Title: What is the future of Christian education
1What is the future of Christian education?
- APCE workshop 50
- Thursday 4-530 p.m.
- Rodger Nishioka, Ph.D.
- Associate Professor of Christian Education
- Columbia Theological Seminary
2- We continue to organize our educational
ministries as if present experience extends the
experience of the past, as if old images are
adequate for the contemporary quest for meaning. - Charles Foster. Educating Congregations.
Nashville, TN Abingdon, 1994.
3- 1. Existing approaches to Christian education
are no longer adequate for the task of building
up communities of faith to praise God and serve
neighbor for the emancipatory transformation of
the world. - Discuss What are our existing approaches that
are no longer adequate? - Tribal education traditioning information as
if it leads to transformation.
4- 2. With increasing demands on limited resources,
the education in different congregations will be
linked more by the participation of their members
in shared events of the Christian story than by
denominational strategies for church education,
curriculum resources, or leadership training
programs. - Discuss What are the increasing demands and the
limited resources? Why are denominational
strategies on the decline?
5- 3. In our increasingly pluralistic world,
congregations can no longer assume that their
values and commitments will be taught and/or
reinforced by other educational institutions in
their larger communities. If not hostile, more
likely the culture is indifferent to us. - Discuss How is our world more pluralistic?
- More Muslims than Presbyterians.
- Loss of family support.
- Shop in Little Five Points
6- 4. If congregations are to become communities of
praise and service for the sake of Gods
transformation of the world, they must assume
primary responsibility for the education of
people into the responsible embodiment of those
ministries. - Discuss Why is the focus shifting to
congregations? What does this mean for our life
together?
7- As we look to the future of Christian education,
much relies on you, the leaders.
8- To do this, Edwin Friedman says we must
demonstrate leadership with nerve (healthy
self-differentiation). - A Failure of Nerve.
- Leadership in the Age
- of the Quick Fix.
- New York Seabury
- Books, 2007 (revised).
9- Peter Steinke builds on this in his book
- Congregational Leadership in Anxious Times
Being Calm and Courageous No Matter What.
Herndon, VA Alban Institute, 2006.
10Why do we not have nerve?
- Friedman and Steinke both claim we live in a time
of chronic anxiety. - In a time of chronic anxiety, we focus on fear
over courage, comfort over challenge, good
feelings and accommodation over tension and
dialectical engagement, being reasonable over
adventure, shrinking resources over innovation
and change.
11Why do we not have nerve?
- A trend in which the most dependent members of
any group set the agenda and where adaptation is
constantly toward weakness rather than strength,
thus leveraging power to the recalcitrant, the
passive-aggressive and the most anxious members
of the group rather than toward the energetic,
visionary, imaginative, and the motivated.
12- Actually, religious institutions are the worst
offenders of encouraging immaturity and
irresponsibility. In church after church some
member is passive-aggressively holding the whole
system hostage, and no one wants to fire him or
force her to leave because it wouldnt be the
Christian thing to do. It has nothing to do
with Christianity. Synagogues also tolerate
abusers because to ask them to leave wouldnt be
the Christian thing to do. Edwin Friedman
13Why do we not have nerve?
- A devaluation of the process of individuation so
that leaders tend to rely more on others
expertise than on their own capacity to be
decisive. Many consultants and professional
coaches contribute further to this denial of
individuation by offering solutions instead of
promoting their clients capacity to define
themselves more clearly.
14Why do we not have nerve?
- An obsession with data and technique that has
become a form of addiction and turns leaders into
data-junkies and their information into junk
yards. As a result, decision-makers avoid or
deny the very processes within their groups that
might contribute to their institutions
persistence of form.
15Why do we not have nerve?
- A widespread misunderstanding about the
relational nature of destructive processes so
leaders believe that toxic forces can be
regulated through reasonableness, romanticized
Christ-like love, insight, role-modeling,
inculcation of values, and striving for
consensus. This prevents leaders from taking the
kind of stands that set limits to the
invasiveness of those who lack self-regulation.
16How is this failure of nerve manifested?
- 1. Reactivity automatic responses, boundary
erosion, exaggeration of extremes, loss of
playfulness. - 2. Herd Instinct togetherness as the supreme
value, emphasis on empathy over responsibility,
harmony over what is just and right, organizes
around dysfunction, adapts to immaturity, wills
conflict, polarization, and isolation.
17- 3. Blame displacement fault projected outside,
quickness to blame, loss of integrity and
accountability, cynical pessimism, paralyzed by
fear and unwilling to seek adventure. - 4. Quick-fix mentality low tolerance for pain
and hard work, seeks simple answers,
vulnerability or snake-oil remedies, quest for
certainty, cut and dried answers, binary logic.
18Results in a failure of nerve as leaders.
- Leaders lack the distance to think out their
vision clearly. - Leaders end up running from crisis to crisis.
- Leaders are reluctant to take well-defined
stands, if they have any convictions at all. - Leaders are selected who lack the maturity and
sense of self to deal with sabotage.
19How do we as Christian educators lead with
nerve?
- Separate yourself from surrounding emotional
processes. - Be clear about ones principles and vision.
- Be willing to be exposed and vulnerable.
- Persist in the face of inertial resistance.
- Self-regulate in the face of reactive sabotage.
20Leadership as Differentiated Leadership
- A differentiated self is one who can maintain
emotional objectivity while in the midst of an
emotional system in turmoil, yet at the same time
actively relate to key people in the system. - Bowen, Murray. Family Theory in Clinical
Practice. Northvale, NJ Jason Aronson, 1978.
p.485.
21What is undifferentiated leadership?
- Reactive, instinctive, defensive, thoughtless
behavior. - 1. Accommodates, pleases, or acts to take care
of the others pain. To maintain a relationship,
the leader gives in and gives up self is anxious
about losing the approval of others. - 2. Focuses outside of self. To stay close to
others, the leader pays attention to the actions
and feelings of others, not her own. How someone
else will react is more important than how she
can take a position.
22What is undifferentiated leadership?
- 3. Connects emotionally. To sustain a
relationship, the leader reacts to anything that
might disrupt or threaten it. - 4. Sets vague, nebulous goals. To have a
direction depends on the moment. The climate and
goals change with events and moods. - 5. Seeks security. To feel safe, the leader
acts cautiously so as not to upset anyone.
23What is differentiated leadership?
- Intentional, responsive, responsible, thoughtful
behavior. - 1. Takes a stand. The leader works on
self-definition based on values knowing what she
believes, the leader takes positions. - 2. Focuses on self. The leader can see how he
contributes to a situation being self-aware, the
leader makes changes in his own behavior has the
capacity to step back and see his own
interactions with others.
24What is differentiated leadership?
- 3. Stays connected to others. The leader
relates to others by listening, exchanging ideas,
and working toward goals greater capacity for
cooperation and altruism. - 4. Sets clear goals. The leader knows where she
is headed not sabotaged by others reactivity
because she lives with a purpose in mind stays
on course. - 5. Seeks challenge. The leader seeks adventure
she knows that tension stretches a persons
growth and stimulates the imagination.
25Key Non-anxious presence
- The non-anxious presence is an anomaly, never a
full-blown reality. It is the capacity to - Manage our own national reactivity
- Use knowledge to suppress impulses and control
automatic reactions - Keep calm for the purpose of reflection and
conversation - Observe what is happening, especially with
oneself - Tolerate high degrees of uncertainty,
frustration, and pain - Maintain a clear sense of direction.
26- To be less defensive and automatically reactive
to the attacks of others requires tremendous
discipline. Nonanxious practices include - Being thoughtful before acting
- Staying calm and poised
- Using I statements
- Maintaining awareness of self
- Focusing on larger purposes rather than winning
an argument - Asking questions.
27- When dealing with reactive people who are
attacking you, remember that justifying,
explaining, or any verbal defending (J.E.D.) will
simply add fuel to the fire. Withdrawing and
blaming have the same effect.
28Old World vs. New World
- Friedman argues that for families as well as
institutions (and even for our nations), our
chronically anxious civilization inhibits
well-differentiated leaders from emerging and
wears down those who do. He discusses old
world superstitions and juxtaposes them against
new world understandings.
29Old World vs. New World
- Old Leaders influence their followers by the
model they establish for identification and
emulation. - New A leaders major effect on his or her
followers has to do with the way his or her
presence affects the emotional processes in the
relationship system.
30- Old The key to successful leadership is
understanding the needs of your followers. - New A leaders major job is to understand his
or her self. - Old Communication depends primarily on ones
choice of words and how one articulates them. - New Communication depends on words as well as
emotional variables such as direction, distance,
and anxiety.
31- Old Stress is due to hard work.
- New Stress is due to taking responsibility for
the relationships of others. - Old Hierarchy is evil and is about abuse of
power. - New Hierarchy is a natural systemic phenomenon
and can be empowering for all.
32Emerging models for the future of Christian
education
- Religious instruction emphasizing study of
scripture and theology. Could be in classes
(academies especially for large churches with the
reliance on expert teachers) but more likely will
be small groups, many intergenerational, in home
settings (early church). Specific role-oriented
or seasonal instruction (church officer,
confirmation, teacher training,
Advent-Christmas-Epiphany, Lent-Easter). - Emphasis on worship as the focus for the
community. Intergenerational with consistent
education. Emphasizes formation through ritual
and traditions.
33- Spiritual development focusing on spiritual
disciplines and spiritual practices more episodic
in nature and, like the ancients, more ascetic. - Missional opportunities to enact the scriptural,
theological, and liturgical practices through
participating in ongoing missional activities.