The Nuts & Bolts of Christian Education: Practical Wisdom for Teachers & Leaders

by Delia Halverson

Overview

"Can you give me the book that will tell me how to DO Christian education?" The Nuts & Bolts of Christian Education is designed to answer the most frequently asked questions by new as well as veteran teachers and leaders. Even though most churches provide teacher and leader training at least once a year, generally these one- or two-day sessions are unable to answer every question that arises during the year.

The Nuts & Bolts of Christian Education is a practical guidebook that leads new and experienced teachers through the challenging, and sometimes confounding, landscape of the education ministry of a congregation. This is not a collection of lesson plans--it is a chock-full survey of nearly every aspect of Christian education one could imagine. DOING Christian Education starts here.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781426729072
Publisher:	Abingdon Press
Publication date:	10/01/2010
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	6 MB

About the Author

Delia Halverson, a Christian education specialist, is a veteran classroom and workshop leader with more than 20 years' experience. She has written extensively in the area of religious education and is the author of 32 Ways to Become a Great Sunday School Teacher, How to Train Volunteer Teachers, Leading Adult Learners and My Cup Runneth Over... Devotions for Teachers. She is the author of over fifteen books and is well known for her articles and curriculum writing. She lives in Woodstock, Georgia.

Read an Excerpt

The Nuts & Bolts of Christian Education

Practical Wisdom for Teachers & Leaders

---

By Delia Halverson

Abingdon Press

Copyright © 2000 Abingdon Press
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4267-2907-2

---

CHAPTER 1

Activities, Alternatives, and Awareness

Awareness

One of the first things that you will want to do when embarking on a new job in Christian education, whether it be your first job or your fifth, is to get to know the people with whom you will be working. Relationships are of primary importance in this job. By failing to establish key relationships early on, you will begin to feel like a frustrated Lone Ranger wandering through the wilderness looking for the campfire. One of the best ways I've found to increase my awareness of people in the church is to use two pictorial directories. One I keep on top of my desk for everyday use. The other I file. In the second book, beside each photo, I record miscellaneous information I glean about the person, such as a recent death in the family, an illness, a career choice, a hobby, an accomplishment or honor, and church responsibilities held in the past. I prefer the book to a computer file because of the photos, and it's more portable. This not only helps me get to know the person but it is a great tool for helping people find their place in the teaching ministry of the church.

You will also benefit from attending as many group events as you can in the first few months in a new position. The more exposure you have the better you will become acquainted with members and potential volunteers. People are hesitant to volunteer to work with someone that they do not know.

Make a point of setting up listening groups. A listening group is a small number of persons with whom you will meet regularly to listen to their thoughts and comments concerning the particular area of the church in which they are involved. The participants in a listening group should change each quarter so that you have an opportunity to listen to as many people as possible in the congregation. Consider listening groups of parents of specific ages, persons who use the library, adult class members, singles, and so forth. The group possibilities are endless. Extend personal invitations to each person, and keep the gatherings informal. Strive to reach a cross section of the congregation.

Some jobs within Christian education are all-encompassing, involving all aspects of CE in the church, while others are more defined, such as working with a certain age level or specific area of ministry. However, unless your responsibility is limited to teaching one age level in a classroom, you will be working with adults and must understand their needs. Even if your responsibility is to children or youth ministry, adult workers will still form the backbone of your ministry. You must be aware of the lifestyles of the members of your church. Are there working parents, one parent families, stay-at-home moms or dads, college students, never-married singles, divorced, widowed, semi-retired, or retired folks? What type of learning experience is being offered for each of these groups?

Multiple Intelligences

For years Christian educators have professed that we do not all learn in the same manner. Much of our education rests on an ability to evaluate situations in our world and to solve problems associated with those situations. Howard Gardner, an authority on brain research, identified seven intelligences that God gave each of us. No one learns using just one of these intelligences, but often an individual relies more heavily on one intelligence than the others. If we can understand these seven ways of learning, we can better grasp ways to pass our faith on to others. Barbara Bruce's book, Seven Ways of Teaching the Bible to Children, offers a variety of ways to apply this theory.

Jesus used these methods of teaching. Listed below are examples from Jesus' ministry.

• Verbal/Linguistic refers to language and words, both written and spoken, Jesus approached listeners in this manner with his stories.

• Logical/Mathematical includes inductive thinking and reasoning, statistics, and abstract patterns. Jesus used questions and answers to reach his listeners who learned in this way.

• Visual/Spatial deals with visualizing objects and creating mental pictures. Jesus used common objects to explain his meaning to persons who learn in this manner.

• Body/Kinesthetic relates to the physical, such as movement and physical activity. Jesus involved the disciples in learning through fishing and washing their feet.

• Musical/Rhythmic involves recognition of patterns, both tonal and rhythmic. Singing hymns was a part of the common experience of Jesus and his disciples.

• Interpersonal follows relationships between persons, including true communication. Jesus worked with persons on a personal level and also developed small groups, his most successful group being the twelve disciples.

• Intrapersonal denotes self-reflection and awareness of that within us which guides us. On many occasions the Bible mentions Jesus drawing away from others for solitude (by himself or with his disciples) or for reflection.

Age Awareness

Most jobs in a Christian education program involve a heavy dose of working with adults, both volunteers and parents of children and youth. Therefore, adult volunteers must be relied upon and trained to carry out the very essence of the work. This is even true in youth work. Often youth workers mistakenly think that they will work only with youth. This is called the "Pied Piper" approach to ministry. These leaders have charisma (which is of great value in youth ministry) and rely on this trait to attract youth, feeling that God has called them alone to this particular ministry. However, such an approach leads not only to burnout but also to negative effects on the youth program. When the youth worker moves to another church or discovers that she or he can no longer continue in the job, the program falls apart from lack of a strong framework to support it.

Whatever your position in Christian education, you must recognize the importance of volunteers and allow them to help you build a foundation for the ministry. Understanding adults and how they function is important in every aspect of a teaching and educational ministry. Appendix 1 offers a basic summary of various adult generations. Every adult will not fit neatly into the category assigned to his or her generation. Each of us is a unique person and must be treated as an individual. It is important to recognize generational differences in people, but emphasis should be placed on becoming personally acquainted with your volunteers.

Becoming familiar with the characteristics of various aged children and youth is key if your area of responsibility includes those age groups. However, even if your responsibility lies primarily with adults, many of those adults are parents; and your understanding of their children will be critical to your understanding of them. Appendix 2 provides information on the youth and children's generations. Take time to get acquainted with the children and youth in your church. Stop them in the corridors, talk with them, attend some of their events, visit with them in the lunchroom at school, and listen to the music that they enjoy.

When I conduct a workshop with teachers of children, I use the following activity to help participants see the world through a child's eyes. I ask the teachers to pair off, and I ask one person to squat or sit in front of the person who is standing. The "squatter" is instructed to tell the "stander" what he or she sees from that vantage point. After a short time, the roles are reversed. Afterward teachers understand why suggestions such as mounting pictures at children's eye level and sitting among the children instead of hovering over them are important. I also remind them that when a young child draws a picture of a face, there are usually two eyes and a mouth. And then the child will carefully place two dots in the middle of the face. In reality, children, as they tip their heads back to see us, look right up our noses. If that doesn't help teachers realize that they must get down on the level of the children, not much will! It's difficult to understand children or youth without spending time "walking in their shoes."

Intergenerational Needs

Not so long ago, families lived in the same community with their relatives. There was a great network of family, comprised of all ages. Adult relatives acted as role models and mentors for all of the children. "The village" really did raise the child, even when all the members of the village weren't actually related. Children learned to go to certain adults with certain questions, and it was not always their parents.

Children sometimes now grow up having few if any relationships with adults other than their parents or perhaps the parents of their peers. They often don't see their grandparents more than once a year, and usually for only brief visits. There are virtually no opportunities, outside of the church, that offer intergenerational experiences. This is a need that must be met by the church, not only because children need models and mentors of every generation but also because these multi-age experiences are the best tools for teaching the faith. It has been said that Christianity is one generation from extinction. This is certainly true if we, as church leaders, do not offer these cross-age learning opportunities.

Often a church boasts of being a family church; but once the family steps through the door, children are herded in one direction (dividing them further "according to age and ability"), teenagers in another direction, and adults in still another (again often dividing them according to age). Evaluate how often your church offers intergenerational experiences. Make a list of all of the opportunities offered in the past year to people of all ages to become acquainted in your church. Plan to establish additional intergenerational experiences, considering the following:

• Are children encouraged to attend and participate in the corporate worship, or is their study or gathering time at the same hour as worship?

• Do the tables at church dinners encourage different ages to sit together? Do you have community singing or suggestions for table conversation during the meals? Are birthdays and anniversaries celebrated?

• Do families have opportunity for service with people of all ages, such as working on a mission project, setting the tables for church dinners, visiting nursing homes, planting and tending a garden for a food pantry, or doing yard or maintenance work around the church?

• Do parents have learning experiences that they share with their children?

Family Classes

Most parents have full-time jobs. Because of this, they highly value their family time; and many do not want to spend two hours away from their children on Sunday morning. Consider organizing a class for parents and children to study together, where the parents and children help one another with designated lessons or topics. As the parents help the children, they remember much of what they have forgotten or that they never had an opportunity to learn as children. Likewise, children can offer their parents different perspectives that help them explore the Bible and faith in new ways.

One church found that a young couple brought their two-year-old to their adult Sunday school class because they hated being away from their child since they both worked all week. In response, the church established a class for parents and young children, where parents spent part of the class working with the children and the other part overseeing their children at play but discussing a class topic of their own.

Another church provides a family class for elementary children and their parents during the summer. They adapted the Scouting curriculum, God and Me, including the projects that the parents and children do at home. FaithHome is another helpful resource for family study. This six-session study ideally includes a meal and extends to two hours for each session, but is easily adapted to shorter periods and additional sessions.

Anti-bias Awareness and Needs

Given the diversity of our communities and neighborhoods, Christian education programs have a greater responsibility to teach cultural and ability awareness than ever before. Our world has grown smaller, and those people who are different from our students aren't "over there" but across the street, and hopefully inside our doors. We need to understand our differences and grow in our appreciation of others, rather than expecting everyone to conform to our actions and our way of thinking. Here are suggestions and questions to think about in order to ensure that your church, childcare program, and preschool are aware of and are learning about other cultures and persons different from themselves:

• What is the ethnic mix of your church? Is everyone included in the various leadership roles throughout the church?

• How can persons of both sexes, other cultures, and with different abilities be used to help the congregation grow in understanding and awareness?

• What activities and items can help children appreciate persons different from and like themselves? Consider different foods, clothing, home-life centers, music, games, bulletin boards and decorations, toys, science projects, dramatic play time, and art. Often school supply catalogs feature items from a number of cultures. Look for crayons and markers in different colors to use for various skin tones, play items (such as puzzles and doll house figures) with persons in wheelchairs, and products in Braille as well as print. Use multicultural foods as snacks. How can aspects of other countries (such as clothing, houses, food) be incorporated into everyday experiences?

• Look for stereotypic materials that can be discarded, changed, or adapted. Are all of the persons doing housework or secretarial work women? Are all of the construction workers men?

• Become alert to language to watch for, avoid, or change. Do you or others use black and white to indicate bad and good? Do you or others refer to mankind instead of humankind? Are only male pronouns used for God?

• Do pictures depict family life in different social situations and cultures, a balance of men and women doing jobs inside and outside the home?

• Do library books reflect cultural diversity? Do they include persons with disabilities doing everyday activities?

• Do the bulletin boards and pictures in the church indicate that you are an inclusive church, growing in awareness?

• What service projects, field trips, visitors, alternative celebrations and rituals can be incorporated into your teaching ministry?

Think about the various ways your church includes persons with physical and mental challenges.

• Are there ramps leading to the entrance of each building? Do multifloor buildings have elevators?

• Are the doors wide enough to accommodate wheelchairs?

• Are some pews shorter than others in order to accommodate wheelchairs out of the aisles?

• Does the height of tables accommodate wheelchairs?

• Is there adequate room for a wheelchair in the restroom stalls?

• Do you have equipment or designated seating for hearing-challenged persons? Is signing available during worship?

• Is additional classroom help provided for children who are mentally challenged, and a class available for adults who are mentally challenged?

• Are direction signs large enough that those with sight difficulties can see them? Are large print Sunday school books, bulletins, and hymnals available?

Alternatives and Activities (Beyond the Basic Sunday School)

When the concept of Sunday school was first initiated, it was actually a school, established in the factory centers of England where children were made to work six-day weeks instead of going to school. Sunday school began as a ministry to these children, educating them on the only day that they had free. At present, we must use that same concept, the idea of ministering to all those needing it at times that are most convenient for them. This may not always be Sunday morning, and may involve providing educational opportunities at varying times during the week.

(Continues...)

---

Excerpted from The Nuts & Bolts of Christian Education by Delia Halverson. Copyright © 2000 Abingdon Press. Excerpted by permission of Abingdon Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

---

Table of Contents

Contents

Introduction,
Chapter 1 Activities, Alternatives, and Awareness,
Chapter 2 Budgets, Buses, and Beads,
Chapter 3 Classes, Classrooms, and Curriculum,
Chapter 4 Decisions, Discovery, and Discernment,
Chapter 5 Routines, Rituals, and Rally Days,
Chapter 6 Seasons, Sacraments, and Stewardship,
Chapter 7 Teachers (and Other Volunteers), Training, and Tending,
Chapter 8 What About Yourself?,
A Final Word,
Appendixes,
Resources and References,
Index,