What
is and how does the training of members of evangelical churches? I will
respond in three times, talking first of all of places, after
that of the instruments, then of the objective of
training, that is where it is, how it is, and to what
aim.
The places of education
The places of the formation of an evangelical Christian are basically
three: the family, the church and the world.
The family
The family has been in the past, even to the evangelical churches, a
cell of Christian formation of primary and vital importance. In many
families it is last long the custom of celebrating each day, in the
evening, a "family worship" with Scripture readings, hymns and prayers:
there a generation passed the baton to another, and the younger
generations learned the words of faith and piety, because, as Calvin
observes, "You can not say that God is known where there is neither pity
nor religion."
Today the cult of families, if it still exists, it is very rare, for
various reasons, even where both parents are believers. In general, the
role of the family in Christian formation is now reduced to a minimum,
although of course there are exceptions. There are parents who pray for
the faith of their children, but there are also children who pray for
the faith of their parents, who, even if they are believers, they are
rarely able to contribute in a substantial way to the religious
formation of their sons. It is important, however, for the children the
example of their parents, not only in the moral framework as
"lifestyle", but also in the cultural and civil as a vision of the
world, the relationship with others and with themselves, and in general
of the position and function of the Christian in society.
The church
The church (understood here not in the sense of the great institution in
the world, but in that of the actual local community - the "parish" in
Catholic language) remains in all confessions/denominations the
principal place of Christian formation, although often it occurs, de
facto, more in para-parish groups and movements of various kinds and
inspiration, rather than in the parish community itself. In evangelical
churches the training starts early - you can say - never ends. It
starts at school age or even pre-school as part of the "Sunday School" (Sunday
School in the churches of the English-speaking;
Kindergottesdienst = "cult of the child" in evangelical German
churches) - an institution present and active in all evangelical
churches, it can be said without exception, thanks to which you are
familiar from childhood with the Bible and you will learn to know it.
In Sunday school you do not study nothing but the Bible, Old and New
Testaments, with a varied program over several years and played at
various levels, which accompanies the child, then the teenager until the
age of 12-13 years. At this point begins a catechism course of three or
four years during which you treat the fundamental points of the
Christian faith, until the young man or the young woman, at an age which
can oscillate between 15 and 18 years, says that he/she is ready for the
'confirmation' (which corresponds to confirmation in the Catholic house,
towards which, however, there are considerable differences), which
consists of a personal confession of faith before the congregation, with
which the person "confirms", based on a personal decision, the covenant
of his/her baptism, which took place without his/her knowledge, when
he/she was a newborn. If the person has not yet been baptized, rather
than being 'confirmed', she/he was baptized in the name of the triune
God. With confirmation or baptism, the person becomes in effect a
"member of the church." Who, coming from atheism or agnosticism, or from
other Christian churches or other religious experiences, approaches to
our church and would like to join, receives similar training, biblical
and catechetical, and, on the basis of a personal profession of faith
before the congregation, who welcomed him/her as a member.
But the training does not end there: as I said, it tends to be
permanent. It is through the preaching on Sundays and the "Bible study"
weekly, which, to tell the truth, in general, only a small group of
community regularly follows. However, every evangelical Christian is
invited to "grow" in faith and knowledge in the various ways in which
this can happen, so as to advance in the "mystery of God, namely,
Christ, in whom all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden" (Col
2:2-3). A lifetime is not enough to explore this amazing mystery of
light.
The world
Family and church are not enough, even in the best case, to form a
Christian. It's just immersing himself in the secular world that assumes
the absence or the irrelevance of God and excludes it from his horizon
principle for living "as if God did not exist" (in the sense that even
if there were, according to this view of things, would not change
anything); it is only by addressing (and not evading) the many
contradictions in the midst of which faith seeks and finds its way,
"like groping" (Acts 17:27), and so it is only in the crucible of the
challenges, of the trials and temptations experienced in everyday
secular world, that a Christian is gradually formed and also turned into
a Christian adult. If you can say, with Dietrich Bonhoëffer, that the
world is "grown up," you can not think that the Christian can "grow up"
except in critical dialogue with this world.
The tools
The tools of training are, on closer inspection, only one: the Bible.
There are of course also the catechetical manuals (I'll talk briefly),
as there is - I have already said - the preaching and other forms of
teaching. But the value and authority of all this depends solely on its
conformity to the Word of God that resonates unmistakably in the pages
of Holy Scripture.
The Bible
The Bible, of course, is not just a tool, it is the light that
illuminates our lives and our world, is the food that feeds our souls,
the truth that comforts our restless hearts and direct our uncertain
steps. It is, in fact, the Word of God, received and announced by
prophets and apostles, and later became Scripture because it would not
be lost, but it was passed on from generation to generation until the
end of time. We have no access to God and his revelation in the people
of Israel and, finally, in Jesus of Nazareth, except through the pages
of the Bible. No Christianism worthy of the name it is possible can away
from the Bible, no Christian faith is born and lives without the Bible.
That's why "training" in evangelical churches basically means getting
well versed in Sacred Scripture in such a way that it "takes shape", ie
the body, in the soul and life of the Christian. We could talk, if
desired, a sort of "transubstantiation" of the biblical Word in the
existence of the individual believer and the community. In this sense,
the New Testament speaks of the Church as the "Body of Christ": it is
the human space in which the Word of God takes shape. The Bible is
therefore, in evangelical churches, the instrument par excellence of
Christian education as it is the alpha and the omega.
The catechisms
In terms of training, the Protestant Reformation consisted of a
capillary work of basic literacy, through the spread between the
"ordinary lay people" of the Bible translated into the language of the
people, and numerous catechisms, among which stand out for their quality
and functionality the two of Luther in 1529 and that of Heidelberg
(1563), close to the positions of Calvin. What are these catechisms?
Their plant is common: they are an explanation of the Creed (faith), the
Ten Commandments (the works), the Our Father (prayer). The explanations
refer constantly to the Holy Scriptures. Thus forming on one of these
catechisms is another way to form on the Bible.
The objective
The main objective of the training in evangelical churches has already
been indicated when one is mentioned in the "Christian adult." This is
the objective of the training. Also, indirectly, the apostle Paul says
so when he complains that he had to talk to the Christians of Corinth as
"babies in Christ" and therefore not being able to give them "solid
food" (1 Cor 3:1-2), as would wanted to do. The goal of education is
precisely this: to exit from a childlike faith, from beginner, and thus
grow from access to an adult, mature faith. But what it can mean
"Christian adult"? It can mean three things.
[a]
The first is become as aware of their own faith, then knowing how
to articulate and argue, and so become a witness. A Christian adult
knows who believed (2 Tim 1:12), and therefore speaks (2 Cor 4:13),
humbly, but frankly and serenely. A Christian adult is not ashamed of
the "reproach of Christ" (Heb 11:26).
[b]
Second becoming an adult means becoming responsible.
Responsible for what? First of God before the world and the world before
God. But then also in charge of the Church, how it is or is not, as it
could or should be; responsible, together with other Christians, of what
the Church says or is silent, does or does not do, how to announce or
not announce the gospel to the world; also responsible, each in their
own church, ecumenical instance, which now languishes.
[C]
Third becoming an adult means becoming secure, that is, buy
firmness, tenacity, resilience, so as to "withstand in the evil day”,
and, after having done all that had to be accomplished, "to stand" (Eph
6: 13).
This is, very roughly, the training according to the evangelical
churches.
Paolo Ricca
Pastor of the Waldensian Church
p_ricca@virgilio.it
English]
