Implications of Contemporary Contextual Challenges for Christian Education: The content, method, Process and facilitator

Implications of Contemporary Contextual Challenges for Christian Education: The content, method, Process and facilitator

 The Content of Christian Education: In the present teaching ministry of the church Christian education is limited to the imparting of the Bible and Christian tradition. Christian education is understood as a set of imparting biblical content, stories and creeds. It is used as a process of conditioning the mind, body and spirits of learners according to the popularity accepted norms and beliefs of the church and society. But as Herbertt Hoeffer remarked Christian education is much more different from the above proposition: “The aim of Christian education is much more radical and dynamic. The emphasis is not knowing but becoming. Christian education is the process of relating god’s people to the challenges and opportunities of their lives in His service.” This means Christian education is a process in which the learner is facilitated to look at his or her faith in relation to scripture, traditions of the church as well as to the Indian context and to the life situations.  Apart from the Scripture the content of Christian education must include a study of the environment, various religions in our area and the various burning issues of the times with which the people are struggling. We cannot ignore the contextual issues like widespread poverty, increasing violence and social imbalances, the impact of globalization, media explosion, plurality of religions and cultures.

Therefore, the content of Christian education should not be limited to the so-called Judeo-Christian heritage contained in the Bible and Christian tradition. The educator needs to take the cultural heritage and socio-economic realities which are contained in Indian literature, newspapers, and also in the day to day life experiences of the learners.  Russell Chandran in his article “Ecclesiology in the Context of Religious Pluralism” writes that we need to “learn from the signs of the times” because there is hardly any situation in the world today which is not pluralistic in religion, cultures, ethnic origins etc of the people.”

In Christian education the Bible needs to be used as both the beginning point and reliable way to interpret the meaning of God’s liberative activity in human experience. But we need to bear in mind that it has the interpretation of the content of the Bible that has bearing on the Christian education rather than the content itself.

Therefore, as Christian community, it becomes necessary for us to look at the Bible critically to see what it has to teach us. Apart from the scriptures the content of Christian education must include a study of the environment, various religions in our area and the various burning issues of the times with which we are struggling. In Christian education we cannot ignore the contextual issues like widespread poverty, the impact of national economic policy, globalization, media explosion, plurality of religions, cultures, festivals, deepening fundamentalism, increasing tendency to violence and widening social imbalances. Therefore, the content of Christian education cannot be limited to the so-called Judeo-Christian heritage and socio-economic realities which are contained in Indian scriptures, literature, news papers and also in the day today life experience of the learners. Christian education is beyond mere faith formation, it needs faith formation for social transformation. Therefore the content of Christian education ranges from biblical basics to the whole spectrum of life as a whole.

(d) Methods of Christian Education: Living within a modern, secular and pluralistic society one is bound to be confronted with the people of different belief systems and different life stances.

This diversity has a challenge to Christian religious education in its methods of teaching. Paulo Freire pedagogy of Christian education gives us an idea of methods for Christian education. He speaks of two concepts of education: i) The banking concept of education and ii) Problem solving concept. In the first concept it is the teacher who is said to have a deposit of knowledge which he/she must impart to the ignorant student. The banking concept of education does not give any opportunity for the learner for dialogue. This is very much against the gospel values of freedom and human dignity.

(ii) Problem solving concept: The second concept which Paulo Freire suggests is that of problem solving education where critical reflection of both the learner and the teacher bring the fruits of learning. It is mutual. This problem solving education is a means which responds to the essence of consciousness-intentionality, rejecting communiqué and embodying communication. In this model, the teacher and learner relationship is based on mutuality, free from fear and domination where learning is not non-repressive but actualizing.

One of the methods that were used by Jesus was the method of dialogue. In John 3:1-20, 4:1-26, where Jesus helped the learners to come to fine the truth from what is known to the unknown. Jesus was very positive about the method of dialogue and the importance of listening to others. Instead of seeing pluralism as a cause of division in society, or today, the teaching ministry of the church should be ready to enter into interreligious dialogue with eagerness to develop common grounds of understanding and cooperation.

(e) Process: In the educational process, the teacher becomes director, nurturing the learner through significant life crisis to grow in faith. The teacher main emphasis is on the activity of the learner and life connection to the centrality of Christ and the Bible. The life and spiritual example of the teacher are key components of the process of Christian education.

A learner is someone who is learning about a particular subject or how to do something. The religious education in congregational settings is to have power for transforming lives lived in response to the demands of Christian faith, thus teacher’s educational leaders and pastors must be explicit about what it means to be a learner. The only way for the Christian faith to continue to be a transformative part of our lives is for learners to make a commitment to the process of learning. There is no too young or too old who cannot be actively involved in learning for faithful living.

The learner’s role of being a responsible contributor to the process has two dimensions. One is focused on what the learners brings to the learning process and the other focuses on the actions of the learner during the process. The second dimension of the role of the learner in the process is directly related to the kind of learning community that has been designed by the teacher. If it is based on a partnership model, then learners as well as teachers have the responsibility for careful listening and speaking. Learning about and living the Christian faith occurs when learners are actively involved in, and communicated to, knowing, interpreting, living and doing the faith.

(f) Facilitator: To facilitate means to ‘render easy’ that is to restore or bring back with ease. A facilitator is someone who helps a group of people understand their common objectives and assists them to plan to achieve them without taking a particular position in the discussion. Some facilitator tools try to assist the group in achieving a consensus on any disagreements that preexist or emerge in the meeting so that it has a strong basis for future action.

There are varieties of definitions for facilitator:

(i)                 “An individual who enables group and organization to work more effectively; to collaborate and achieve synergy. He /she is a ‘content neutral’ party who by not taking sides or expressing or advocating a point of view during the meeting can advocate for fair, open, and inclusive procedures to accomplish the group’s work.”

(ii)               “One who contributes structure and process to interactions so groups are able to function effectively and make high quality decisions.  A helper and enabler whose goal is to support others as they achieve exceptional performance.”

(iii)             “The facilitator’s job is to support everyone to do their best thinking and practice. To do this, the facilitator encourages full participation, promotes mutual understanding and cultivates shared responsibility. By supporting everyone to do best thinking, a facilitator enables group members to search for inclusive solutions and build sustainable agreements.”

In the progressive education the teacher is facilitating learning rather than merely transferring knowledge and skills to the students. The teacher portrays as equal participant within the educational process. In this structure there is a possibility of ‘mutual accommodation.’ Here the teacher should not take a specific position but should try to present all sides of important issues as well as a fellow participant with the learner. So the learner has mutual understanding with the teacher. It leads to the learner as the subject and not the object in educational process.