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!
If you’re a geezer, too, then then you remember the old Tootsie Pop commercial that first ran in the ’70s. 
You know, “How many licks does it take to get the center of a Tootsie Pop?”
Believe it or not, I saw that commercial on TV just a couple years back, so Tootsie is still running it. I guess the question goes unanswered.
For the Christian, the question might be transmogrified into “How many encounters with God does it take until someone is born again?”
My former pastor, Steve Sjogren, says the number is between 15 and 25. I can’t quote you Steve’s source, but some have mentioned the Engel Scale as a starting point for this number. Given how much Steve has invested over the years in this issue of evangelizing the lost, I don’t doubt his numbers.
That said, without a context, the numbers don’t mean much. You can toss a hundred questions at them, such as
1. What constitutes an encounter with God?
2. Do these numbers represent just the West? Or do they account for other parts of the world?
3. Do the numbers take into account the kind of Christian these “prebelievers” may be encountering?
I’m sure you can add to the list.
Buried in that #3 question is the most interesting question of them all:
How can we Christians reduce the number of those encounters before someone is born again?
I ask that because my personal belief is that it only takes one deep encounter with God for someone to repent and come to salvation. That’s the best case scenario.
I also believe that each encounter that doesn’t lead to being born again only runs the risk of inoculating someone against God. Everything else that follows after “a miss” represents the possibility that someone will never be born again.
Before we go any further, I want to talk about a rathole.
You and I don’t know who will be saved and who won’t be. That’s God’s territory. He knows who is predestined for glory and who is not. What He asks of us is that we do the work of evangelism and discipling and let Him bring the results.
With that out of the way, I want to ask:
Do you believe such a reduction in the number of encounters someone needs before they are justified is possible? How might we reduce the number of encounters it takes for a lost person to come to Christ?
I think that 15-25 encounters is too high. What do you think?