However, despite habit, the May 11, 2009, issue never left the top of my heap, and from there it has been begging a response. Yes, this is more than a letter to the editor.
The “Yes, You CAN Teach” series of articles in that issue gladdened the heart of this generation-ago, long-since-retired church educator. My first response was, “All this could have been written in my day,” i.e. the 1950s through the 1980s. I was heartened to know that so much of what we learned and taught back then is alive and well. The valuable teachings of such as Piaget, Fowler (to name a couple), the insights of Strauss and Howe are as important now as they were then. Beyond your condensations of such wisdom, articles with forward-looking suggestions seemed like just the kind of thing I would have found valuable, and surely would be for teachers and leaders in churches in these times.
At the same time I wondered how many of those who teach were availing themselves of these gems.
First the memory.
It was the 1950s. The Presbyterian Church was heading for her “never since then” peak membership. The bulging population, babies dubbed Boomers, populated church school classes of all ages. Young parents were gravitating to churches where they encountered lively and substantive educational opportunities for the children and stimulating options for their own learning. Education buildings were bursting at the seams. Somehow it seemed known that we Presbyterians were living up to our reputation as “thought leaders of world Christianity.”1
Early on we were aided by the enthusiastic publication and use of what was heralded as “the new curriculum.”2 The premises of these graded study materials for all ages were: 1) congruency with theology being taught in Presbyterian seminaries; 2) pedagogy matching current trends in educational philosophy and practice.
Following the end of World War II, Presbyterian education faced a two-fold crisis: 1) not enough professional educators to teach and “manage” the chaos of large numbers of potential learners; 2) lingering Biblical and organizational assumptions of the 19th century Sunday School3, outdated for the times.
I had an inkling of the crisis when, as a young parent, I was finally persuaded to teach a lively group of young children in the Sunday Church School. I was handed a teacher’s quarterly and told that probably most of its suggestions would not work. I was to make the best of it around a small table in a crowded room — read the children a story, and give them a picture to color or another craft to keep them busy.
Fortunately the education committee of that congregation, under the leadership of a professional educator, had better things in mind. The “make-the-best-of-it” approach of well-meaning lay leaders left unchallenged squirmy children of all ages and live-wire young people. New teaching materials did not fit the time-honored structures of a former day.
The church handed me the challenging task of transforming the modus operandi of the entire Sunday Church School by promoting theological and educational tenets put forth in the new curriculum. My response to the challenge was: “I have no idea how to do this!”
Little did I know that I was one among others across the denomination being intentionally noticed and tapped as part of a concerted effort to identify and train lay leaders to respond to the crisis. With the challenge came a rush of opportunities to learn how. I was urged and financially supported to take advantage of them. In learning labs, along with a host of other learners, I was fascinated as I watched master teachers lead demonstrations and workshops. Such opportunities were stimulating, practical, and unashamedly fun! A sense of “call” was beginning to stir within me. I began to see myself as an educator-in-training.
All too soon, I thought, I was being challenged to lead such events under the supervision of professional church educators. When I hesitated to venture forth, one of my mentors gave me some valuable advice. “Say Yes first,” he said. “Then find out how. Then do it.” I took a deep breath and accepted leadership challenges.
In time I was called to serve as “educator” in my local church, as were an increasing number of my colleagues-in-learning in their congregations. We continued to come together for further learning opportunities. In time we “homegrown” educators came to realize that we, along side professional educators, were responding to a crisis. Together we were filling the gaps. We passed on what we learned to others who in turn became leaders themselves.
So much for an extremely abbreviated “memory” that, for me, covered a period of some 30 years. Now for the hope. I address the following suggestions to congregations:
1. We have a crisis. We face an alarming current predominance of Biblical illiteracy with its popular antidote often being a return to Biblical fundamentalism. We would do well to recall the statement in the Confession of 1967 regarding study of the Bible.4 We have a dearth of educators — professional educators are not numerous enough to meet the needs of local churches be they large, medium, or small. While today most of our buildings are not overflowing, we still face the challenge of how to engage today’s technologically savvy learners in the tenets of our Reformed faith with its insistence on Biblical knowledge and interpretation.
2. What I propose is meeting today’s crisis through intentionally identifying and calling a person, or persons, within our congregations whose charge it is to promote excellence in content and methods of teaching and learning. Such persons already serve many congregations today. What might be added to their call would be expectations and defined opportunities for their extended learning with the challenge to pass it on to others who teach.
3. Learning opportunities for home-grown church educators are more difficult to discern than they were a half century ago. While yesterday’s lab schools and seminars may be things of the past, opportunities on the Internet are the shape of the present. At the same time, good print resources are not obsolete. Along with a host of educational publications I commend the Outlook for its continued attention to educational opportunities, and I challenge pastors and elders to share these offerings and other educational materials with designated leaders. Check bibliographies, which continue to proliferate in varieties of forms, for helpful resources. Challenge educators to enroll in college or seminary courses. Check out and encourage preparation for one of the three levels of Certification.5
4. Connect your educator-in-training with “professionals” in the church. Ministers are prime. Their personal and professional libraries should have open doors to educators. Certified educators and former educators (some became ministers) are around. Public school teachers, if asked, can share creative teaching and management techniques. And, if you’re lucky, some of the printed resources from another day may still be in your church libraries. Check out works by Don and Patricia Griggs, David Ng and Virginia Thomas, Mary Duckert, Carolyn Brown, Locke Bowman, to name a few.
5. Calling a home-grown educator to serve your congregation may well be worth a financial consideration, though often such persons start out by doing it for “love.”
Education is not the stepchild of the rest of ministry. It is a full third of the “holy trinity” of worship, education, mission. Education should not be confined to the walls of educational wings or time limitations of the Sunday church school. Don’t describe education as administrating what is already there. You are calling someone to learn how to make inroads in a crisis
6. Explore denominational publications and trust them to set some standards. Learn how to adapt them before you turn to resources that may not be congruent with the tenets of Reformed theology and practice.
Yes, I say to congregations, you CAN teach. Look for persons to inspire, to transmit good teaching to others, and yes — to become the rescuers of a crisis in education as we see it. Challenge them to be part of a company that in this decade will bring us back to our reputation as thinkers and leaders within and beyond our Presbyterian denomination.
JEANNE D. WANDERSLEBEN is a “home-grown” church educator and independent church education consultant. She achieved certification in 1983, the first year it was offered. She is now retired and living in St. Louis, Mich.
1 JAA. Living up to our reputation, Outlook, May 11, 2009
2 The Christian Faith and Life curriculum, published from the late 1940s through the mid-1960s, followed a three year cycle for all ages: The Bible, the Life and Teachings of Jesus, the Church. Revised for each cycle the materials attempted to stay congruent with the times.
3 See The Big Little School, Lynn and Wright, now out of print.
4 Book of Confessions, 9.29
5 Book of Order, G 14.0701 a-c.
