Teaching for Christian Formation

There are many things to commend about the Evangelical churches of which I have been a part since the time of my infancy.  Certainly, there has been for the most part a passion for the things and ways of Christ, an active desire to share the message and person of Christ not only with those immediately around us, but also with those of all nations and cultures around the world.  There has been a desire to seek to integrate the Christian life into all aspects of life, and to seek continually after growth in attaining this goal.  There are indeed many areas and ways in which the Evangelical churches of which I have been a part have been active in helping to share the message of Christ with the world and discovering what it truly means to be a Christian. Yet, for most of my life there has been a lack which I have noticed.  Certainly, this feeling of lack was not immediately identifiable as such until the last several years, nor until recently did I really understand exactly what this lack entailed.  This lack I now see as a gap in the life of the church, and one which really did leave me somewhat impoverished as a Christian.  I have realized that while, for the most part, the churches of which I have been a part have been active in calling people out and forth for the Christian life, to do acts of service and fulfill the great commission, there has been really no consistent training in how to truly become Christian ourselves.  That is, while the message of Christ is proclaimed, there has not been teaching which shows and trains the Christian what it means to be transformed, and to truly become a disciple of the one we serve. 

This effective failure of the churches of which I have been a part to teach the life of discipleship and maturity has, I feel, weakened the life of our community, and left many people to struggle on their own with issues and thoughts the church was designed to address.  It is the goal of this paper, then, to reflect on what it truly means to teach for Christian formation and discipleship, to consider the thoughts and ideas this class has raised, and to not only discover how I as a teacher in the church can seek to overcome the tendency to de-emphasize the need for quality teaching and training, but to actually be active in changing this trend.  With this in mind, I will also be creating a teaching model on the life and thought of Paul the Apostle so as to illustrate both the style and content of teaching for Christian transformation.  For the Christian life is not one which comes naturally to most.  Rather we must be taught and trained how to live in a new way, and being taught we must be active in training others to do likewise.

            This discussion of Christian formation is not new to me.  While my actual participation has not been overly active, the topic has really been at the forefront of my mind for several years now.  Actually, one of the primary reasons I see myself at seminary is to be trained how to teach others, and to seek to find new, or even old, models of teaching which can be used in the church so as to help form and teach those in the church what it means to be truly Christian.  The recent discussions in class, while not necessarily new or transforming in themselves, have been for me a time in which to formalize some of my own thoughts, and to bring together my observations and hear how this topic is truly being developed by those whose lives have been dedicated to it.  As a beginner in this study, it is nice to hear those who are masters.  The training I received in this class on Christian Formation and Discipleship actually served most to give me a sense of confidence in my own role, having solidified my thoughts, confirmed some of my impressions, and shown me a wider world of study and thought which has given me a formal background and model for my own teaching and participation.  For me this is not simply a nice step, but it is indeed a very formational aspect of my own development, for while some of my discontent and direction has led me to certain conclusions, the lack of formal training left me somewhat in a position of weak conviction and confidence which certainly had an effect on how I communicated my ideas.  This class served to organize years of mental reflection and point me in a direction of active engagement rather than internal pondering.    I now have a boldness and confidence to actively seek to help build in my own community a new understanding and model of Christian formation and discipleship, and the formal tools to effectively accomplish this goal.

            So what are these concepts and ideas which this class helped to solidify and give me confidence in expressing actively?   The primary and foundational concept from which my thoughts are flowing is the idea that knowledge is only real and true when it is reflected in activity.  Knowing is doing.  In our context this means that teaching can only be really called effective when there is a resultant change in how a person views and lives life, whether in a dramatic or subtle way.  As one seeking to teach for Christian formation and discipleship anything I teach by definition must result in some kind of growth and progress in learning how to live, not simply understand, the Christian life.  It is no longer enough to depend on the simple acceptance of certain propositions or philosophies to be considered truly Christian, rather we must seek to translate these propositions and philosophies into every aspect of our lives and proclaim Christian truths at all times, sometimes using our voices.

            As a teacher, then, I must look past simply trying to convey information, even if the subject matter itself is of great worth.  What is vital is not the amount of knowledge I can cram into someone’s head, but how the knowledge I convey is engaging each person on a deeper level as they seek to grow in the Christian life.  So, as I seek to develop new curriculum and seek to understand and communicate  the vital aspects of the Christian life I must be aware not only of the content which I am presenting but also continually aware of the reception and seek to convey these truths in a way which affects and changes rather than being content by simply presenting the information in an organized fashion.  Although I may be eager to offer deep levels of teaching and progress in a timely manner with Christian concepts, I must remember the example of Paul in going back to the simple again and again until it sinks in before moving onto the meatier aspects of the spiritual life.      

            Connected with this concept is another idea which relates to going past the content.  As a teacher, it is not simply information which I am trying to convey, but in a fuller sense the very concept of how to learn.  Because, of the traditional educational system in and outside of the church, many people do not have a concept of learning which is needed for truly engaging Christian truths.  As teachers we must show and teach how to engage material, how to not only hear and absorb, but how to actively reflect and respond to what is being learned.  While there will be those who naturally integrate their learning with their lives, it is crucial that we as teachers seek to help those who do not naturally work in this way, by teaching in such a way that draws them out and trains them to be active learners, or as Parker Palmer puts it seeing learning not as a task, but as a way of being.   So while we must be aware of how we are presenting the material itself, we must also be cognizant of modeling what may be an entirely new way of learning in general to those in the teaching setting.

            Another concept is the idea of Christian thought, especially Scripture, being not something which we seek out to learn and engage, but rather something which seeks us out, engages and studies us, and points us to a higher way of being.  This is a concept which although seemingly complex is vital to convey in every teaching setting.  We are not learning so that we may be able to find tools for success, tricks and arguments to utilize and manipulate, information which will give us power, but rather what we learn about the Christian journey is higher than ourselves, it points us past the “distorted, debased, and garbled” lives which Mulholland discussed, and towards becoming whole people able to walk in a way which we were designed.  Christian learning simply is not the same as learning about other subjects, and it cannot be treated as such by either the teacher or the student.  It is indeed deeper and more profound than any mere topic, and we must learn and teach others to approach it in a way which reflects this profundity and respond in the holistic manner which it demands.

            If the discovery of Christian truth and thought must result in subsequent change or action, then in this very context my learning of how to teach for Christian formation should necessarily have some kind of corresponding action in my own life.  In developing and discovering this holistic understanding of teaching, I realize for my own life that it is no longer acceptable for me in my spiritual life to simply keep filling my head with knowledge, facts, and arguments.  My quest in being at seminary is not simply to get a degree or to be able to use information for my own vocational goals, but indeed it is to grow spiritually myself, being challenged at every step to translate what I am learning into growth and progress in my relationship with Christ.  In fact, I am noticing that this process began with me even before I became cognitively aware of this, with my finding a growing dissatisfaction with accumulated knowledge, without really letting what I have already learned sink into who I am, and shape me into who I am meant to be.  So,  I realize that for me to become a teacher who seeks to model “learning as a way of being” I need to be very cognizant of truly living my life in such a way, taking the knowledge which is coming at me from so many directions and seeking to adopt and translate this knowledge into wisdom for my life, affecting how I view and respond to God, the world, and my specific community.      

            As I see myself developing in this regard, seeking to understand how Scripture and other Christian truths prod and shape my journey, I am increasingly aware of both the importance of community and of the individual in Christian growth.  The community is vital in our sharing with one another our experiences, our lessons, and to give us a framework for us to grow closer to Christ in all that we do.  We truly are a body, and  I simply cannot be a full Christian, maturing and advancing, without a close community of people whose gifts and understandings complement, and sometimes correct, my own.  Even as a teacher, my knowledge is not complete or full, and I must continually be aware and seeking the insights of those God has brought close to me, inside or outside the classroom setting.  Each person in my community has a vital role to play, a role which cannot be fulfilled by any other person, and to ignore or downplay this fact is to impoverish the community as a whole. 

            We are indeed one body, and although united, we have distinct individual parts to play.  Thus, I cannot expect every person to become excited about what gets me excited, to respond the same way I respond, to grow in the same way I am growing.  What I must learn is how to teach in a manner which is solid and holistic, yet allows for a flexibility of response and learning by the individual.  Especially in trying to teach for Christian formation and discipleship I must be always aware of how each individual is receiving and translating the information.  With this I must, as well as I can, seek to help each individual adopt the content as their own, and seek to find out how it translates in their own life.  Certainly, this is something easier to do in a small group setting than a large classroom, but it is vital that I continue to keep in mind the fact that the information only becomes vital and important if it is being actuated in the lives of each person.  I am simply wasting my words if I spend my time talking about a subject, even of great importance, and there is not a response or growth by the listener or student.  With this in mind I must grow in my awareness of where others are at in their journey, how they most effectively learn, and in a larger setting adjust my own style to reflect different patterns of learning and emphases so that each person is able to grow in their maturity.

            As I write this I am somewhat humbled by the thought of helping someone to mature in Christ when I see so much progress needed in my own life.  That is why I so very much valued the great emphasis placed upon our own private Christian growth as a key to helping others along in their journeys.  I simply cannot expect others to “hear and do” if I am not “doing”, nor can I even think of being spiritually cognizant enough to teach in an effective manner if I am not constantly spending time at the feet of the Master who we all serve.  In ministry it is so easy to become so busy in helping others that we lose sight of our own status, and our souls become depleted and wasted by ignoring our source of strength.  So, while studying and preparing are indeed crucial to an effective time of teaching, what is more important is that I consistently look to feeding my own soul, to growing daily in my relationship with Christ, and make my times of prayer and spiritual disciplining the most important part of my outward times of teaching and ministry.  This is where true teaching derives its impact and the only way I can seek to help others progress in their own Christian walk.