The Teaching Ministry of the Church

Second Edition

William Yount

• Publisher: B&H Academic
• Year: 2008
• Print ISBN: 9780805447378
• eBook ISBN: 9780805464634
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

The second edition of The Teaching Ministry of the Church makes a major overhaul of its predecessor, increasing the content from eighteen to twentythree chapters and contributors from six to thirteen. These writers assert the need for such an expanded update is due to our everchanging world. For example, the rise of Islamic fundamentalism, proliferation of religious sects, and secularization of our culture greatly increase the importance of ensuring the church produces fully developed, biblically informed followers of Jesus.

 

To that end, The Teaching Ministry of the Church presents a full overview of Christian education in four major sections: Theological Foundations, Biblical Foundations, Preparation for Teaching, and Structuring the Teaching Ministry of the Church. Within this framework, a step-by-step plan for establishing and maintaining an effective teaching ministry among preschoolers, children, youth, and adults takes shape.

Key chapters: “The Bible as Curriculum,” “The Church’s Role in Teaching,” “Creating an Unforgettable Learning Experience,” and “Equipping Teachers.”

Part One

THEOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS FOR THE TEACHING MINISTRY OF THE CHURCH

Chapter 1

A THEOLOGY OF CHRISTIAN EDUCATION

Rick Yount

Then we will no longer be little children, tossed by the
waves and blown around by every wind of teaching,
by human cunning with cleverness in the techniques of deceit.
But speaking the truth in love, let us grow in every
way into Him who is the head—Christ.
From Him the whole body, fitted and knit
together by every supporting ligament,
promotes the growth of the body for building up itself in
love by the proper working of each individual part.
(Eph 4:14–16)

Teaching into the Unknown

I stood at the front of the room and stared into what I can only describe as a deep, dark pit of unknown. As I looked into the eyes of my students, I felt isolated, completely alone. A Kazakh wind blew across the building, rattling the windows, making the subzero temperature outside seem all the more cold.

Of the 17 students sitting before me, eight had made a treacherous journey over ice-covered mountains from Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. They had driven all night, 300 miles, 10 hours, in order to arrive in time for the class. This class, my class. What were they thinking? What did they expect? What did they already know? Would the materials I prepared actually help them, their teaching ministries, their churches?

What I needed was a compass to steer me in the right direction until we—these students and I, together—could discover common landmarks that would unite us in a common cause, a common journey. And lead us to a common outcome of growth in the Lord.

Fortunately, I had such a compass. What I lacked at this particular moment was any evidence that my compass was relevant to these Russian Baptists who lived and worked 11 time zones east of Fort Worth. There was only one way, one terrifying way, to find out. I silently voiced a prayer for help and stepped into the darkness. I could only hope my words would find fertile soil.

A Theology

Literally the word theology, a combination of theos (God) and logos (study, discourse), means “the study of God,” His nature and attributes. A. H. Strong extends this definition to include “the whole range of Christian doctrine … of those relations between God and the universe in view of which we speak of Creation, Providence and Redemption.”¹ Klaus Issler echoed this classic sentiment in his contemporary definition: theology is “the study of God—who God is and what he has provided for his creation, both now and forever.”²

Theology is both science and philosophy. It is science in that it discovers the facts and relations that exist between God and the finite universe, that in turn are based on God's works and activities. Just as physical science discovers facts about gravity and aerodynamics and orders those facts into their natural and proper relationship to produce the rational basis for flight, so, in the same way theology discovers facts about God's creative, sustaining, and fulfilling work in the universe, including mankind, and produces the rational basis for God-ordered life, purpose, and destiny. Theology is philosophy in that it “exhibits these facts in their rational unity, as connected parts of a formulated and organic system of truth” that is brought into contact with the human mind through revelation.³

Theology is our beginning point. Here is the foundation of our text: God exists, and in His very nature, He is Teacher. Further, the Church is, at its heart, a teaching institution, drawing the lost to faith and spiritual regeneration, prompting believers to transformation and sanctification, and equipping the saints for works of service in the real world.

Education

The term education has become an increasingly loaded term for the Church, especially in theological circles. A theologian friend of mine recently remarked that my continued use of the term “tainted me.” He could not tell me why, exactly, but the term had taken on a “liberal” connotation. It would be far better, he said, to use words like discipleship or equipping, or even the term popularized by our Catholic brethren: spiritual formation.

Even educational experts differ on both the meaning and methods of education. Dr. Jack Terry introduced me to the debate in 1974 in my first philosophy of education class. He noted that there are two different Latin roots of the English word education. They are educare, which means “to train or to mold,” and educere, meaning “to lead out.”

Forty years later the debate continues. Bass and Goode contrast these two perspectives of education and raise the question whether balance between the two camps can ever be achieved. Educare emphasizes the preservation of knowledge and the shaping of the next generation in the image of their parents. Educere emphasizes the preparation of a new generation for the changes that are to come, equipping them for the solving of problems yet unknown. Educare calls for direct instruction, subject mastery, and becoming good, reliable workers. Educere calls for questioning the givens, thinking “outside the box,” and creating new ways of seeing the world.⁴ Unfortunately, the recommendations forwarded in the article— balancing old (educare) and new (educere), involving “stakeholders” in decision-making and increasing resources, leave us with little more than rehashed word magic. The system itself is confused, and no one, it seems, is able to speak to the confusion.

Regardless of the endless theoretical and political debates, the result has been high school graduates by the tens of thousands who cannot make change, spell, or speak standard English. Fortunately, the term education in “Christian education” has a very different meaning.

Christian Education

Issler reached back to Nevin Harner's 1939 definition as the basis for his discussion of the theological foundations of Christian education: “Christian education is a reverent attempt to discover the divinely ordained process by which individuals grow in Christ-likeness, and to work with that process.”⁵ There is much here to embrace. It is a reverent attempt, a journey, made in humility, of a truth-seeker. This truth is revealed to, not discovered by, the one who humbles himself under the mighty hand of God.⁶ The attempt focuses on the divinely ordained process of growth. Growth is not instantaneous but sequential. Not immediate but progressive. The attempt focuses on the divinely ordained process of growth. Just how does God intend a learner to move from lost rebel to found child? From “babe in Christ” to “well-equipped saint”?

This divinely ordained process of growth moves in a specific direction: Christlikeness. I like this focus on Christ and the goal to grow to be like Him. Strong does not hesitate to place Christ at the center of theology:

That Christ is the one and only Revealer of God, in nature, in humanity, in history, in science, in Scripture, is in my judgment the key to theology… . What think ye of Christ? is still the critical question, and none are entitled to the name of Christian who, in the face of evidence he has furnished us, cannot answer the question aright.⁷

The work of Christian education is to analyze that divinely ordained process of supernatural transformation as it intersects relevant life changes in preschoolers, children, youth, and adults who live in a natural world. This interaction of supernatural and natural processes of change carries the theological issues of conversion, regeneration, sanctification, and transformation into the realm of the social sciences—particularly educational psychology—as we deal honestly with changes in the cognitive (knowledge and understanding), affective (values and preferences), and behavioral (skills and habits) areas of life. The work of Christian education carries us into the Church and out into the world through ministry.

Issler states “the essential question” that Christian education must answer: How do we educate Christians?⁸ Dallas Willard goes a step further, detailing what the process looks like: “[Our goal is] transforming disciples inwardly, in such a way that doing the words and deeds of Christ is not the focus but the natural outcome or side effect.”⁹ That is, becoming like Christ inwardly so that we naturally behave like Christ outwardly. None of us, of course, will become like Christ since He is God. But in moving toward Him, in “growing up into” Him (Eph 4:15 KJV), we become better than we were and more like what He created us to be.

Dennis Williams goes farther still, summarizing several evangelical definitions for Christian education this way: “Bible-based, theologically sound, Holy Spirit-empowered, the elements of teaching/learning/growth/equipping, change, the church, evangelism, and service. Christian education, then, is more than merely teaching Christians.”¹⁰

A Theology of Christian Education

Williams's words carry me back to my fervent, fearful prayers in the early 1970s, as I struggled to find ways to teach deaf college students in my Bible class. “Lord, how should I teach so that these learners will grow up into You?” I struggled with teaching into the unknown. What did these deaf college students know? What had been their experiences with the Lord, with Church, with Scripture? What did they need to grow toward the Lord, and after conversion, to grow up in the Lord? How should I prepare my “lessons”? What should be the focus of my teaching?

Over the next three years of teaching these college students, the Lord brought experiences into the classroom that answered all these questions. Over five years of masters' and doctoral studies in Foundations of Education at Southwestern Seminary, the Lord laid strong theological, philosophical, and psychological foundations under my experiences and produced, in the end, a concise theology of Christian education. Those of you familiar with 30 years of the Disciplers' Handbook, or the first chapter of Created to Learn (1996), or the framework of Called to Reach (2007) will recognize it immediately. I ask for your patient indulgence as I lay it out once again for new readers.

A Theology of Christian Education: The Disciplers' Model

No single model can encompass the whole of Christian growth. Like Piaget's table of three cones,¹¹ the “truth” of the cones remains the same even as their appearance changes as one moves around the table. So the truth of God's plan for the spiritual formation of disciples—justification (conversion, regeneration), sanctification (discipleship, being equipped), and final glorification—does not change; but we can see His plan from many different perspectives. There are many helpful models, which is why I am using the indefinite article—“a” theology of Christian education.

The Disciplers' Model is the answer to that simple yet profound question I prayed for during those early years. While it may sound sanctimonious—perhaps a bit self-serving—to claim that this model of mine is “the Lord's answer,” I know of no other way to say it. I cannot claim any right of creation or discovery. My intent is to honor the Lord who answere...

Table of contents

• Foreword- Daryl Eldridge
• Preface to the Second Edition- William R. “Rick” Yount
• PART ONE- Theological Foundations For The Teaching Ministry of the Church
• PART TWO- Biblical Foundations For The Teaching Ministry
• PART THREE- Preparation For Teaching
• PART FOUR- Structuring The Teaching Ministry Of The Church
• Name Index
• Subject Index
• Scripture Index