In their excellent book Teaching the Faith, Forming the Faithful: A Biblical Vision for Education in the Church, authors Gary A. Parrett and S. Steve Kang include an important plug for approaching Christian education and equipping in the church with an appropriate intentionality. Check out what they have to say: There are very few spheres in which an approach to education is an random and haphazard as that practiced in many of our churches today. If someone wanted to study towards a degree in economics, for example, it would be most unlikely that the college would let her choose all her own courses or choose simply not to take classes at all. If we wish our child to learn to play an instrument, we would certainly hope to find an instructor who has some idea and plan about what particular things really must be learned and when and how. When we look at the medical school diploma on the walls of our doctors' offices, we probably assume - and gratefully so - that our doctors actually attended (in the full sense of the term) all the required classes classes in the curriculum and not only those that suited their fancies at the time. How strange it is that, in this matter of Christian education and formation, we have come to adopt a very different scheme" (p. 77, bold emphasis added). This is a large reason why I'm so passionate about what the Brookside Institute is trying to do for adults, and why - more broadly - content strategy and Christian education are so important in the life of a local church. And all of this is why I'm so grateful for everything Brookside Church does to support these same values through the Institute and other ministries!
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A little more than a year ago, I highlighted an audio segment where JT English talks about the Institute at The Village Church. (Click here to see that.) I love hearing people articulate a passion and vision for biblical & theological equipping in the church and for the church - because of how closely this aligns with what we're trying to do with the Brookside Institute. And so I figured then that I'd highlight what The Village Institute is doing, and trust that people can connect the dots in some right ways over to the Brookside Institute. Well, Dr. English is back at it. Recently, I listened to this audio segment from the Village Church Podcast Show (Episode #30 - May 26, 2016) where JT English gives an explanation of their Institute and an update on it. The whole episode is worthwhile and I encourage you to check it out - below you'll find the first 10 minutes (unedited) where JT English speaks most directly on the Village Institute, because of how closely it touches on certain things we're trying to do with the Brookside Institute. Remember: Dr. English is talking about the Institute at the Village - he's not talking about the Brookside Institute. Don't expect 100% overlap. There are certain things they've chosen to do there that we've chosen not to do at the Brookside Institute. But there's still A LOT of overlap. Listen in and you'll hear a lot of things I found myself nodding my head to throughout the course of the segment. And for those of you already familiar with the Brookside Institute, you'll see how so many of these same emphases have taken shape - independently - in our own context. Here's the audio: Here are a few notes I was scrambling to type as I listened along - these may pull you into listening, if you're still on the fence:
What do teachers do when prep is slow, intimidating, or overwhelming? How do teachers make progress when the size and scope of content is daunting? What focal points can help teachers teach - in such a way that students learn - when teachers are themselves in process, and continuing to learn themselves?
These are all good questions - questions I've felt numerous times myself as someone who teaches in a number of different environments. Therefore, over the life of this blog thus far I've posted intermittently on "things I'm aiming for when I teach?" (Original posts are included at the end of this current post.) However, I've not compiled these "targets" into one cumulative list. I figured it was time to do so. :) With that said, here are 8 things I'm aiming for as I teach, with a bit of introduction: Earlier this week, the Brookside Institute offered a seminar on "How to Profit from the Prophets." About 50 people signed up for 90 minutes of overview on the prophetic books, and a glimpse into the book of Daniel - good stuff! As the Institute seeks to build and reinforce foundations of the Christian faith in the areas of biblical literacy and theological formation, seminars like this play an important role.
Below I've included some things that will give you a taste of the seminar. Here's the "Table of Contents" for what follows in this post if you keep scrolling:
From the earliest days of the church in the centuries following the death of the apostles, an intentional "training program" (or catechesis) was developed to form and shape believers in the Christian community. Why was this track of catechesis important? Alan Kreider points out a key reason in his The Patient Ferment of the Early Church: The Improbable Rise of Christianity in the Roman Empire: "...believers knew that their practices [i.e., their noticeable, distinctive Christian lifestyles] were not acquired genetically or absorbed from pagan society. As Tertullian puts it around AD 200, 'Christians are made, not born'" (p. 134).
Those following Jesus took intentional steps to be transformed by the renewing of their minds (Romans 12:2); they took intentional steps to be made new in the attitude of their minds and to put on the new self (Ephesians 4:22-24); they took intentional steps to make sure they were strengthened and encouraged in their Christian faith (cf. 1 Thessalonians 3:2). A key part of these "intentional steps" was a value placed on catechizing (i.e., intentionally training) those in the Christian faith. It's important to note that a number of different components were included in catechesis. Catechetical practices developed over time in the first few centuries. And no single approach seems to be have been adopted everywhere as the early church grew. We need to acknowledge the numerous layers and the diversity that characterized catechesis. Nevertheless, catechesis was valued. As Kreider points out in The Patient Ferment of the Early Church, by the fourth century we have enough samples of catechetical priorities that we can present a composite picture of what the early church included in their catechetical content. So (more simply), what did the early church teach? Assuming I've been keeping tally of things correctly, you're officially reading Post #200 on this Brookside Institute site! Over the course of the last 12 months, we've had 16,600+ unique visitors to this site, and over 87,500 total page views. Whether this is your first intro to who we are or you've been tagging along for a while, thanks for joining in!
As the posts continue accumulating, I don't want that to keep us from looking back every now and then - to review what the Brookside Institute is all about, and for me to mention posts that are either some of my personal favorites or that have gotten lots of traction. These sorts of "review posts" also serve as a sort of index (or Table of Contents?), organizing the material and helping orient you to who we are and what we're about at the Brookside Institute. What I've done with this post, then, is organized some links under the following categories:
Underneath each category, I've included a short list of links to pages on this site where you can learn more about who we are and what we're up to. My recommendation? Scroll through the index that's below, and find 3-4 posts you want to check out. This is a great way to see what we're doing and get to know the Institute a bit better! For much of the second half of April, I was helping train pastors in Zambia as part of the Hope Center Pastor Training School near Serenje. While I was there and teaching through "1-2 Timothy & Titus, with Special Emphasis on the Doctrine of the Church," the topic of teaching and preaching came up. After all, it's tough to work through these books of the New Testament and NOT talk about these things!
I love how the pastors - on their own - brought up the importance of teaching and educational environments, in addition to and alongside the important role preaching plays in the life of a church. These interactions with the pastors have stayed fresh in my mind since then. For those of you who follow this site a bit more closely, you've likely noticed I've not been posting much in April. The reasons? There's about 13 of them, actually, and they're pictured above - the pastors I had the privilege of being with again as part of the Hope Center Pastor Training School in Serenje, Zambia. (Don't worry, I'm hoping to being posting regularly again soon!)
The intentionality of this Training School is impressive, and I'm excited to be a small part of what God is doing to raise up godly, equipped leaders in Zambia. Here's a glimpse of what the Pastor Training School involves: I'm currently (and finally!) making my way through Richard Lints' The Fabric of Theology: A Prolegomenon to Evangelical Theology, and ran across this short quote by Peter Berger that's worth highlighting here (quoted on p. 29 of Lints' Fabric of Theology): When churches abandon or de-emphasize theology, they give up the intellectual tools by which the Christian message can be articulated and defended. In the resulting chaos of religious ideas, the principal criterion left to the community as it seeks to find its way is, quite naturally, that of expediency" (Peter Berger). In just a few words, Berger reminds us of an important VALUE of theology: theology helps articulate and defend the Christian message. Let's keep this value of theology in front of us! If you liked this post, you may also be interested in "The Importance of Systematic Theology."
Late last week, I was able to present at a Teacher In-Service for Cornerstone Christian School. The topic I was asked to teach on was "The Importance of the Christian Worldview." After studying for the talk and interacting with the teachers, I'm as convinced as ever that Christians need to understand what worldview is, why a Christian worldview is so important, and how we grow in our understanding (and embodiment!) of the Christian worldview.
This topic breathes purpose and perspective into how we think about the different "arenas" of our lives (e.g. jobs, entertainment, family, etc), and it prompts us to think well about God and His Word, the Bible. Keep reading to see the talk I gave (in a somewhat modified, abbreviated form) on Christian worldview. At the very end of this post, I've included an "answer key" version of the handout I made available to the teachers. |
Tim WiebeChristian. Husband. Father. Pastor. Learner. Contributor. Reader. Categories
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