Christian Education Should Be Broad and Deep
Christian education programs in churches are often the least well-thought-out elements of church life. Thinking about discipleship provides some answers.
Women Teaching in Seminary, Oh Yes! (@KaitlinCurtice)
On Tuesday I noticed a tweet, after comments on the Desiring God blog regarding women teaching in seminary. The answer was, not surprisingly, no. The men who do ministry should be taught by men who model men leading the church. Here’s the tweet: Men: On a day like today (@desiringGod), can you tell us the…
Energion Tuesday Night Hangout
Tonight my guest will be Dr. Bob LaRochelle, author of books such as Crossing the Street and A Home United, and we’ll be talking about adolescents and faith. Bob is preparing a manuscript for release late spring or early summer on this topic. Join us and bring your questions. Learn More Learn More Learn More
Teaching How to Experience God
At my home church, Chumuckla Community Church, we’re going through the Experiencing God workbook. There will be 10 sermons, and then discussion groups. My wife Jody leads one right after church each Sunday, and I’m part of that. Doubtless someone will suggest that the book is somewhat more conservative than the theology I express on…
Is It Greek Pedagogy, Learning Skills, or Something Else
These discussions seem to come up all the time about learning Greek, but the discussion also applies to Hebrew. How one can imagine it’s critically important to learn Greek if one is to preach or teach, but not so much to learn Hebrew, I don’t know. But the degree requirements of various colleges and seminaries…
Underlying Principles for Christian Education and Discipleship
… and with that pretentious title. Actually, last night I talked on the Energion Tuesday Night Hangout (I’ll embed the video at the end as well) about Christian education and how one might go about choosing curriculum. My sister, Betty Rae, asked me a question via e-mail this morning, and I thought it was so…
Confessional School vs. Freedom to Explore
Peter Enns’ post, “If They Only Knew What I Thought” struck a chord with me and at the same time called up one of my concerns, or perhaps I should say areas of conflict. I lived through this growing up as a Seventh-day Adventist and being educated in Seventh-day Adventist schools. In fact, I made…
The Problem with My Church’s Children’s Ministry
My church has a good children’s ministry. I’m impressed every time I hear our children’s minister present a children’s moment during the church service, and every time I’ve encountered the children’s programs myself, including the couple of times I’ve been invited to speak. The children are learning a great deal about Christianity, their church, the…
If We Were Doing Our Job in the Church
… then perhaps nobody could say this: But if four years of college undo 18 years of parenting and religious affiliation, perhaps the faith community’s tenuous hold is the problem, not the particular place outside its bubble where that hold evaporates. Consider the believers we’ve seen in history. With all the persecution that Judaism and…
Grow a Scriptural Faith – For Your Kids
The joint blog through the book Almost Christian by John Meunier and his daughter continues with Parents Matter Most. I must recommend this series again, because both participants are making excellent points and being quite open about spirituality. You can follow the links in the various posts. A key takeaway line this time: Neither grows…