APCE is “a community of encouragers,” Holderness said during her acceptance speech at the organization’s annual banquet Feb. 4. “My fear is we encouragers are losing our courage. We are running on scared.”
Holderness, the author of seven books and a member of the board of trustees at Union Presbyterian Seminary in Richmond, was alluding to ongoing concerns about trends in Christian education. The fear is that, as congregations face declining membership and tight finances, the Christian education budget is among the first to go.
Confronting that trend, during their annual meeting APCE members approved an advocacy statement that calls for vibrant educational ministry provided by those who regard it as “a life calling.” The meeting was held in Albuquerque Feb. 2-5.
APCE called on the church to ensure high-quality religious education in part “through the continued employment of trained Christian educators in congregations and governing bodies,” a commitment to continuing education and “the assurance of compassionate and just benefits.”
For the most part, this was an upbeat gathering, bringing together about 775 educators from several Reformed denominations, including the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), for hands-on training. Fields of Christian education covered ranged from nurturing the faith of children following a natural disaster, to using elements of fiction and film in teaching, to ministry with the mentally ill.
But there was periodic acknowledgment of the difficulties many educators, most of them women, face in earning a living at the work they’re trained to do and are passionate about – and the question of whether congregations and the broader culture take educators’ contributions seriously.
Too often, Christian educators are seen as “glorified Sunday school teachers,” without the biblical and theological depth of pastors, she said.
Some Christian educators have lost their jobs, or have hung onto employment but aren’t being paid benefits, Holderness said. And churches no longer hold the prominent place in a secular culture they once did.
“We still worry that we’re not being taken seriously,” Holderness said. “That causes us to lose courage, and we’re running on scared . . . Educators, there should be no question about your value.”
Through her career as an educator, Holderness has displayed deep reserves of energy, joy, faith and passion, said Union Seminary President Brian Blount.
He told of her “standing behind the pulpit on her tippy-toes” to give the commencement address at the seminary in 2009. Holderness is petite, known for her zeal for the Buffalo Bills football team (“The more they lose,” Blount said, “the more she seems to love them.”) and for incessantly carrying and using video camera.
Holderness serves on the staff of First Presbyterian Church in Wilmington, N.C., where her husband, Jim, also works as a pastor. The couple have a son, J.B.; a daughter, Lorinda; and two grandsons.
