{"id":4072,"date":"2018-06-01T13:05:07","date_gmt":"2018-06-01T17:05:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/?p=4072"},"modified":"2019-12-18T13:22:07","modified_gmt":"2019-12-18T18:22:07","slug":"faith-formation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/2018\/06\/01\/faith-formation\/","title":{"rendered":"Faith Formation"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A student prepares to offer ashes during an Ash Wednesday service in Lehman Auditorium. (Photo by Andrew Strack)<\/p><\/div>\n

Faculty and staff focus on how to better mentor young people in lives of faith.<\/strong><\/p>\n

MOST FOLKS IN THE AUDIENCE<\/strong> at EMU\u2019s May 10 spring faculty-staff conference left the morning assembly with a better understanding of how assistant baseball coach Adam Posey ’15<\/strong> works with his pitchers during bullpen sessions. A straight talker with an evangelical flair that betrays his Southern Baptist roots, Posey shared some eye-opening positive and negative experiences from his student years at EMU, and urged the gathered community to answer the call to \u201cmeet students where they are.\u201d<\/p>\n

He ended with four practical questions related to faith formation \u2013 picture Posey saying \u201cGo get \u2018em,\u201d as EMU faculty and staff collectively trotted to the mound:<\/p>\n

Recognize and build on your strengths as related to faith formation. Evaluate and understand your weaknesses. Ask how you can more effectively merge your calling with your work. And finally, how can you better mentor young people to lives of faith? <\/em><\/p>\n

Titled \u201cJourney Companions: Fostering Faith Formation at EMU,\u201d the day\u2019s worship, panel discussions and workshops was designed to \u201cfeed us, but also leave us hungry for more,\u201d said Professor Marti Eads<\/strong>, who chaired the planning committee with Campus Pastor Brian Martin Burkholder<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u201cUndergraduate students in our 2014 faith mentoring survey expressed eagerness to hear more from faculty and staff about their personal faith journeys and how they navigated doubt, challenge and opportunity,\u201d said Burkholder. \u201cToday we can hear from each other about how we\u2019re doing that in our work on campus and how we might do more in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

The focus also related to an objective in the university\u2019s Strategic Plan 2017-22<\/em>: \u201cto nurture spiritual growth and enhance formational engagement among faculty, staff and students.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the community develops more opportunities to meet student needs, one popular event will continue: chapel services hosted by academic departments.<\/p>\n

EMU\u2019s professors tend to be \u201cdown-to-earth and open people, but there\u2019s a clear difference between a classroom and a chapel,\u201d said junior English and writing major Josh Holsapple<\/strong>. \u201cHaving that extra layer of chapel is important to integrating faith in life and work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Psychology professor Ryan Thompson<\/strong> spoke this spring in a STEM chapel about how his faith intersects with his work. He is a former Christian Church youth pastor who began a master\u2019s degree in counseling at Richmont Graduate University, affiliated with the evangelical church, and then finished that degree and a doctorate in psychology at Quaker-rooted George Fox University. Now, he recognizes a rooted affinity to Anabaptist teachings \u201cwhich I\u2019ve come to realize I\u2019ve followed for longer than I knew it existed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just as his immersion in various \u201cdenominational streams has shaped my relationship with Christ and made it more full,\u201d Thompson told students and his colleagues, \u201clikewise, the science and art of psychology has contributed to my understanding of what it means to be made in the image of God. My faith informs my work. My work informs my faith. I don\u2019t know any other way to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Psychology major Lydia Musselman<\/strong> appreciated the opportunity to learn how deeply Thompson\u2019s faith has intertwined with his profession. \u201cHearing a professor\u2019s personal story and reflection opens doors to conversation and deeper relationship, and gives hope to those struggling with our faith journey,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Faculty and staff focus on how to better mentor young people in lives of faith. MOST FOLKS IN THE AUDIENCE at EMU\u2019s May 10 spring faculty-staff conference left the morning assembly with a better understanding of how assistant baseball coach Adam Posey ’15 works with his pitchers during bullpen sessions. A straight talker with an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":242,"featured_media":4073,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,944],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4072","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-magazine","category-springsummer-2018","issues-spring-summer-2018"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4072","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/242"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4072"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4072\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4074,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4072\/revisions\/4074"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}