Episcopal Press and News
Perry Outlines Recommendations Of Christian Education Task Force
Episcopal News Service. December 10, 1987 [87242]
PRINCETON, N. J. (DPS, Dec. 10) -- The report of the Presiding Bishop's Task Force on Christian Education, presented by the Rev. David W. Perry, executive for Education for Mission and Ministry, was one of the highlights of the Executive Council meeting in Princeton (Nov. 17-20). Christian educators around the country had been waiting for the Church to embrace a new and innovative educational approach for many years. Once Perry began outlining the Task Force's findings and recommendations, there was little doubt that the Episcopal Church was indeed on the threshold of a new era in Christian education.
"One of the greatest challenges to the leadership of the Church," the report stated, "is the empowerment of all Christians through both formal and informal learning opportunities. It is the responsibility of the leadership in each congregation to establish and to develop an environment which enables people to discover themselves and the ministries to which they are called." Perry added that 'When the local congregation develops a responsive and clear sense of mission, it can become both an oasis and a catalyst, a place for spiritual replenishment and growth, and a center for outreach and social change."
As Perry reviewed the many specific suggestions made in the Task Force report, it became increasingly apparent that the Episcopal parish or congregation, its needs and its aspirations, was the true focus of Task Force efforts, and the place where the group envisioned the nurture of Christian education taking place. The Task Force can foresee, Perry said, a learning situation in which "Everyone in the congregation would be a learner and everyone would be a teacher." He underlined the remarks made by the Presiding Bishop in the Council meeting, stressing the integration of all aspects of the congregation's ongoing life: "In the past, many churches have tended to segment congregational life into specific program areas. We have created programs for stewardship, programs for evangelism, programs for children's education, and programs with social justice issues.... Our efforts in the future need to be directed towards seeing congregational life as 'whole cloth.' We need to see the relationships between all aspects of ministry and witness if we are to know the fullness of the Gospel's impact on our lives."
The Task Force report, in its strong insistence on the central role of the individual parish or congregation in Christian education, made a number of specific, practical suggestions on how funding - and human resources -- might be used in the effort to help congregations begin the very basic process of "mission discernment, challenge, leadership development, and action." The report also observes that a similar process would need to be gone through at diocesan, provincial, and national levels. As Perry pointed out, one of the major imperatives for enabling Christian education is the training of new leadership at all levels -- through existing church networks and by innovative training opportunities in many locations.
The Task Force also makes specific proposals for both written resources and resources in other media - video and computer software, for instance. As a basic written resource, the Task Force recommended production of a book to be entitled Called to Teach and Learn in the Episcopal Church, to be distributed to all congregations. "The purpose of the book will be to lift up a new vision for parish education, and to support congregations in discerning their mission. It will provide clear, practical guidelines for quality program planning, curriculum development, and teaching/learning." The book, Perry said, would be available in both English and Spanish, as would the other program materials.
In addition to supervising the production of multi-media materials for Christian education, the Task Force proposed "That the Episcopal Church Center staff, in consultation with a broad representation of the people of the Church, develop and disseminate norms for curriculum materials appropriate for the educational mission of the Episcopal Church...,"and that they also provide training to people involved in the development of curriculum materials at the local (grassroots) level.
The educational program, as outlined for the Task Force by Perry, would be a key element in the Presiding Bishop's new vision, for the next Triennium, of a Church in mission.