ROBERT - Your question might be too general for me to
answer. By discipleship do you mean spiritual formation
of an individual or intentionally being a means of spiritual
growth for someone else?
MELVIN - My answer to your question would be “both.” My
purpose is to promote thinking on the topic, especially
among pastors, educators, and parents.
ROBERT - It is certainly a topic well worth thinking about. I
guess part of my thinking goes to the fact that both my wife
and I along with both of our kids have a Christian world-
view because it wasn’t just at church, but in our daily lives.
I also feel the term Christian worldview may be too vague.
For example, some think Obamacare represents a Christian
worldview, others do not. So what exactly is a Christian
worldview, and how are instructors screened to be sure they
support it? Third, are the instructors trained in discipling,
which is much more than instruction by a Christian teacher?
I offer these questions to further our discussion, and perhaps
even improve the quality of what is being done.
JEANNE - Education to be complete must include P.I.E.S.
physical, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual. Ignoring any
one of these areas may hinder not only cognitive but spiritual
growth in children and teens. The home is where this begins.
Parents are as much or more responsible than educators to
see that this growth takes place. It is easy to leave the whole
education up to the system and church today, however, I
do not believe this is God’s intended will. The church has
and must take a serious responsibility to disciple those
who enter the doors as well as the surrounding community.
Many homes neglect responsibility out of lack of direction
or priorities, among other areas. God forbid that the church
fail to heed the command to nourish and disciple these
young ones.
MELVIN - Jeanne - totally agree! Robert - good points. Check
out www.renewanation.org/about-us/what-is-a-worldview.
ROBERT - Jeanne, thanks for your comments. While I agree
that the church should not neglect the call to disciple, I
fear that most have. The church is God’s ordained vehicle
to carry out His mission, and we do not have the luxury
of leaving that to any other entity, no matter how well
intentioned. We are called to make disciples, but most are
woefully unequipped to do so.
DAVID - I like the Josh Mulvihill article. Thank you for link-
ing to it. The idea of 16,000 hours of impactful education
is astounding. When one looks at the issue in light of real,
meaningful numbers the obvious influence is unavoidable.
It appears Pastor Mulvihill is a great advocate of Christian
education in the Eden Prairie area.
My wife and I understand the value of Christian school.
We have a daughter recently graduated from our local
Christian high school, and our last child at home graduates
in a couple years. The leaders at their school partnered with
us throughout their educational tenure. Not only did they
receive Christian instruction, they received great college
preparation, as well.
One additional thought on education as it relates to
discipleship: I believe, whatever age, believers must educate
themselves about their intended audience. Anthropo-
logically and culturally, missionaries throughout the ages
immersed themselves in the nuances of the culture they
were trying to reach. My oldest daughter and her husband,
missionaries to an African country, understand the over-
whelming need to educate themselves about the culture they
are trying to reach. To evangelize and disciple effectively, we
believers must not shy away from understanding our audi-
ence. Paul’s experience on Mars Hill presents the practical
use of cultural education so beautifully, along with many
other examples from the early Church.
MELVIN - A hearty amen!
ROBERT - So Melvin, to further this discussion and follow up
on some of the other posts, what specific training are your
educators given to both understand their audience and be
more effective as disciplers? Also, I understand what you
mean by worldview, but how do you relate that to specific
issues which Christians seem to differ on?
MELVIN - Robert, great questions. The majority of work we
do is actually in the context of K-12 education (schools).
There are a number of good resources we are aware of which
are very helpful, among them: The Truth Project - Tackett
(general Christian worldview) and Kingdom Education
for the 21st Century - Glen Schultz (DVD assisted training
for Christian educators). We continue to learn of others.
Perhaps you have some you’d recommend. Basically, good
resources like this can be applied for work with families,
schools, churches, even business cultures.
Continued ...
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