Is it time to rethink Christian education?

Mark Galli, managing editor of Christianity Today, wrote a very interesting piece on the Cost of Christian education:

Historically, especially for American Protestants, Christian education has followed this model, with its priorities of classroom instruction, curriculum development, and dependence on an expert teacher (even if the expertise is based on merely doing the teacher prep in the curriculum). The objectivist model is also a favorite of traditions that place the pulpit at the center of worship, giving priority to teaching by a “dynamic, effective communicator.” Do note: This approach is not without its merits! It is an efficient way to impart many Bible facts, a Christian worldview, and core doctrines. And who does not like to sit at the feet of a gifted teacher or preacher?

Still, we recognize that a purely objectivist approach can actually make it harder for people to be converted to God. It tends to make faith mostly a matter of the mind and divorces it from spiritual experience. If the supreme knowledge for Christians is, as outlined by Augustine and others, a personal, experiential knowledge of God, then we need something more.

The educational system of Jesus was rooted in an utterly different approach: living in and with a community, so that theology was not only taught but also lived in the context of community prayer. Jesus’ educational system is not objective in the least—it is decidedly not interested in knowledge that helps us remain unbiased and neutral about life. Instead, it is profoundly subjective, that is, concerned with creating an irrational loyalty to Jesus and over-the-top concern for others. It is not the mind that is the center of attention but the whole person—mind, body, and spirit—and the whole person in community.

Now that it is summer time and so many of you are doing something different. Maybe its time to value Mark’s insight here and rethink Christian education ministry for the fall.

We should not deny what we all know about poorly Christian education works: that “one out of four youth group kids end up plugged into a church or parachurch college ministry a few months after they graduate from high school.” Barna reports that “only 3 out of 10 twentysomethings (31%) attend church in a typical week.

I am NOT saying throw out what you are doing; but in light of these stats and your own experience. Isn’t it time to rethink educating our kids? If you have thought about and done something innovative to address the issue; add a comment below.