ELM
Education for Life and Ministry
MAY MACLEOD LECTURE
2004
DR DEIDRE PALMER
Whose
values, what values?
A
reflection on education in the church and society
(A Christian Educator’s contribution to the current
conversation)
Purpose: As Christian educators we have important things to
contribute to the current conversation. What things do we
have to contribute?
Encouraging people to participate in the conversation and
reflect on the church’s values and educational processes
and structures.
OVERALL
FRAMEWORK:
- This is an important conversation, because education has such power to shape and transform our lives.
- There are clearly values involved in all education
- Whose values and What values are what might concern us as the Christian Church and as Christians
- Contributions we might make as a church to the wider conversation
OUTLINE:
The power of Education
No education is neutral
WHOSE VALUES?
Ensuring that multiple voices are heard in shaping our education systems
Global context
Societal
School (particularly teachers)
Parents
Non-Religious
Religious
RELIGIOUS:
Values derive from the God who is at the centre of our lives
Contributing what we have to offer through the good news of Christ and the Christian tradition that is at the heart of who we are and is at the heart of our living in the world around us.
(Values of the God who calls us)
compassion, love, justice, reconciliation, peace, freedom
WHAT VALUES:
(Ask question of group)
Politically correct – definition
Compassion
Narratives of hope
Identity, Value and Giftedness of every human being
Transformation
Supporting these values wherever they occur
Shaping Christian communities
Formation of Christians who contribute to the transformation of our world Creating Christian communities that are hospitable learning environments
Addressing the importance of adult education in our communities
THE POWER OF EDUCATION
As we begin this conversation tonight on education and the values that shape it, I invite you to think as broadly of education as you will
- some of you are involved in theological education,
- some of you are involved in education that takes place in formal settings in public or private schools for children and young people.
- some of you are parents or grandparents nurturing your children
- some of you are in various ministries in the Uniting church, where some of your educational responsibilities are in small group Bible studies, or mentoring new Christians.
Whatever your involvement in education, I would hope that tonight you would find something in what I say about education that connects with your own experience and context. My hopes for this lecture are
- that we will be encouraged to actively participate in the wider community conversation about values in education and
- we will be inspired as Christians to contribute out of our own Christian Story and Vision to the transformation of the society in which we live.
Our prime minister John Howard has reignited an ongoing public debate about values in education. I want to speak as a Christian educator into this debate and I particularly want to address the church and its ministries and mission. John Howard sparked off the debate by suggesting that parents were moving their children to private schools, because they “believe government schools have become too politically correct and too values-neutral.”
An adult educator who had quite a bit to say about education and neutrality was Paulo Freire (1921-1997). He was a Brazilian who was a major international figure in both general and religious education. His philosophy and approach to education has been foundational for sponsoring social, political, economic and religious transformation in a number of contexts: including Latin America, Asia, Africa, North America. Freire was committed to some of the same principles that I am assuming that we are committed to here – empowering people to live abundant lives and empowering them to be engaged in the transformation of the world around them. He recognized the power of education to shape and transform our lives. His particular focus was teaching adults to read and write. During his career, being an adult educator got Freire into all kinds of trouble – trouble perhaps we would not anticipate as Australian educators. From 1947-1959 – he was involved in literacy programs with the peasants of Brazil. In the 1960s he worked with the government of Brazil and then with the government of Chile prior to the overthrow of these governments. In 1964 he was imprisoned by the military regime that had seized power in Brazil. He was imprisoned for being a danger to society – you could say he was considered “politically incorrect”.
In Freire’s words: “ In fact my actual crime was that I treated literacy as more than a mechanical problem and linked it to conscientization (conscientizacao), which was ‘dangerous’. It was that I viewed education as an effort to liberate men(sic) not as yet another instrument to dominate them.” ….” (p. 11 of Pedagogy of the Oppressed)
He worked as a consultant to the World Council of Churches from 1970. And he also worked as an adviser to UNESCO and governments of emerging nations (e.g. Guinea Bissau). He was allowed to return to Brazil in 1981 as Professor at the University of Sao Paolo.
Freire influenced liberation theologians and educators throughout the world.
He emphasized that NO EDUCATION IS NEUTRAL …. Education is political – in that we seek to intervene in people’s lives to bring about change.
Richard Shaull commenting on Freire’s approach to education wrote: (p. 15 of Pedagogy of the Oppressed) “There is no such thing as a neutral educational process. Education either functions as an instrument which is used to facilitate the integration of the younger generation into the logic of the present system and bring about conformity to it, or it becomes the practice of freedom, the means by which men and women deal critically and creatively with reality and discover how to participate in the transformation of their world. “
In the ensuing conversation and public debate that has followed the Prime Minister’s remarks about our educational systems in Australia, the recurring theme has been that indeed our schools, whether private or public are not value-neutral, they are value-laden.
In NSW the state’s education minister Andrew Refshauge, says “The Prime Minister’s criticism of public schools is unfair:
“It’s absolute rubbish, we do teach values in school, values like fairness, like tolerance, like respect, these are values from the Australian community that we do believe that our students should have.” (from ABC Online news - Website)
Paulo Freire and many other educators before him and after him understand the power of education to shape and transform our lives.
Since education has such power to shape who we are, personally, shape the communities in which we live and shape our wider world, it is important that we ask the question: who is determining the values that are raised up through our educational processes and what values are those we would want to see raised up?
My expertise is in the area of Christian education – I see through the lens of education as it is expressed in and through the church. (You may see through other lenses in your participation in this conversation)
Whose Values ? – sometimes the polemic/rhetoric about our education having no values comes from those who are concerned that the values they believe are important are not present.
Who determines the values? Alongside of this question perhaps we may also ask Who should determine the values? (I would argue that multiple voices are and need to be involved in this conversation about determining values)
There is a global forum that has determined some of our values in regard to education – it is agreed generally that every child has a right to an education.
UN CONVENTION ON THE Rights of the Child is an important document for shaping our approaches to education with children and young people. … “In November 1989 the United Nations formally adopted 54 principles that make up the UN Convention.
“191 of the world’s 193 countries have ratified the Convention” (From the book cover of “For Every Child UNICEF, the rights of the child in words and pictures”
Articles 28 and 29 cover “Education and Aims of Education”
“ARTICLE 28
States Parties recognise the right of the child to education, and with a view to achieving this right progressively and on the basis of equal opportunity, they shall, in particular:
a) Make primary education compulsory and available free to all;
- Encourage the development of different forms of secondary education, including general and vocational education, make them available and accessible to every child, and take appropriate measures such as the introduction of free education and offering financial assistance in case of need;
- Make higher education accessible to all on the basis of capacity by every appropriate means;
States Parties agree that the education of the child shall be directed to:
- The development of the child’s personality, talents and mental and physical abilities to their fullest potential.
- The development of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms and for the principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations
- The development of respect for the child’s parents, his or her own cultural identity, language and values, for the national values of the country in which the child is living, the country from which he or she may originate, and for civilisations different from his or her own.
- The preparation of the child for responsible life in a free society, in the spirit of understanding, peace, tolerance, equality of sexes, and friendship among all peoples, ethnic, national and religious groups and persons of indigenous origin.
- The development of respect for the natural environment.”
These are values the global community generally embraces – as Christians I would hope we would want to endorse these values as very consistent with our understanding of the values that are expressions of God’s Reign among us and that we would want to see these values reflected in our educational settings both in content and processes
The society itself (and in our case Australian society) may shape the values that are inherent in education (we will list some of our own values in a moment)
In the Australian Community Survey conducted in 1998 – such values as a world at peace, honesty, true friendship, equality and social justice were rated as being valued highly by a significant proportion of those who participated in the survey. (p. Points Bulletin, March 2004, Vol. 14 No.1) Influential people in our society also reflect back to us the values we hold to be important – Anne Deveson’s recent book on Resilience upholds a value that is considered important in our society. P.6
“Nowadays ‘resilience’ has come to mean an ability to confront adversity and still find hope and meaning in life.” Our recent Anzac observances reflect values we consider important – courage, mateship, persistence in the face of great odds.
Perhaps the current debate about values in education is about what values we consider to be important as a society.
Schools themselves contribute to values that are shaping our education – they are guided by the wider society, but those who are leaders in schools: Teachers, administrators, government and non-government bodies that govern schools contribute to values
In this area I want to particularly comment on the vocation of teachers.
Individual teachers contribute to the values that are communicated in our education systems. In a report on teacher education in NSW “Quality Matters” – it highlights the central and essential role of teachers(p.33 of that report)
“studies in the US have clearly shown that the way to get the best educational results for kids is to invest in their teachers.” p.36 of Quality Matters speaks of “ Giving priority to teacher education because “ teaching is integral to maintaining the continuity of the knowledge, skills, values and beliefs which bind our social fabric.”
So if we are talking about values in education, it is essential that we consider as part of that conversation the values that teachers bring and ways we support teachers who are offering the education.
The report “Quality Matters” notes the decline in the status of teaching – both in the state of NSW and nationally.
This decline in the status of teaching is not limited to schooling for primary and high school in wider society, it has also been evident in the church over several decades – hence our Uniting Church’s Assembly’s research in this area and our reaffirmation of the teaching ministry at the 2000 Assembly in Adelaide -
Parker Palmer in his book “The Courage to Teach” underlines the need for those of us who teach to be people of integrity. His book premise is this: “good teaching cannot be reduced to technique; good teaching comes from the identity and integrity of the teacher.” (p. 10 of The Courage to Teach”
I have heard teachers use the language of “calling” or vocation to talk of their work. p.36 of the report quotes a teacher: “I love my job. I don’t love the money or the tiredness and stress I feel or the responsibility, but I love that I am helping every student I teach to grow and learn with knowledge, that I can be creative and teach thers what I love in art and to care for our precious earth, and to find fun , easy ways to enjoy learning… The commentary from the report goes on to note that a premise which can be derived from that statement is “that teaching is a calling to be enjoyed and is still enjoyed by many teachers.” (p. 36)
As a church we can support teachers who have this deep commitment to their vocation.
Where as churches we work with Christians who are teachers – we can affirm their work as a ministry. I have been part of churches that acknowledge the people who are participating in the educational ministry of the church – often these are Sunday School teachers, Bible study leaders. It would be appropriate on these occasions to also recognize the gifts of teachers in the wider community, whose ministry may be participating in the mission of God as much as those who are teachers within the Christian community.
Parents are in partnership with any agencies that are involved in education – schools, church, sporting clubs… and are children’s primary educators. Our society is giving greater attention to supporting parents and equipping them more effectively for their roles as parents. (local councils employing family and children’s workers, play groups running parenting seminars, one of our students established a parenting group for single dads)
At times parents’ values will be reflected in our educational settings, at other times parents may object to what is reflected in the schools and seek to change the values expressed in our education system. . At other times the educational context will challenge the values of the parents, questioning the ways they are shaping their children’s lives.
When I was teaching at Perkins School of Theology in Dallas, one of our religious education students shared a story about her experience teaching in a primary school. She had a particular child who resolved issues by punching other children She sought in various ways to change this child’s behavior. When it came to teacher/parent interview, she shared her concern about the child’s behaviour with the parent and described some of the things she had attempted to try and curb the child’s violence toward other children and to change his behaviour for the better. To her great surprise and dismay the parent was very unhappy that she was trying to change the child’s behaviour at all. This parent saw the child’s fighting instinct as essential to the child’s survival in the world around him. (A clash of values)
Those of us who have lived long enough will know that the debate about values in education is not a new one. I was attending a public high school in 1969 at the height of the protests about our involvement in the Vietnam war. My English teacher at the time was deeply opposed to the Vietnam war – and part of this opposition included strong anti-American sentiment. I came home echoing her passion and telling my parents in no uncertain terms, the need for us to withdraw from Vietnam and not parrot the views of America (do we hear echoes of this in our present context?? ) My parents were disturbed by these views – they did not share the teacher’s perspective.
The public debate that is currently under way is not so much about value neutrality as about competing values.
It’s important that parents voices are heard and that there is a genuine dialogue, about the values that are important to shape our flourishing in our lives as a community and world.
Non-religious groups have a voice in shaping the values that are raised up in education.
(Various groups committed to social justice or health care, Trees for life, Wilderness society, Quit, anti-smoking campaign, refugee associations etc. )
Religious groups also have a contribution to make. To say that religion has no place in a public or private system of schooling is to deny a significant part of our history and our present reality.
As Christians we would want to contribute to the conversation the values of the God who calls us. The values we draw from as Christians are ultimately those which we draw from the God who gives us life
GOD OF COMPASSION
GOD WHO IDENTIFIES WITH OUR SUFFERINGAND GOD WHO LIBERATES US
GOD WHO LOVES US INFINITELY AND TELLS US WE ARE SOMEBODY
GOD OF RESURRECTION AND HOPE
Let’s turn now to consider some of the values we might desire both as a society and as a church to see expressed in our education:
WHAT VALUES?
The phrase “politically correct” continues to be one that is bandied around – most often by those who are wanting to dismiss something ….
One of the current definitions of “politically correct” is a particularly eye-opening one for those who use this term dismissively and for us as Christians.
“political correctness: “avoidance of expressions or actions that can be perceived to exclude or marginalize or insult people who are socially disadvantaged or discriminated against.” (http://www.cogsci.princeton.edu )
in To put this definition in positive terms to be politically correct is to encourage expressions and actions that include, draw in, affirm people who are socially disadvantaged or discriminated against.
I would suggest by this definition of “politically correct”, there is a strong connection between what we are committed to as Christians and those who are “politically correct” – advocacy for those who are on the margins of our society, is surely something we would embrace as Christians.
John Howard’s comments suggest that our schools are “too politically correct” – perhaps suggesting that we have gone too far in listening to those who are socially disadvantaged, or discriminated against, and have not been listening to those who are not socially disadvantaged, those perhaps who are more at the centre of our lives as an Australian community … I would suggest that as we hear from those on the margins, as we engage in dialogue with those who have experienced discrimination, and allow their stories to impact on the way we view our world and the way we live in it, we may become stronger and emerge as a healthier more compassionate human community.
At the launch of Uniting Care (p.42 of Mission Prayer Handbook 2001) the prayer prayed on that occasion reflects our commitments as a church “Send us to the edges, give us the grace to stand beside those who are voiceless, marginalized and rejected those who experience pain and hardship, loneliness and grief, coldness and hunger.”
Such standing with people, loving them, being with them, arises from the compassion of God welling up within us and overflowing as God commissions us to be engaged in God’s mission in the world.
QUESTIONS FOR CONVERSATION:
What are the values that you see expressed in education?
What values do you hope we may offer as Christians in the field of education – in a broad sense in schools, churches, wider community organizations, family life ?
(Some suggestions from statements from schools’ vision/mission statements from general education field)
Social responsibility
Thinking for oneself
Thinking creatively and imaginatively
Learning skills to contribute to meaningful work and meaningful life
Learning to live in harmony with others
Developing people to their full potential
VALUES THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH MAY CONTRIBUTE TO THE CONVERSATION:
The Church has values to offer to the wider Australian community that arise from the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the heart of our faith. I want to focus on a number of these values tonight (although this list is not exhaustive and I’m sure you can add others)
GOD OF COMPASSION
Compassion
GOD OF HOPE AND RESURRECTION WHO LIBERATES US
Narratives of hope
Freedom, hope and reconciliation
GOD WHO LOVES US INFINITELY AND TELLS US WE ARE SOMEBODY
Identity Value and Giftedness of every human being
GOD OF COMPASSION
COMPASSION
Compassion is defined as to understand, feel, identify with the sufferings of others and desire to take action to alleviate those sufferings (Webster’s dictionary)
Compassion is a central characteristic of God (Gutierrez – God of Life)
Compassion is God’s tender expression toward us – it includes love and mercy and action for justice.
It’s the compassion of God that we see lived out in the story of the Exodus – God hears the cries of the people of Israel and liberates them.
In Matthew 9:35-38 we read that Jesus’ attitude to the people was that of compassion. We hear about compassion fatigue in our society – where we get tired of seeing the images of starving children, broken bodies, people who are homeless, and needy. Compassion fatigue can arise when we are so overwhelmed by the suffering around us, that we put up barriers around ourselves. To be compassionate requires us to open ourselves to the sufferings of each other, to risk not having simple answers, to risk entering into relationship with others who may change our lives.
Compassion implies an active engagement with our world. A recent book addressing Christian education is entitled “Growing Compassionate children”.
My daughter’s class of 10 year olds were beginning a unit on “refugees’. One of the teacher’s intentions in offering the unit was to encourage children to think beyond themselves, to “show empathy and concern for others” (Primary Years Program) You could say – to nurture compassion.
The teacher involved the students in determining topics they would cover under this unit. But the children noted that this was a different kind of unit than they had up until this point, because refugees was not just a topic to study, but it involved real people who were hurting in our present society. They determined that they would like to hear from the refugees themselves and support refugees in our community in some way.
The teacher called a meeting of parents to discuss this refugee unit – because she recognized that there could be various views on the situation of refugees in our current political climate. After much discussion a number of refugees came to the school to speak to the children and there were exchange visits to a local school where a significant portion of the population had been refugees were arranged.
One evening teachers, children and parents came together to hear from Hassan. Hassan is from Afghanistan. He had just recently been released from the Woomera detention centre. He told us about life in Afghanistan, time he spent in jail under the Taliban because he was a minority Hazara. He spoke of his children, his time in the detention centre and the children who were still living there. He appealed to our common humanity – and emphasised the need for us all to work together for a world of peace with justice. In meeting Hassan – in the pain of the dialogue with him, myself and others – children and adults came to a deeper understanding of the plight of refugees in this country.
Every time we are prepared in our educational contexts to engage in a dialogue with someone like Hassan, we are beginning to pull down the barriers and hostility that exist towards those people on the margins of our society. As we hear the stories of the people on the margins of our communities, we begin to see the world differently, our hearts and minds may be changed, but it doesn’t simply change us personally. Studies on refugees may not put into action processes that enable children to be released from detention centres, but perhaps ever so slowly, those kinds of encounters that break down barriers begin to change the nature of our community and the values it upholds and create a community climate that is hospitable and welcoming. A community climate that may contribute to political and legal action that enable us to be a more compassionate society.
What values? The values that we raise up are also those that flow from our experience of God as one who is a God of resurrection, one who offers us hope and freedom.
GOD OF HOPE AND RESURRECTION
GOD WHO LIBERATES US
Narratives of hope
Freedom, hope and reconciliation
NARRATIVES OF HOPE
Pastoral Care literature talks about core narratives that shape our lives. Core narrative is “the story line within us (or within a culture) that shapes the way we encounter, interpret and make meaning out of all other stories or experiences. Core narratives have to do with the primary sets of assumptions about reality that we carry.” (p. 69 Christie Cozad Neuger in In Her Own Time ed. By Jeanne Stevenson-Moessner) Some of our core narratives are what Neuger describes as narratives of harm, others are narratives of hope. Narratives of hope are described by Jeanne Stevenson-Moessner as “narratives of hope include individual and relational stories of affirmation, collegiality, transformation, empowerment, awareness, and illumination. “ (p.3 In Her Own Time)
Throughout the Gospels and in the Book of Acts, we see stories of transformation and empowerment. God in Christ, challenging people to see their world differently, to be open to learning a new way of seeing, freeing them for a new way of being in their world. We are also reminded of the narrative of hope that was part of the Hebrew tradition and is ours – Deut 6:20-21 When your children ask you in time to come. “What is the meaning of the decrees and the statutes and the ordinances that the Lord God has commanded you then you shall say to your children, We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt, but the Lord brought us out with a mighty hand…
You may recall the lectionary readings for Palm Sunday this year – the Gospel lesson was from Luke in that text Jesus’ disciples are declaring the mighty works of God… the Pharisees want Jesus to silence the disciples. His response is: if these are silent, even the stones will cry out… In addressing the Pharisees Jesus is emphasising that nothing will stop God’s purposes. Jesus’ ministry up until this point has witnessed to the mighty acts of God. As he enters Jerusalem, the whole multitude is celebrating his miracles. As he moves toward Jerusalem with all the foreboding he may be feeling, nothing will stop him embodying the saving grace of God He reconciles us to God – God who continues to come to us to offer the saving grace that the disciples witnessed in the mighty acts of healing and liberation that were seen in Jesus’ ministry, his death and his resurrection.
Some of you will remember the celebration that greeted the release of Nelson Mandela in 1990 after he had been in prison for 27 years. Mandela was a leader in the African National Congress and had been in Robben island prison for his political activity opposing apartheid. After his release, Mandela visited New York. In his speech to Riverside Church in New York, he spoke to the crowd that day about the irrepressible God who Jesus embodies:
“This day and this occasion under these circumstances would be utterly impossible except for the truth that there is a God who presides over the affairs of history, who vetoes the schemes of evil people, and who decrees that truth crushed to the ground shall rise again.”..Nelson Mandela quoted the words from the prophet Isaiah, “We have risen up as on wings of eagles, we have run and not grown weary, we have walked and not fainted. And finally our destination is in sight.” (p.236 Soul of Politics, by Jim Wallis)
Mandela is echoing Jesus declaration that God’s purposes will be fulfilled that even (p.241 Sharon Ringe commentary) “if the disciples are silenced, the stones themselves will take up the song of the salvation God intends.”
Mandela is raising up a narrative of hope – a narrative that shaped and sustained him in his struggles for his people. A narrative that is fully expressed in the death and resurrection of Christ.
The God we worship as Christians and as Jews has inspired people like Mandela to lead people out of incredible oppression into freedom that sometimes had seemed unimaginable and impossible.
I had the opportunity to participate in a conference on theological education in South Africa back in October and early November. While I was there there were a number of occasions where I sat in amazement at the miracle of South Africa – of what has transpired there. We had an opportunity to visit Soweto – to visit the memorial to the school children who were killed or wounded back in 1976. They were shot by secruity forces while they were protesting at being taught in Afrikaans in their schools – the language of their oppressors. The images of that violent dispersing of protesting children shocked the world. We also stood in the Catholic church where many of the anti-apartheid rallies were held and looked up to see the bullet holes in the ceiling, where the security forces had come in shooting to disperse the crowd. The person who was our guide on this tour was Dumi – Dumi was a school student back in 1976. He was 16 at the time and during the protests he was arrested by the security police. He was held for 40 days. His family were not allowed to visit him. For the first few weeks he was beaten and then his treatment improved so that the bruising and signs of his beating would heal before he was released. The police didn’t want evidence otf their treatment of him to be obvsiou. As Dumi sat with us on the bus and told his story. I marvelled at his ability to come through such an experience to talk with us white people who for him could have easily symbolised the oppression and discrimination he experienced as a child and yet now he was able to converse with us seemingly without animosity and talk about his hopes for his nation, his hopes as a theological student, studying to become a minister and celebrating a new democratic South Africa. He is a sign of hope, a sign that God’s reign is being lived out in our world today. Many of those involved in building the new South Africa have contributed out of their understanding of God’s promises and intentions for our world. Narratives of hope, freedom and reconciliation – these are our heritage as Christians, as educators – to be shared in life-giving ways with our society and world.
The third area of values I want to address is derived from:
GOD WHO LOVES US INFINITELY AND TELLS US WE ARE SOMEBODY
This understanding of God connects with
Identity Value and Giftedness of every human being
So this narrative of hope that is foundational to Christianity and is one which will shape our approaches to education in life-giving, transforming ways is the narrative that goes like this: you are created in God’s image, you are infinitely loved and valued. You have gifts that will enable you to grow as a person and contribute to the life of our world.
Oppressed peoples throughout the world have found hope and courage through this narrative:
James Cone: in commenting on the struggle of African-Americans writes: “As the source of identity and survival, the faith of the church was that factor which sustained the people when everything else failed. God was that reality to which people turned for identity and worth, because the existing social, political and economic structures said they were nobody” (p.49 Yearning to Breathe Free)
This has significant ramifications in education – it involves affirmation of the person as worthwhile in their very being – apart from their achievements, successes and failures, and it also recognizes that we have gifts that need to be discovered, explored and developed.
James Cone: “No matter what trials and tribulations blacks encounter we refuse to let despair define our humanity. We simply believe that God can make a way out of no way.” (p. 60 of Yearning to Breathe Free)”
Paulo Freire in his work with oppressed people recognised that many of them acted as though they were objects – fatalistically accepting their fate, believing they could do nothing to change their situation. As he worked with these people and they engaged in social and political analysis, and they reflected on themselves they began to emerge as what Freire describes as “subjects of their own history” – they began to see that they didn’t have to accept the way things were, they could change the world around them. Once people have discovered they are somebodies, they have worth as people and are empowered to become subjects of their own history, they are difficult to silence. Theirs are the voices of freedom we need to hear in our educational and mission contexts.
Supporting these values wherever they occur.
One could say these values of compassion, hope, freedom, reconciliation and affirmation of a person’s identity and gifts, are not unique to the church. That of course is not surprising because these values arise out of the God who is not only active in the church, but who is active in the whole world, reconciling the world to Godself, redeeming the whole creation.
Transformation
The church needs to be engaged in partnership with God in promoting these values in education and supporting those people and organizations who are raising up and nurturing these values.
Education can be used to support the practice of freedom – for personal, social, ecclesial transformation or it can be used to perpetuate injustice, domesticate people into accepting the world as it is…
As the church we have been and are involved with education that is transformational. We have also supported education that keeps people and unjust systems in their place. Its transformational education that best reflects our hopes as Christians.
The church also contributes to the wider society through its Christian education that is focussed in congregational life.
I have suggested three key elements that we need to consider in shaping Christian community:
- Formation of Christians who contribute to the transformation of our world
- Creating hospitable learning environments
- Lifelong learning
Shaping Christian community
1. Formation of Christians who contribute to the transformation of our world
When I teach children’s ministry courses I emphasize that ministry with children involves the whole life of the church, it involves the whole child, it is for the whole world and it includes all children.
It is for the whole world – this is not an arrogant imperialism, but what I am trying to communicate through this idea is that whenever we as a church nurture children in the Christian faith in such a way that they are loving, compassionate, peacemaking, just living people, we are contributing to the whole world.
Our ministries also include all children – this particularly relates to the debates about public education – access to empowering, life-giving education is one of the rights of a child and contributes to them reaching their God-given potential. So its very appropriate that we are engaged in a public debate that is about issues that will affect the welfare of our children.
2. We can Create Christian communities that are hospitable learning environments
Where there is mutual dialogue, respect for one another, and an intention to reflect deeply on the stuff that really matters in our lives and the lives of our world.
Addressing the importance of adult education in our communities (something we are engaging in tonight)
There has been much interest in John Spong’s work lately –
When his work first hit the bookshops, I was involved in a conference on Mission and Education in Melbourne. We were talking about Spong’s work, and I suggested that Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism, did not contain anything particularly new, that in fact much of what Spong communicates very effectively is drawing from Biblical scholarship that we have had access to for years.
One of the people participating in the conference, angrily addressed the group asking why, if this scholarship had been around for so long, had the local church members not had access to this. He was highlighting an ongoing issue for us as the church.
We make much of access to education that is lifelong. Our current protests about fees at university, arises from a deep concern that adults have access to tertiary education…but in the church often our adults’ Christian education ceased in their early teens, or for adults entering the church without a childhood Christian education, the availability of adult education in the faith is not always engaging them at depth.
I would argue that while we are engaged in the wider debate about education in primary and high schools and education at a tertiary level, we also need to remember that many of our adult Christians don’t’ have access to a Christian education that is at the depth that is needed for adults engaged in the ambiguities and stresses of post-modern life. This adult education doesn’t need to be a formal degree or certificate program, but needs to be offered in a way (locally, regionally, nationally) that encourages critical inquiry and indepth engagement with our Christian Story and Vision.
At its best Christian education is transformational.
The information we convey is life-giving
There is formation that shapes communities that are beacons of hope and light in the world
I would hope it’s transformational education we support in and through our churches and transformational education we uphold in the wider community.
The Seasons of the Spirit curriculum is a current Christian education resource that expresses many of the values we have touched on tonight. In the most recent pack for Pentecost 1, one of the posters expresses what I have sought to communicate through this lecutre. It is about the partnership that we are invited to share with God, with Christian communities, with schools, government and the wider community in shaping our educational contexts in ways which reflect values that are life-giving for our whole society. “Let us join our hands and hearts to build a better world.”
I look forward to sharing in that partnership with you.
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