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Christian Education

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  • Christian Education

    Name two schools from which there are no graduates: a school of fish and Sunday School.

    I am beginning to think the fish are winning - at least their schools GO SOMEWHERE.

    Tonight I sat through yet another 'where do we go from here' discussion of a Bible study class - to be fair, I didn't contribute (it was my first visit). But I've helped with these endlessly repeating discussions many times over the years - and I did it just as wrong. Instead of picking topics or the book of the month we should be setting GOALS.

    That is the biggest white elephant in the room today - we have only some vague notion of 'stuff about Jesus' that we want to teach. We have no clue as to what a completed education should look like.

    So we end up with people spending 40 years in Sunday School and being incapable of verbalizing the Gospel - or even identifying who Hezekiah might be.

    It's largely our own fault - we let the secular world take on many of the duties we had borne - and not surprisingly, not do them well. Generations of children grew up conversant in Scripture - even pre-Gutenberg. Now we can't read the King James and get Noah and Peter mixed up.

    But we keep right on studying the Bible every Sunday - there is something wrong with this picture.

    Self-study for its own sake is perfectly fine - but education should be more than a meandering around that never accomplishes anything.

    Okay, done ranting for the moment.
    "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." - Jim Elliot

    "Forgiveness is the way of love." Gary Chapman

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  • #2
    What would you want it to achieve?
    "I am not angered that the Moral Majority boys campaign against abortion. I am angry when the same men who say, "Save OUR children" bellow "Build more and bigger bombers." That's right! Blast the children in other nations into eternity, or limbless misery as they lay crippled from "OUR" bombers! This does not jell." - Leonard Ravenhill

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    • #3
      1) Scriptural literacy
      2) Doctrinal competence
      3) Basic theology
      "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." - Jim Elliot

      "Forgiveness is the way of love." Gary Chapman

      My Personal Blog

      My Novella blog (Current Novella Begins on 7/25/14)

      Quill Sword

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      • #4
        I myself would put life application higher on the list. Of course, this is fraught with a certain danger: the attempt to shoehorn in a sense of relevancy where none may exist. It's undoubtedly important to have a base of scriptural/background knowledge to build on for its own sake, and we've all seen Bible studies where people stretch too hard to build tenuous applications. But I think for an example of what I have in mind, the NIV Life Application Commentary series does a really good job of this.
        "I am not angered that the Moral Majority boys campaign against abortion. I am angry when the same men who say, "Save OUR children" bellow "Build more and bigger bombers." That's right! Blast the children in other nations into eternity, or limbless misery as they lay crippled from "OUR" bombers! This does not jell." - Leonard Ravenhill

        Comment


        • #5
          Originally posted by KingsGambit View Post
          I myself would put life application higher on the list. Of course, this is fraught with a certain danger: the attempt to shoehorn in a sense of relevancy where none may exist. It's undoubtedly important to have a base of scriptural/background knowledge to build on for its own sake, and we've all seen Bible studies where people stretch too hard to build tenuous applications. But I think for an example of what I have in mind, the NIV Life Application Commentary series does a really good job of this.
          Actually, I treat that as a separate entity - and I'm not proposing that we do 'hard education' (for want of a better term) only - life application, devotional et al - they all have relevance and purpose.

          But let's quit pretending that a couple rounds through the lectionary gives even a fighting chance of becoming conversant in Scripture.
          "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." - Jim Elliot

          "Forgiveness is the way of love." Gary Chapman

          My Personal Blog

          My Novella blog (Current Novella Begins on 7/25/14)

          Quill Sword

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          • #6
            I used to teach Sunday School at a nursing home. We had graduates all the time. We just didn't know when they graduated until afterwards.
            When I Survey....

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            • #7
              There are ton's of resources that are available if you know where to look.

              I think the real challenge in setting up a good education program is that not everyone is on the same level of interest and education. Most christian education for laity tends to circle around the introductory stuff as a consequence.

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              • #8
                Originally posted by Jin-roh View Post
                There are ton's of resources that are available if you know where to look.

                I think the real challenge in setting up a good education program is that not everyone is on the same level of interest and education. Most christian education for laity tends to circle around the introductory stuff as a consequence.
                This is an issue. I tend to shut up in Bible study sessions because I have a seminary background and don't want to come across as a know it all. What I want to get out of such a session differs from most people.
                "I am not angered that the Moral Majority boys campaign against abortion. I am angry when the same men who say, "Save OUR children" bellow "Build more and bigger bombers." That's right! Blast the children in other nations into eternity, or limbless misery as they lay crippled from "OUR" bombers! This does not jell." - Leonard Ravenhill

                Comment


                • #9
                  Wrote an essay on this not so long back ... it's still in moderation

                  A lot of the decline in mainstream congregation numbers and increase in the average age of their members can be attributed to lack of education on matters Christian. Fringe denominations and alternative religions that engage heavily in teaching what the religion is about don't have the problem - in fact they can and do draw off people who otherwise might engage with mainstream Christian denominations. (Of course, the three ring prosperity-gospel circus also draws people in, but they are pretty much an ever replenished transient population.)
                  The only way for what you would like to see to get off the ground is to get it recognised as a real qualification: in short, you're advocating a "Certificate 3 in Christian Studies" -
                  1Cor 15:34 Come to your senses as you ought and stop sinning; for I say to your shame, there are some who know not God.
                  .
                  ⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛
                  Scripture before Tradition:
                  but that won't prevent others from
                  taking it upon themselves to deprive you
                  of the right to call yourself Christian.

                  ⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛

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                  • #10
                    Originally posted by assignmentprovider-aus
                    Edited by a Moderator
                    What the? TWeb should send them a bill for advertising space.

                    Moderated By: sparko

                    spammer. ban-hammered

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                    Last edited by Sparko; 06-12-2017, 07:25 AM.
                    1Cor 15:34 Come to your senses as you ought and stop sinning; for I say to your shame, there are some who know not God.
                    .
                    ⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛
                    Scripture before Tradition:
                    but that won't prevent others from
                    taking it upon themselves to deprive you
                    of the right to call yourself Christian.

                    ⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛⊛

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                    • #11
                      Originally posted by KingsGambit View Post
                      This is an issue. I tend to shut up in Bible study sessions because I have a seminary background and don't want to come across as a know it all. What I want to get out of such a session differs from most people.
                      I dunno if you should shut up. In the last Bible study I attended, I was generally more knowledgeable than the others. People tended to appreciate it when I spoke up. If your goal in running a Bible study is "everyone should contribute" then it's necessarily going to be tied to the least-educated person in the study.
                      Enter the Church and wash away your sins. For here there is a hospital and not a court of law. Do not be ashamed to enter the Church; be ashamed when you sin, but not when you repent. – St. John Chrysostom

                      Veritas vos Liberabit<>< Learn Greek <>< Look here for an Orthodox Church in America<><Ancient Faith Radio
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                      I recommend you do not try too hard and ...research as little as possible. Such weighty things give me a headache. - Shunyadragon, Baha'i apologist

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                      • #12
                        Originally posted by KingsGambit View Post
                        This is an issue. I tend to shut up in Bible study sessions because I have a seminary background and don't want to come across as a know it all. What I want to get out of such a session differs from most people.
                        I stopped talking in Bible studies and small groups too.

                        Nothing is more off putting than an intellectual.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Originally posted by KingsGambit View Post
                          This is an issue. I tend to shut up in Bible study sessions because I have a seminary background and don't want to come across as a know it all. What I want to get out of such a session differs from most people.
                          It depends on who else is there. I'd be bored to tears if it was nothing but absolute basics being discussed and would appreciate someone who knows something I don't speaking up.
                          "As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths." Isaiah 3:12

                          There is no such thing as innocence, only degrees of guilt.

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                          • #14
                            Didn't the late 1st c. and early 2nd c. church invent catechism class and the catechumens? I mean, they didn't have the vast resources we possess today and yet, their members were put through a class to be given the basics of Christian education before you could be baptised or accepted into membership. I think today's churches could use a similar type of "class" for all new converts and members. From a practical standpoint, at least members of the local church would be able to consistently express key concepts and not have everyone with responses that are all over the place or not in-line with the church's official stance.

                            Originally posted by Darth Executor View Post
                            It depends on who else is there. I'd be bored to tears if it was nothing but absolute basics being discussed and would appreciate someone who knows something I don't speaking up.
                            Yea but bored as you may be, if you don't attend, people don't fellowship with you. I don't mean they purposely stay away from you - it just sort of happens. If you don't attend and everyone else does, it just happens. I imagine that a lot of people out there attend these groups, keep quiet, are bored out of their mind, but do so anyway because if they don't, no one will even talk to them. At least that's what I did in the past - I just ended up feeding on online sermons - plenty of those out there. And there are so many free theology courses, too.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Originally posted by Jin-roh View Post
                              I stopped talking in Bible studies and small groups too.

                              Nothing is more off putting than an intellectual.
                              And does that make you feel closer to or further from the group? I understand the feeling - but I find I can't connect if I have to pretend to be something I'm not.

                              To be fair, knowing when you are going beyond contributing to monopolizing is also a thing...
                              "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." - Jim Elliot

                              "Forgiveness is the way of love." Gary Chapman

                              My Personal Blog

                              My Novella blog (Current Novella Begins on 7/25/14)

                              Quill Sword

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