Creating Faith Questions

Step 1: Asking Questions

We asked young people around the denomination to send us their questions about the triune God, the Bible, the church and other faith related topics. Hundreds of questions poured in.

Step 2: Getting Organized

We organized the young people’s questions into a scope and sequence and created a Biblically-based session format that would encourage young people to explore each question.

Step 3: Writers and Consultants

Through an application process, we found three Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) youth workers who were ready to write for Faith Questions. To help them, we enlisted the help of seven activity consultants with expertise in different ministry areas. We also recruited an advisory team to offer ongoing feedback to the writers and editors.

Each session of We Believe: Faith Questions includes the following:

• Session Objective: A summary of the focus of the session.
• Session Overview: A chart of suggested learning activities to help the leader prepare for the session.
• Spiritual Reflection for Leaders: A short devotional to help connect the session with the leader’s personal faith journey.
• Understanding the Scripture, Understanding the Faith Statement, and Teaching Today’s Question: Background information to prepare the leader for teaching the session.
• Opening and Closing Prayers: Prayers that set the mood for the session and prepare participants for the week ahead.
• Enter: Activities to get the session off to a faithful start.
• Engage: An opportunity for the participants to clarify the session’s question and to raise their own questions that relate to the session’s question.
• Explore: Learning activities to help the participants explore the session’s Scripture passages and Faith Statement.
• Express: Activities in which participants respond to the session’s question and Bible study in creative ways, seeking to formulate and express answers to their questions of faith.
• Exit: An opportunity to conclude the lesson through worship, prayer, closing and sending.
• Enhancements: Extra ideas that go beyond the learning activities in the session, to help participants continue exploring the questions raised in the session. Enhancements include Family Connections, a downloadable resource with questions for participants to explore with their families. Family Connections can be handed to each participant or e-mailed to each family.
• Web Resources: Downloadable PDF resources to support various learning activities in the session.

Meet the Writers

Faith Questions writing team from left to right: Dwight Christenbury, Hansen Wendlandt, Janet Pearson, Deborah Matthews. Photo by Rachael Sinclair

Dwight Christenbury is an associate pastor at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Hendersonville, North Carolina, where he works with the educational ministries of the church. A graduate of the University of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University and Union Theological Seminary & Presbyterian School of Christian Education, Dwight has served in numerous leadership positions in camp and conference ministry in Virginia and North Carolina. He plays ultimate Frisbee as much as possible, hikes and camps in his spare time and always roots for the underdog. Dwight’s family includes his wife, Carol Steele, and their son, Olin.

Deborah L. Matthews is an associate pastor at Grosse Ile Presbyterian Church in Grosse Ile, Michigan, where she works with the education, mission, pastoral care and worship ministries of the church. A big fan of mint chocolate chip ice cream, Deborah loves snorkeling, hanging out on the beach and watching flicks from her movie collection. She is a graduate of Westmont College, San Francisco Theological Seminary and the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California, and is happily married to an amazing guy named Dave Matthews.

Hansen Wendlandt is the director of Christian Education and Youth Ministries at St. Andrew Presbyterian Church in Boulder, Colorado. A graduate of Drake University, University of Arkansas and Boston University School of Theology, he also spent time as a visiting participant at Oxford University and Harvard Divinity School. He loves rowing and skiing and even finds time to coach rowing groups. He has served in various leadership roles at Montreat Conference Center and the Highlands Camp and Retreat Center. Hansen, who just recently learned to ride a bike, prefers life over television.

Meet the Advisory Team

Janet Pearson (Advisory Team leader) serves Dunton Presbyterian Church of South Ozone Park, New York, as an elder, confirmation teacher, youth director, and administrative assistant. She is also the youth coordinator for New York City Presbytery, the founder and executive administrator of Unity of Praise Outreach Mission, and choir director for St. Stephen’s Lutheran School.

Faith Questions consultants from left to right: Erika Funk, Carl Horton, Andrew Yeager-Buckley, Beth Gunn, Leslie McCarthy, David Ealy. Photo by Rachael Sinclair

Meet the Consultants

A minister of the Word and Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Jon Brown (music consultant) serves as the director of Mission Interpretation at the Presbyterian Center in Louisville, Kentucky. He is in demand around the denomination as a keynoter and workshop leader in the area of connecting popular music to faith in everyday life.

David Ealy (movies consultant) is the associate pastor for Christian education at Lakeside Presbyterian Church in Lakeside Park, Kentucky. He is an avid moviegoer, and a significant aspect of his ministry involves using spiritual themes in movies to help children, youth and adults explore their faith.

Erika Funk (consultant on mission, justice and peacemaking) serves as the youth initiative minister at Broad Street Ministry, an emerging community of faith in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As a minister of the Word and Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), she has a passion for youth ministry with an emphasis on mission and service.

In addition to serving as the associate for youth ministry for the Presbytery of Western North Carolina, Beth Gunn (recreation consultant) stays busy as a popular event leader and workshop leader in the area of recreation throughout the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). She is active with the Annual Recreation Workshop at Montreat Conference Center and has served on the recreation staff at the Presbyterian Youth Triennium.

Carl Horton (worship and spirituality consultant) is a minister of the Word and Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) who has served churches in California, Nebraska and Kentucky. He also has worked in the Office of Congregational Leadership at the Presbyterian Center in Louisville, Kentucky. Carl is known for creating interactive spirituality centers and for leading seminars and workshops in the area of spirituality.

A member of First Presbyterian Church in Shelbyville, Kentucky, Leslie McCarthy (spiritual-arts consultant) has a passion for helping young people explore their spirituality through hands-on art projects. She is active in the Annual Recreation Workshop at Montreat Conference Center and has served as a planning team member and consultant at numerous youth conferences, including the Presbyterian Youth Triennium.

Andrew Yeager-Buckley (technology consultant) serves with the Presbyterian Publishing Corporation as the associate electronic marketing specialist, managing the development of electronic and viral marketing strategies. A former co-moderator of the Presbyterian Youth Connection who has a strong interest in technology, he has a passion for finding ways to use technology in ministry.