Basics of Christian Education , livre ebook

Chalice Press - Karen Tye

Découvre YouScribe en t'inscrivant gratuitement

Je m'inscris

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne
En savoir plus

95 pages

English

Vous pourrez modifier la taille du texte de cet ouvrage

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne
En savoir plus

A propos
Informations
Extrait

Description

Congregations are always struggling with what quality Christian education is and how to build and maintain it. In this concise and easy-to-use guide, Karen Tye offers practical help, addressing the vital areas that need attention when planning for and building a Christian education program. Questions and exercises at the end of each chapter help pastors, Christian educators, seminary students, and laity apply the information to their own unique setting, building on the basics to renew and transform Christian education.

Sujets

Philosophie et théologie

Informations

Publié par	Chalice Press
Date de parution	01 janvier 2000
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9780827202405
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0900€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

© Copyright 2000 by Karen B. Tye
All rights reserved. For permission to reuse content, please contact Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, www.thenewcopyright.com .
Bible quotations, unless otherwise noted, are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible , copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Those quotations marked RSV are from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible , copyright 1952, [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Cover photography: © by PhotoDisc Cover design: Elizabeth Wright Art direction: Elizabeth Wright Interior design: Wynn Younker
Visit Chalice Press on the World Wide Web at www.chalicepress.com
10 9 8 7 6                  06 07 08 09 10
Library of Congress Cataloging–in–Publication Data
Tye, Karen.    Basics of Christian education / Karen Tye.       p. cm.    ISBN-10: 0-827202-29-6    ISBN-13: 978-0-827202-29-0    1. Christian Education. I. Title. BV1471.2 .T94 2000    268 – dc21             00-008132
Printed in the United States of America
In memory of my mother, Roberta Bartmess Tye, who taught me to love the church; and for my students —past, present, and future— who give me hope for its tomorrow .
C ONTENTS
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter 1     C ONCEPT :     What Is Christian Education?
Chapter 2     P URPOSE :     Why Do We Educate?
Chapter 3     C ONTEXT :     Where Do We Educate?
Chapter 4     C ONTENT :     What Do We Need to Know?
Chapter 5     P ARTICIPANTS :     Whom Do We Educate?
Chapter 6     P ROCESS AND METHOD :     How Do We Educate?
Chapter 7     A SSESSMENT AND EVALUATION :     How Are We Doing?
Chapter 8     H INDRANCES :     What Stands in Our Way?
Postscript
For Further Reading
Notes
A CKNOWLEDGMENTS
This work has been several years in the making. Its roots, in fact, stretch far beyond the moment when the first words were put on the page. The seeds were planted long ago and nourished by my childhood community of faith, First Christian Church of Richmond, Indiana. I am grateful to the teachers and members of that community who nurtured my love and passion for the church.
The seeds were nourished in adulthood by many who provided support and encouragement. I am particularly grateful to my friend and former pastor, Steve Jones, without whose challenging words I might never have answered my call to teach, and to my mentors in my doctoral work—Dr. Charles Melchert, Dr. Ronald Cram, and Dr. Sara Little—who broadened my vision and modeled for me the importance of critical thinking for the educational ministry of the church. I also want to express my thanks to those who have read and commented on drafts of this work, especially Bob Fulbright, Kim Coffing, and my good friend and colleague from Australia, Dr. Christine Gapes. A word of thanks is due my faculty colleagues, the administration, and the board of directors of Eden Theological Seminary for their willingness to grant the sabbatical time that facilitated my writing efforts.
Finally, two groups receive my deepest and heartfelt gratitude. First, my husband, Brent Dodge, and my children, David and Kathy Brock, whose continuing support and belief in me have been a sustaining presence throughout the twists and turns of this journey. And last, my students, past and present, who have been my research colleagues as they have engaged the ideas presented in this book and have provided helpful and encouraging reflections as the work evolved. I couldn’t have done it without you!
I NTRODUCTION
The phone rang. It was a pastor calling to ask a favor. In the course of the conversation, as so often happened with these calls, we found ourselves talking about the educational ministry of his church. We shared a mutual interest in, and commitment to, this important ministry.
He voiced his ongoing concern about what was and was not happening in Christian education with his congregation. He knew that Christian education was vital to the life of the community of faith. Yet the traditional approaches did not seem to be working. Sunday school attendance was down, the lack of participation by the youth of the church was a continuing problem, and it was an ongoing struggle to find church school teachers and youth group sponsors. Any attempts at adult education drew a meager response. He wondered aloud, “What can we do?”
This was not a new conversation for me. I have shared in many such conversations in the course of my work as a seminary professor of Christian education. And I hear this conversation taking place in the wider church, given impetus by the results of the major study on effective Christian education conducted by Search Institute and first published in the spring of 1990. This study highlighted problems related to Christian education in several of the mainline Protestant churches and raised many of the same issues and concerns voiced by my pastor friend.
Called “Effective Christian Education: A National Study of Protestant Congregations,” 1 the study grew out of the concern of Protestant Christian education staffs at both the denominational and local levels about the health of Christian education. These concerns involved several areas. Prominent among them were (1) a disinterest among adults in adult educational programs, (2) the failure of congregations to maintain involvement of their youth after the eighth grade, (3) the increasing difficulty in finding and keeping volunteer teachers, (4) the apparent lack of interest of clergy in education, (5) a problem in drawing parents into the educational process, and (6) the apparent failure of current programs and educational methods to address adequately and appropriately the changing needs and interest of adults, adolescents, and children. 2
Needing information with which to analyze and address their concerns, six major Protestant denominations, 3 representing about 85 percent of the membership in what is called “mainline Protestantism,” launched a national three-and-a-half-year study of Christian education. What they discovered was sobering. Their findings included:

Only a minority of Protestant adults evidence the kind of integrated, vibrant, and life-encompassing faith that congregations seek to develop. For most adults, faith is underdeveloped, lacking some of the key elements necessary for faith maturity.
A majority of adolescents fall into the faith type called “undeveloped faith.”
Only about three out of ten high school students (grades 10–12) and adults in mainline Protestant denominations are actively involved in Christian education. 4
Researchers concluded that:

Christian education in a majority of congregations is a tired enterprise in need of reform. Often out-of-touch with adult and adolescent needs, it experiences increasing difficulty in finding and motivating volunteers, faces general disinterest among its “clients,” and employs models and procedures that have changed little over time. 5
A critically important finding of the research was that Christian education mattered! It mattered even more than had been expected, especially in terms of a person’s growth in faith and ability to be an active part of the community of faith. Researchers found a strong relationship between growth in faith maturity and active participation in a quality Christian education program. More than any other factor in congregational life, Christian education was key in the development of faith maturity and active church involvement. The research report concluded:

In summary, Christian education matters. We see its power in the area of both life biographies and current congregational life. And we see it in both faith maturity and loyalty. The practical implication is clear: If a congregation seeks to strengthen its impact on faith and loyalty, involving members of all ages in quality Christian education is essential. 6
It went on to say, “Effective Christian education has the potential, as much or more than any other congregational influence, to deepen faith, commitment, and loyalty. Its revitalization must therefore move to center stage.” 7
To me it seems important for the vitality and future of the church that we take seriously these issues and findings of the national study and that we give ear to the concerns it raised and to those expressed by my pastor friend. For the sake of the future of the church we must give our attention to Christian education and move this important ministry to center stage. It is important that we find ways in which to renew and transform this vital ministry of the church.
However, we also need to hear a word of caution. In our desire to respond to the findings of the Search Institute study and to address my pastor friend’s question, “What do we do?” we need to be careful that we are not seduced by the “quick fix,” grasping for the latest technique, technology, or newest prepackaged program that suggests to the church that uses it that it will then have a successful educational ministry (success here is usually defined and measured in terms of numbers).
Hopefully, our desire in addressing the question, What do we do? about Christian education is not to “create a nation of McChurches with bland, prepackaged programs and innocuous decor.” 8 Instead, our purpose should be engagement in the kind of serious, creative, and intentional reflection, analysis, assessment, and planning that will enable us to renew and transform our understanding and practice of Christian education.
So where do we begin? What could my pastor friend “do” in response to his concerns? One of the responses that has emerged in the wider debate in our country about public education is captured by the slogan “Back to bas