A LIFESTYLE, NOT A PROGRAM

Faith@Home is a posture we promote at CFA: it is the mindset that our faith is not something we live out only at a Sunday service – it is meant to be lived out every day, wherever we go, whatever we do, and in our relationships with others. It is choosing to bring your faith home with you and allow it to shape all aspects of your life!

This posture is important for everyone, and for families it carries an added importance in that parents are encouraged to see that they are the primary spiritual trainers of their children. It is their faith and the way it intersects their family relationships that will be the greatest witness of Jesus for their kids.

CELEBRATING MILESTONES OF FAITH

As a community, we feel that an important aspect of living out our faith is taking time to celebrate the important moments that mark a major transitions in life. These milestones are opportunities for growth and identity formation, and are often significant for how they happen within community.

Below are some of the major milestones we want to celebrate with you, along with resources to help facilitate those celebrations in our CFA community:

The Legacy Path

The Legacy Path is a visual representation of the developmental milestones in the faith journey of a child. While no one’s development neatly follows a linear chart such as this, it nevertheless gives us a general idea of the varying seasons of life and the sorts of conversations families can have during those times.

Below is a snapshot of each milestone and some suggestions for ways parents can intentionally celebrate them with their child:

Milestone 1: Parent/Child Dedication

The first milestone emphasizes the core value of Faith@Home amongst families: that parents are the primary spiritual trainers of their children. Through our First Steps program, we introduce new parents to the principles of the Faith@Home lifestyle and celebrate through a child dedication service where they can speak a Parent Blessing over their child.

  • New parents are invited to ask us about our First Steps class and to set up a time to do a child dedication service.

Milestone 2: Salvation & Baptism

Salvation & Baptism celebrates the season where a person makes a conscious choice to follow Jesus as their Lord and Savior. We commemorate this milestone through baptism, which is the immersion in water as an outward and public testimony of your inner renewal and faith in Jesus Christ.

  • Anyone that has recently come to faith should ask us about our New Believer packages, which contain helpful info and directions for growing in your understanding of what it means to be a follower of Jesus.
  • Anyone looking to be baptized can let us know and sign up for one of our baptism classes and baptism services, where you’ll learn more about the meaning of baptism and how to prepare your testimony.

Milestone 3: Preparing for Adolescence

Adolescence is the season of life where young men and women develop in their identity and social relationships – and, for many, it is the beginning of the journey of personally owning their faith. This milestone encourages parents to help their children discover their passions, develop healthy habits, and deepen their understanding of what it means for them to personally follow Jesus in their day-to-day lives.

  • While we have no official program to celebrate this milestone, we encourage families to check out our resources, like Right Now Media, for tools and studies to explore the topics of identity and spiritual formation.

Milestone 4: Purity for Life

This milestone recognizes that an important aspect of our identities and faith is an understanding of the biblical values around healthy relationships and sexual integrity. While these aren’t always easy topics to discuss, we want to promote that parents, as the primary spiritual trainers of the children, build bonds of trust with their kids where they can have ongoing conversations about these topics.

  • While we have no official program to celebrate this milestone, we encourage families to check out our resources, like Right Now Media, for tools and studies to explore the topics of relationships and sexual integrity.

Milestone 5: Rite of Passage

As teens approach the transition into young adulthood, parents have the opportunity to celebrate their capacity to take ownership and responsibility over their lives and faith. Parents are encouraged to help their child explore their passions, spiritual gifts, and develop the life skills necessary for young adulthood.

  • While we have no official program to celebrate this milestone, we encourage families to check out our resources, like Right Now Media, for tools and studies to explore the topics of spiritual disciplines, and spiritual gifts, and serving others.
  • Rite of Passage is a great opportunity for families to celebrate through “coming of age” rituals and traditions, or to come up with their own meaningful way of commemorating their child’s new capacity of ownership and responsibility.

Milestone 6: High School Graduation

High School graduation is the celebration of the transition into young adulthood, marked in particular by parents’ words of blessing and preparation for their child to live out their faith as an adult.

  • Families are invited to learn more about, and participate in, our annual Graduation Celebration event – let us know your child will be graduating in the current year, and we will be able to invite you to our grad meeting to discuss this event!

Faith@Home Related Programs

NEW BELIEVER

When anyone makes a conscious commitment to follow Jesus, we want to celebrate that and do everything we can to partner with them on the journey of learning what it means to be a disciple and developing real relationships with other believers. If you’ve recently made this commitment, let any of our staff or pastors know at the CFA office, and we can help supply you with some of these resources:

  • A New Believer’s Package with materials for learning more about your faith.
  • Connecting you with different Groups to build real relationships with other believers.
  • Directing you towards resources like The Bible Project and Right Now Media, resources with videos to help you understand the Bible and various other topics.

BAPTISM

Baptism is a public declaration of our faith, an activity that is a symbolic representation of the inner transformation that begins in us when we choose to follow Jesus. To be baptized in the name of Jesus is something that all believers are instructed to do in the New Testament. If you’re interested in being baptized, let us know at the CFA office and we will walk you through:

  • Attending a Baptism Class to learn what it means to be baptized.
  • Preparing your testimony to share during your baptism.
  • Learning about the next baptism service where you can be baptized.

FIRST STEPS: CHILD DEDICATION

First Steps is where we help prepare parents for dedicating their child – a public blessing and pronouncement of their commitment to raise their child with a Faith@Home posture. If you are a new parent, or a parent interested in dedicating your child, let us know at the CFA office and we will walk you through the First Steps process:

  • Attending a First Steps Class to learn about Child Dedication and Faith@Home.
  • Setting up a Sunday date for a Child Dedication service.
  • Preparing your Parent Blessing to speak over your child.

HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION

High School Graduation is a significant milestone where teens transition into young adulthood and take ownership of their faith and character for the road ahead. In this milestone, we like to celebrate with grads and their families by hosting an annual High School Graduation Celebration event where:

  • Grads prepare and present a Personal Declaration, a statement of their commitment to the character, values, and direction that they are going to stand on in the transition to young adulthood.
  • Parents prepare and speak their Parent Blessing over their grad.

If you are a grad or parent of a grad for the upcoming school year, let us know at the CFA office!