Is Faith a Noun or a Verb?

"Faithing"

A campus missionary to the University of Vermont wrote these words recently:

We often think of "faith" as a noun. Either you have it or you don't. You keep it or you lose it. You hide it or you share it. But for many emerging adults, faith is much more a verb. It's a journey of exploring, wrestling, deconstructing, reconstructing... Their "faithing" is a process of seeking and finding an adequate faith that makes sense of an increasingly complex world.

I don't think that definition is limited to emerging adults, but it is certainly true for them. It is a joyful privilege as well as a bundle of challenges to walk alongside them through this season of figuring out how to live on their own in this world. Our hope is to provide them with a community that exalts Jesus as Lord but where they can honestly and openly wrestle with doubts, ask any question, and go through real experiences of trying to love and follow our Lord in a world that doesn't honor him.  

I hope you see your own faith in these terms as well--not as something static or under threat of being lost, but as something active and growing and developing. Some of us need to deconstruct; just don't neglect the reconstructing as well. That would be as foolish as demolishing a section of your home for an exciting new renovation and then never rebuilding the section you destroyed. The rebuilding usually takes more work and time than the destroying part! But it's worth it in the end. God is big enough to handle our questions and doubts and fears, and he's certainly not threatened by them. He actually seems to like the people who will wrestle with him the most--men like Jacob and Job and Moses and Peter. So wrestle away!

Individually, and collectively as churches, there is often "remodeling" that needs to be done in our "faithing," and I pray 2024 is a year for it. Jesus deserves nothing less!

Thank you for investing in me and praying for me as I work in this important mission field! Here's a sweet story from the community college front to remind you that for all the negative college stories we hear, there are so many stories of God at work as well!