As a people whose faith is formed and nourished by the Bible's stories of creation and fall, salvation and redemption, Christians hunger to order their lives by the church's story and their own. Our journey to God leads us through the cycle of the church year from Advent and Christmas to Easter and the season called "ordinary time" as we tell and retell God's story and make it the story we live by. In A Pilgrim People John Westerhoff looks at the gospel texts season by season and relates their teachings not only to Christian life and ministry but to the life cycle of childhood, adolescence, and adulthood.

In teaching the lessons of the church year, Westerhoff starts not with Advent but with Holy Week and Easter, which marks the birth of Christian faith and its vision of a dream come true. Commenting briefly on each of the gospel readings for each Sunday, he moves from Eastertide through Ascension and Pentecost, the season after Pentecost, Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, and Lent, offering useful themes for preaching and education. The final chapter incorporates a radical proposal for Christian education to reform the church's organization, worship, education, and outreach.