult Faith Formation programming and events may not be able to attend due to childcare issues. Recruiting volunteers to staff a nursery during events will help enable young families grow in their faith.
   
6.  Adults learn through conversation and dialogue. At each Adult Faith Formation event include time for small-group discussion and faith sharing.
   
7. We are a society starved for silence. Effective Adult Faith Formation does not have to be a lecture or formalized catechetical session. Bringing adults together to practice prayer and meditation is a great way to feed the spiritual hunger of the overworked, overscheduled adults in your parish.
   
8. While Catholics have a long way to go in our study of the scriptures, don’t forget the many other areas of formation that help form mature adult spirituality: social justice, marriage and family life, young adult ministry, Church authority and structure, Vatican II, etc.