I think the sheer number of questions I asked the other day (“Equipping the Saints: Request for Reader Info“) overwhelmed people. At least that’s the explanation I’m telling myself as I try to explain the lack of comments.
Let’s simplify then: Share anything you wish to share about how your church handles Christian education.
And have a great weekend. It looks to be a lovely one here.
The last couple months at Cerulean Sanctum have seen the discussion turn toward how the American Church makes disciples. In the days ahead, I hope to further unpack this issue and discuss ways that we can achieve better results, not only in leading people to Jesus but also in growing them deep in Him.
Below are a few questions about the nature of the educational process in your church, the larger question being, “How does your church actually make disciples?”
1. What is the general educational philosophy at your church? Has anyone ever stated this philosophy publicly so that the members understand the educational goals of the church?
2. What adult educational programs exist at your church? Which do you participate in? What types of educational materials do those programs use? Have those materials been purchased from a third-party curriculum developer, provided by your church’s denomination, or developed in-house?
3. Does your church use a targeted catechism program to ensure that youth understand the basic doctrines of the faith? If yes, has it been purchased from a third-party curriculum developer, provided by your church’s denomination, or developed in-house? If no, what is your church using instead to ensure Christian maturity in their youth?
4. On a 1 to 10 scale, with 10 being the greater amount, how much would you say that your church relies on its members to be responsible for their own Christian education (or in other words, how much does your church rely on members to feed themselves spiritually)? In what ways do you believe this number to reflect a strong or weak educational philosophy?
5. What does your church do best in preparing people to be mature Christians? What do they do poorly? What suggestions would you make at improving the educational programs at your church (and please be as specific as possible)?
6. (Updated) How successfully are the members of your church putting into practice what they have learned? In what ways? Do you ever feel your church members increase in knowledge but don’t practice what they know?
Thank you for your time and the willingness to answer these questions. I hope to use them as the basis for my next post.
Have a great remainder of the week!
In the last few days, I’ve been thinking about this whole idea of centeredness in the Christian life. When churches and individual Christians talk about what they believe, inevitably a phrase ending in -centered crops up.
So readers, I ask you to fill in the following with your answers to the centeredness question. I’m not going to try to persuade people one way or the other, so despite the fact that many good answers can fill the blanks, most of us know the terms most commonly used by Christians. Please fill in these two questions:
“As a Christian, I try to live a __________-centered life.”
“My church emphasizes a __________-centered Gospel.”
Thank you for your two responses. If they differ, please share why, as that would be very helpful to the theory I’m developing.
I’ll add my thoughts on this later in the week.