Copyright: © 1998 American Lutheran Publicity Bureau. This article is reprinted from Lutheran Forum on the Lift Up Your Hearts web site http://www.worship.ca/ with the permission of the American Lutheran Publicity Bureau, PO Box 327, Delhi, NY 13753-0327. Phone (607)746-7511. All rights reserved. This article may be downloaded for personal use only and not for reproduction. Contact the ALPB office with respect to permissions.

Donald W. Johnson is the pastor of Gloria Dei Lutheran Church (ELCIC) in North Vancouver, British Columbia. He is the author of Praying the Catechism , published by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and available from Augsburg Fortress.

My introduction to the adult catechumenate came in the mid-seventies. It was quite by accident. I was attending a Lutheran Worship extravaganza in Minneapolis. I was overstimulated and tired and a long way from my hotel room. I looked for a place to sit down and rest. I entered yet another workshop hoping to sit at the back of the room. In my hope to find rest I did not even check on what was happening in the room that I entered. So it was by chance that I was introduced to Mark Searle from Notre Dame leading a workshop on the adult catechumenate.

As a campus pastor in a very secular university on the West Coast I was stimulated to hear words such as conversion, transformation, and a process that involved the whole community. This seemed important as I faced the questions of a small Christian community within a large university. The emphasis of my ministry at that time had been social justice. Many were attracted to the Church hoping for a new age. Few saw themselves in need of conversion and transformation. The adult catechumenate presented a new challenge for me in ministry.

My first attempts at incorporating part of the program into the ministry of the campus were faltering. It was not until much later as a member of the Division of Parish Life of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada that I suggested that we proceed with a national program to create and promote the adult catechumenate in our church. With great surprise we were granted funds even though people hardly knew the name let alone what was involved. This embarked both our national church and my parish into the process.

Developing the adult catechumenate in a national church in which we had little experience with the process was indeed an adventure. We looked to ecumenical partners for help. We learned much and devised a process that seemed appropriate for us. Our church was filled with many small congregations. We came to understand that this process had to be flexible to fit both large and small parishes. We live in a church that has valued the Confessions as a part of its ongoing formation. This would have to be one of the emphases. We also came to realize that the strength of the adult catechumenate was to be in the lay catechist, the sponsors and the candidates themselves. Again the reformation emphasis on the priesthood of all believers would take on a new accent. Pastors would play an important role in bringing people into the Church but pastors would have to learn to trust and work with others.

Like most in the Lutheran Church, I had spent many years teaching the "pastor's class." I had used a variety of resources for this work of bringing people into the Church. I look back and see how this was my ministry and it was often done with little knowledge by the membership in the congregation. At the end of the period of instruction new members would be introduced to the parish as candidates for Baptism and for new membership in the Church. The instruction was chiefly on the doctrines of the Church. We assumed that people would read the Bible and that people could pray. I spent little time inviting people to hear what and how the scriptures both invite us to question ourselves and our own generation and to open ourselves to new possibilities invited by the reign of God. I assumed that the classroom and its mode were the only way to bring people into the faith.

It was surprising for me to learn that this ministry of conversion and Baptism had been a ministry of the whole congregation in the early Church. It continues to be a surprise that we have moved from the era in which we were Christians to an era in which most are secularists and follow other gods. Although it is not the same as the early Church, there is much that is similar in their situation and ours.

We started the process in our parish. We were going to place new demands on the candidates, sponsors and organizers of the process. We knew little about how to train people for the various tasks. We just started. In our faltering attempts we have grown and in spite of our lack of understanding and training, people were blessed.

Over the past six years our parish has been involved in the process. We have been preparing a few for Baptism but the largest group of people has been those preparing to affirm their Baptism. Some are those who have returned to the Church after a long absence. Others have come because of a crisis they have faced in their lives and have recognized the need to have God at the center of their lives again.

In the beginning there were complaints that the process was too long. We normally start in October and are finished at Pentecost. Some have wanted to rush to the waters of baptism but have learned the value of waiting.

We presently have one candidate for Baptism who has been with us for two years. She has come from a Budd-hist tradition and is still not prepared to confess her faith in Jesus the Christ. But the team of people and the other candidates have learned patience and are prepared to give her the time that is required. She faithfully attends church each Sunday. She does not come to the Eucharist and she reminds us all each Sunday that she is only a candidate for membership in the community.

This year a candidate for Baptism joined our group in the middle of Lent. He thought that he could do a speed course and be ready for Baptism at Easter. He has changed his mind and will wait for Easter next year. He has come to see the value of knowing the people and is beginning to reflect on the call of Christ and its central meaning for his life.

Because liturgical people in our churches have promoted the adult catechumenate, it has been easy to conclude that the rites are the most important element in the process. They remain a strong component but are only one piece. The weekly gathering for prayer and reflection on the lectionary is another rich component. Sponsors and candidates meeting separately for discussion and prayer strengthen both. A thirty-six hour retreat for all candidates and the members of the team draws us together. Time together becomes a catalyst exposing critical areas in one's life. The pastor's role of meeting with candidates privately and meeting with them for occasional teaching events is an important part. Giving candidates the book Praying the Catechism opens for many a new way to look at the call of Christ in their daily lives.

The liturgies are important for the candidates but also for the whole congregation. They come to know that these people are searching and are asking for help and invite the prayers of the people. The liturgies make the process public. The rites invite the candidates to think of growth and changes that are taking place in their lives. The rites invite other members of the parish to consider their own spiritual journey.

In our initial planning for the national program there were many questions. The most frequent question was about the process and the denial of God's grace as people were expected to take time. "Works righteousness" was raised as the big problem. This has never been a question for people in the parish. It remains only a pastor's or theological question.

We have learned some important things in our parish. We have again learned to use the words "conversion" and "transformation." We have come to expect that as the norm for most people and not the exception. This has been a change for our parish. We like others in our Lutheran tradition have spent much emphasis on nurturing to the neglect of these other Biblical concepts. It is wonderful to invite them back again into our vocabulary and into our life.

There are many stories to tell of the transformation of people because they have entered the process. Many have come and eventually had the courage to tell the stories of sexual and psychological abuse, alcoholism, rape, and drug abuse. Many people come with stories of congregational and family legalism that turned them away from God for many years. Others come with stories of their lives being adrift and wanting something more than just day-to-day survival. Some also come with a sense that their religious life has become only formal and they search for a new breath of life.

We are also learning to use the language of our faith in our daily lives. This happens to all of the people who go through the process. In our parish up to this time we were more able to talk about the weather, the stock market and other community concerns. Like most Lutherans we reserved the language of faith for the liturgical service. People are learning to speak about faith and life and to watch for the kairos moments in their lives and in the lives of others. Our witness to others, although still faltering, is stronger.

We are beginning to take evangelization seriously. It is time for us to do this. In our West Coast city of Vancouver we estimate that twenty percent of the population is baptized. This does not mean go to church. This also means that in the metropolitan area of Vancouver there are over a million people not baptized. Many of our parishes are in decline. The adult catechumenate has become for us a much-needed vision for our own parish and hopefully the life of the Church.

We are still learning in our parish. I have spent four years in the planning stage with the national church and six years with its practical application in our parish. When we began this journey I said that it would take twenty years for this process to take root in the life of the Church. The example of our Roman Catholic partners in faith has demonstrated that this is so. This process has blessed them. It will bless not only our parish but also the whole Church.