Imparting belief and faith

Read this edition online.

Faith legacy is the transference of belief from one generation to another. I have been a conduit of this legacy, both receiving from my parents and then passing down to my family. This process was deliberate recounting, but also received by osmosis.

One way of passing this legacy on to your children and grandchildren is by telling stories. Our family favourites are birth stories. My children have heard their birth stories: the rush to the hospital, the anomalies of each birth experience and then the crescendo—the joy of welcoming a precious life into the family and the various reactions of each family member. This retelling of each child’s birth story never gets old. It engenders within each child feelings of belonging, acceptance and community.

The telling of stories to pass on faith and information is not new. Since biblical times, we know that the very first stories were passed down in the oral tradition. We know that Māori and Pacific people had oral historians who were the guardians of knowledge and history. Each oral historian would reach back to the information passed down from previous generations and this created a collective memory and knowledge, which was subsequently passed on to the younger generation.

We see evidence of this generational faith transference in this edition, including our feature news story, The First Dance. I hope you will enjoy reading this account of the impartation of both faith and its expression: Salvationism.

Vivienne Hill
Editor

We have the truth and we need not be afraid to say so.
J.C. Ryle

Bible Verse

Colossians 1:12
…and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.

Korohe 1:12
Me te whakawhetai atu anō ki te Matua, nāna nei tātou i whai tikanga ai ki tētahi wāhi o te kāinga o te hunga tapu
i roto i te mārama.