Faith and Family
Every Sunday in the Church Lounge Spring 2008 Discussions

About us:  Faith and Family is a weekly time of fellowship in which we discuss the complex issues of raising families in the Christian tradition.  We seek to strengthen our personal bonds within the church family, and to cultivate new relationships through conversation and shared experience.  Anyone who has ever been part of a family is welcome to attend and contribute their insights! 

Statement of direction:  We are a class dedicated to identifying, understanding, and cultivating Christian values, so that we may raise our children in this multicultural world to reflect those values.  We seek to understand how to:

• find and promote spirituality in our secular world, for ourselves and our children;
• apply Christian principles to the challenges our families face;
• relate to the religious traditions of our own faith and of those around us;
• best express our faith in this diverse society.

All this is done with a focus on our own spiritual growth, as well as constructively and positively guiding the spiritual growth of our families.

Spring 2008,Faith and Family will explore the first unit of the video series, Living the Questions 2, which is the expanded version of Living the Questions, popular video and internet-based small group exploration of progressive Christianity featuring premier religious voices of our day.  Living the Questions 2 is an open-minded alternative to studies that attempt to give participants all the answers; it instead strives to create an environment where participants can interact with one another in exploring what’s next for Christianity. 

The class will also discuss two thought-provoking books, Blue Like Jazz and The Year of Living Biblically.  Of the first book, Publishers Weekly says, “Miller…is a young writer, speaker, and campus ministry leader. An earnest evangelical who nearly lost his faith, he went on a spiritual journey, found some progressive politics and most importantly, discovered Jesus’ relevance for everyday life.”  Of the second, “What would it require for a person to live all the commandments of the Bible for an entire year?  That is the question that animates this hilarious, quixotic, thought-provoking memoir from [A.J.] Jacobs."