Reimagining Christian Education


Book Description

This book is an arresting interdisciplinary publication on Christian education, comprising works by leading scholars, professionals and practitioners from around the globe. It focuses on the integrated approaches to Christian education that are both theoretically sound and practically beneficial, and identifies innovative pedagogical methods and tools that have been field-tested and practice-approved. It discusses topics such as exploring programmes and courses through different lenses; learning challenges and opportunities within organisational management; theology of business; Christian models of teaching in different contexts; job preparedness; developing different interpretive or meaning-making frameworks for working with social justice, people with disability, non-profit community organisations and in developing country contexts. It offers graduate students, teachers, school administrators, organisational leaders, theologians, researchers and education practitioners a fresh and inspiring reimagining of Christian education perspectives and practices and the ramifications of their application to life-long learning.







Reimagining Church


Book Description

Author Frank Viola gives readers language for all they knew was missing in their modern church experience. He believes that many of today's congregations have shifted from God's original intent for the church. As a prominent leader of the house church movement, Frank is at the forefront of a revolution sweeping through the body of Christ. A change that is challenging the spiritual status quo and redefining the very nature of church. A movement inspired by the divine design for authenticity community. A fresh concept rooted in ancient history and in God Himself. Join Frank as he shares God's original intent for the church, where the body of Christ is an organic, living, breathing organism. A church that is free of convention, formed by spiritual intimacy, and unbound by four walls.




The Christian Imagination


Book Description

Why has Christianity, a religion premised upon neighborly love, failed in its attempts to heal social divisions? In this ambitious and wide-ranging work, Willie James Jennings delves deep into the late medieval soil in which the modern Christian imagination grew, to reveal how Christianity's highly refined process of socialization has inadvertently created and maintained segregated societies. A probing study of the cultural fragmentation-social, spatial, and racial-that took root in the Western mind, this book shows how Christianity has consistently forged Christian nations rather than encouraging genuine communion between disparate groups and individuals. Weaving together the stories of Zurara, the royal chronicler of Prince Henry, the Jesuit theologian Jose de Acosta, the famed Anglican Bishop John William Colenso, and the former slave writer Olaudah Equiano, Jennings narrates a tale of loss, forgetfulness, and missed opportunities for the transformation of Christian communities. Touching on issues of slavery, geography, Native American history, Jewish-Christian relations, literacy, and translation, he brilliantly exposes how the loss of land and the supersessionist ideas behind the Christian missionary movement are both deeply implicated in the invention of race. Using his bold, creative, and courageous critique to imagine a truly cosmopolitan citizenship that transcends geopolitical, nationalist, ethnic, and racial boundaries, Jennings charts, with great vision, new ways of imagining ourselves, our communities, and the landscapes we inhabit.




Re-imagining Christian Education for Millennials in an African American Pentecostal Assemblies Context


Book Description

It seems many Christian Pentecostal churches are struggling to disciple and retain a millennial population. According to a recent Gallup Poll, 57% of religious millennials have church membership, and this represents the lowest percentage among current generations as overall church membership and participation trends downward from 76% in 1948 to 52% in 2018 (Jones, 2019). The factors contributing to the poll must be explored both from outside and inside of the church. One may wonder if the church is providing the proper education and training to attract and retain millennials. The purpose of this qualitative exploratory case study research design will be to explore current pedagogical methodologies and ICT use in Christian education among pastors and teachers in the Gates of Heaven Assembly of Churches (GOHAOC) and to assess the current level of satisfaction with and participation in Christian education ministry activities of the GOHAOC among the millennial members of the church community. At this stage in the research, ICT is defined as a “diverse set of technological tools and resources used to communicate and to create, disseminate, store, and manage information. These technologies include computers, the Internet, broadcasting technologies (radio and television), and telephony” (Amin, 2018, p.2). Pastors, Christian educators, and millennials will be interviewed and surveyed to explore contributing factors to the target group's discipleship practices. The qualitative methodology was chosen to analyze the practices surrounding the research problem. Research findings and recommendations from this research will contribute to the body of literature on discipling millennials.




Teaching for Spiritual Formation


Book Description

In Teaching for Spiritual Formation, church historian and experienced Christian educator Kyle R. Hughes advances a fresh vision of Christian teaching and learning by drawing upon the riches of the Christian tradition, synthesizing the wisdom of the early church fathers with contemporary efforts to cultivate a distinctively Christian approach to education. Of interest to a wide range of Christian educators, this book examines how the writings of five significant church fathers can illuminate our understanding of the vocation of teachers, the nature of students, the purpose of curriculum, decisions about pedagogy, and how spiritual formation works. Besides reimagining these aspects of Christian education, Hughes also offers habits and practices that can help bring this vision of Christian teaching and learning to life, challenging Christian educators to sharpen their approach to the integration of faith and learning in practical and accessible ways.







Re-Imagining Christian Education for the Twenty-First Century


Book Description

The first annual Conference of the National Centre for Christian Education at Liverpool Hope University, held in July 2012, was advertised as: " a multi conference exploring the opportunities and dilemmas facing Christian education and educationalists at a time of significant social and demographic change when the certainties of the 1944 settlement are fast disappearing ... contributing to the debate about effective strategies for the enhancement of Christian education, and what it might offer the diverse, pluralistic society of 21st century England, with its current predominantly materialistic and instrumental perspective on the purposes of education." It attracted delegates from across the world and contributions from distinguished educational practitioners, theorists and administrators. Four main themes emerged from the papers accepted for inclusion in the Conference: the politics of Christian educational provision; vocation and Christian leadership, the formation of teachers as...




Re-Imagining the Church


Book Description

The church. What has it become? What was it meant to be? Does it pave the way or get in the way? Are we suspicious of the institutionalization of church bureaucracy? Or thrilled with the relevant impact of its presence? Robert J. Suderman writes about the church as a practitioner. His inspiration emerges out of the crossroads of biblical vision and human sincerity always tempered with frailty. Years of ministry, never a stranger to complexity, only serve to sharpen the vision of possibility. His imagination of what can be is never divorced from the realities of what is. He does not bow to the common assumption that "you can't get there from here." "Here" is the only possible point of origin for us. In his succinct, easy to understand writing style, Suderman provides insightful and thought-provoking perspectives to what it means to be the church. To be a people "called out" to participate together in God's activity in the world, and to create programs and structures needed for effective ministry are two sides of the same coin. This book is for dreamers and bureaucrats alike; indeed, it assumes that the two are indispensable pieces of God's coming presence. Introduction by: Tom Yoder Neufeld




REImagining Education (for Faith-Based Schools)


Book Description

REImagining Education examines systemic changes that need to occur in order to make education more engaging for students as well as prepare students to live in an Innovation Economy. This book looks at faith based education; what we teach, how we teach and the systems in which we teach.