Implications of Contemporary Contextual Challenges for Christian Education:

Implications of Contemporary Contextual Challenges for Christian Education:

Introduction: The field of Christian education is vast and a great deal of work needs to be done. With the passage of time, many changes have taken place according to the context of the church and the society. Christian education is issues oriented, that is, the contextual issue which demands a paradigm shift in order to have an impact in the life of the individual, community, and society at large. It is in this context that the implications of contemporary challenges for Christian Education be reassessed, experienced and transmitted.

(a)    The Context of Christian Education: Learning takes place within a context. The church is the context within which Christian learning takes place. We can name different contexts of Christian education, such as Jewish context, early church context and Christian community context etc. Depending on the nature of the context, educational aims are improved or changed.  For example pre-independence Indian context was by Western colonialism.

In general Christian community is the church. It is understood by the biblical metaphors, such as the body of Christ, the bride of Christ, and temple of God etc. At the same time the church is a social community, there may be different boundaries, but there is one goal. If we define community in Christian perspective, it is Christian. But if we define in sociological aspect the divine nature is absent.

The ekklesia is the immediate context. The Christian ekklesia is not just any gathering of people. It is the congregation of the faithful in Jesus Christ. The Christian community felt that in them God is continuing His purpose begun in the salvation history. Across the centuries, those persons who have responded to God’s call and become partakers of this new life in Christ have strengthened one another in fellowship.  This calling is the basis for the ‘gathering together’ of the people of God. They are known by their koinonia, the fellowship which is a distinctive mark of the Christian community.  This fellowship denotes an act of mutual participation. Every gathering of Christian disciples in the name of the master creates a community of the redemptive and sustaining love of God, where broken relationship are healed and broken spirits are restored.

The church which is the context for Christian nurture is the bearer of a redemptive activity which the members have experienced within it. This activity is the kerygma (Proclamation) and didache  (teaching). Kerygma signifies the essential message, the proclamation of the mighty acts of God in the redemption of His people. Didache is the teaching section of the church tradition, including the ethical content that follows from kerygma.

The context today is of pluralistic one, plurality of religions, culture, races and socio-political context. The church while focusing on preserving its sets of beliefs, customs, traditions and heritage should seek to respond to the challenges of the society in which the Christian community is established. The Christian values and ethics should be imparted to eradicate the social evils prevalent in its neighborhood. Christian education needs to be socializing as well as liberating to bring transformation in all aspects of community life.  The need of the century for a healthy Christian community context is to make an effective Christian education curriculum, which will discourage exclusivism and will accomplish sustainable inclusive community for a harmonious living.

(b)   The objectives of Christian Education: The aims and objectives of education is to impart and nurture Christian faith and help people to reflect their faith in their daily living. Christian education should help people to attain a knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ that, they may consciously make a choice to order their lives in accordance with what  the Lord would have them do and be.

The first requisite for this acceptance of a life-style conforming to the Gospel is to know more about the teaching of Jesus Christ during His earthly ministry. The Bible which has a record of God’s progressive dealings with the Jewish people among  whom Jesus was born, and explains His message to all mankind, forms a body of knowledge to be acquired as a background to the understanding of the Christian gospel.  But Christianity does not stop there. Its goal is to bring every individual to accepting and owing allegiance to Him. It is not mere dumping of dogmas and doctrines to be recited without understanding and without learning its values and importance. But Christian education is to teach the learner how to think, understand and integrate the meaning of their learning in their lives rather than teaching what to think and loading their memory with the thoughts of other people.

The strengthening of an individual’s commitment, growth in spiritual understanding and Christian teaching will in turn, contribute to the development of all aspects of personality. It is an act of knowing and believing. It is to implant a will and facilitate for learning. It is educating the people to shape their way of life in relation to God, self, others and the world. Therefore the aims and objectives of Christian education are to bring transformation in individual’s life as well as in community living through Jesus Christ.