Book Review- TrueFaced: trust God and others with who you really are

Where has TrueFaced been all these years since being published in 2004? I wish I had read it then, and several times since. Written by Bill Thrall, Bruce McNicol, and John Lynch, TrueFaced is an authentic exploration of practical theology concerning living by grace. It calls  believers to set aside masks which hide their real selves. On the book cover Shakespeare is quoted as saying, “God hath given you one face, and you make for yourselves another.” Indeed, that sums up the problem. The authors bravely excavate the human heart which attempts to protect itself from discovery. They offer a better way, if only we believe it is possible. Grace.

Divided into six chapters, TrueFaced addresses the topic as follows:

1. Keeping Up Appearances.
2. To Please or to Trust?
3. Grace Works!
4. The Supreme Gift of Grace: Love
5. The Sweetest Gift of Grace: Repentance
6. The Most Mysterious Gift of Grace: Forgiveness
7. Maturing into God’s Dreams for You

Their presentation is not a fadish new paradigm of self-help pop-psychology; it is biblically rooted, pastorally relational, and it offers a way of living in liberty as our real selves in relationship to God and each other. Isn’t that something worth exploring more deeply?

We desperately want connection but we fear revealing our true selves because we do not want others to be utterly disappointed with us. So, we construct masks which we perceive others desire to see. And perhaps they they can be convinced that we have it together for awhile. But, God is not fooled, and neither are those closest to us. As the masks become more complex the burden of maintaining their appearance weighs heavily, causing us to withdraw all the more from others so they do not “out” us. Who are we kidding? Is this the kind of life we really want? Or would we rather live in liberty?

Liberty, however, is risky. It means dealing with that one thing that brings the most shame: sin. We all suffer from it, although few admit it openly. So, we live in a paradigm of trying to please each other, and worse, trying to please God. In other words, we try to act like good persons who do good things and who exhibit good attitudes while stuffing the sin stuff down deeply inside so no one else can see it. And it escapes anyway, eventually exposing our masks for what they are. Our works-based theology is seen for what it is. And our personal righteousness is exposed as filthy rags fit only to be discarded. It leaves us in the ashes of despair and disillusionment after all those years of play-acting.

But there is an alternative. Trust in God and his righteousness through the person and work of Jesus Christ. In this paradigm grace enters the relationship. Our righteousness is actually Christ’s righteousness imputed to us so that we have liberty simply to trust God and walk in that trust. We have freedom to risk confessing our sins, rather than hiding them. We have freedom to fall on the mercy of God, rather than the burden of being judged on the basis of trying to please him through our own inadequate works of righteousness.

I highly recommend TrueFaced to any person who wishes to deal honestly with who they really are, and to set aside the masks which prevent them from moving into liberty which is only found in Jesus Christ. If you want deliverance from bondage to works-based theology and habitual patterns of sin, this book will give you good initial guidance for setting yourself on the right path. But do not try to navigate that path alone, as books so often tempt us to do. Invite grace-filled friends to walk with you on the journey.

Book Review: “A Million Miles in a Thousand Years” by Donald Miller

Donald Miller has done it again. He has written a book which has gripped my heart in a way that makes me wonder how he possibly could have known the journey I have been taking in the past several weeks. Of course, he obviously couldn’t have known. Having only met him once briefly at a Mentoring Project event in downtown Portland last year, I am confident he would not remember me, much less know anything about me. But his book suggests otherwise. Why is that? 

This is the universal appeal which “A Million Miles in a Thousand years” offers to the reading public. The book speaks to the universal longing for meaning in each life. 

After the success of his memoir, “Blue Like Jazz,” two producers approached Mr. Miller with the idea of turning the book into a movie. He agreed to meet with them and eventually agreed to do the project. During the process of transforming his memoir, his life, into a movie script, Miller quickly learned about the editing process. An interesting protagonist must have a significant goal and experience great difficulty through narrative conflict in order to make the story interesting. This and other necessary plot points turned the script into a story about a character which is nothing like Miller’s real life, a point he admits is embarrassing since the character is far more interesting. Yet it also motivated him to explore editing his personal life using the model of movie script writing. “A Million Miles in a Thousand Years” is his story of how this came about, and what he learned through the process. He suggests it is possible for people to edit their own lives to create hope, meaning and significance. I think he is on to something important.

Too many people let life happen to them as if they were last minute bit players in a community theater with no hope of an interested audience. So, they go through the motions, feeling like victims to cruel fate, rather than full participants in a narrative full of joy and significance. I anticipate some folks will raise concerns that the book’s theme of editing a life contradicts the concept of God’s sovereignty. This is an unfortunate excuse to toss aside personal responsibility and stewardship for the life God has given each of us. Although there surely is a bit of paradox at work here, I do not perceive a necessary contradiction.

“A Million Miles in a Thousand Years” is extraordinarily readable and likable. With stories which are embarrassing, hilarious, grief-stricken, and sobering, Mr. Miller probes his own story with transparent humility, showing us the way toward serious life reflection and editing for our own preferred futures. We already know he can write, and this book once again proves it. Now he is showing us he can live meaningfully, suggesting ways for us to join him in discovering the adventures God has for us.

**REVIEWER’S NOTE: This is a notice that I personally purchased my copy of  “A Million Miles in a Thousand Years,” a practice I maintain with any product or service I review on this blog.

Portland Hill Walks: A New Journey for Me

I long have had a fascination for destinations in far off locales. The culture. The music. The geography and architecture. Especially the language, and the variations of coinage and customs. In recent years I have gained an appreciation for my own location, right here in the Portland area. So to remedy my relative ignorance of the nuances pertaining to Portland life, I intend, to some degree, to trace the footsteps outlined in the book I recently purchased entitled Portland Hill Walks: Twenty Explorations in Parks and Neighborhoods by Laura O. Foster. She gives suggested routes, plus many pointers on how to carry them out, how to get there, what to eat, and what to expect in the actual process of walking the routes.

Some of the walks will require me to take easier route variations, as I am not in the proper condition required for their rigorous demands. As I understand it, they will afford me the chance to see some interesting geography, history, architecture, and culture. Plus there will be tasty cuisine to sample during times of refreshment.

I will be sure to bring my camera and blog my experiences over the coming months as I slowly try the walks one by one. Also, I will plan easier walks, especially in some of the interesting downtown areas, where sculptures, fascinating buildings and interesting people abound.

Book Review- Making Room for Life

For several years I have felt an awkward unease with how I have conducted my life while serving the Lord in my family, my church, the marketplace and in my academic journey. Yet I have had difficulty identifying the root source of my discomfort, especially since I was often showered with so much affirmation from those who are a part of my life in all of these arenas. Multi-tasking and ambitious goal achievement was lauded, even expected. Burnout was seen as an outcome of inadequate management skills, rather than a systemic problem with the burn-the-oil-at-both-ends-of-the-candle work ethic, better known as being a borderline workaholic. So rather than cutting back obligations and limiting them to those that are most important, I worked all the harder to learn strategies for managing multiple projects and working relationships. In the past year, I have begun to say, “Enough!”

Randy Frazee, in his book Making Room for Life: Trading Chaotic Lifestyles for Connected Relationships, brings potent clarity to what I have long been feeling. His book is not the first to raise the issue of creating margin in life, but it seems to be the most effective in identifying the most common problems and suggesting alternative solutions which are workable and sustainable. He calls for no less than a complete turn-around in how we live our lives. His suggestions are meant for those who are ready to say to their current lifestyle, “Enough!”

I imagine that many in Western culture will decry the apparent idealism inherent in some of his suggestions, such as no non-family activities after 6 pm. Some of their criticism is well-taken, especially in terms of implementing all the suggestions immediately. However, they would do well to remember that Dr. Frazee suggests that they would be better off gradually introducing this new way of living into their lifestyles, rather than diving into it cold-turkey. He adds that others, however, should take the principles and implement them right away, in keeping with their all-or-nothing sensibilities.

My one regret is that the book does not give more attention to the realities of adults who are single, yet must also strive to make room for life. There are similarities, but there are also differences. The fact is, most people, at some point in their lives will experience adult singleness at least for a season, whether it is through choosing not to marry, not yet experiencing marriage, becoming divorced, or experiencing widowhood. As a single person, never married and with no children, my adult life has been filled with the assumption held by church people, my family, seminary professors, and bosses in the marketplace that I have unlimited time to devote to areas which meet their needs. My observation is echoed by the hundreds of single adults I have conversed with over the years. I believe a chapter or two devoted to this unique issue would very helpful. I do not think it should be a separate book, since it would then likely be overlooked by those who need to read it the most.

Particularly helpful to me in the book, was the grid of circles representing the relationships I manage. As I outlined the varied relationships and analyzed them, especially in terms of their respective lack of interconnectedness, I was once again reminded how far I have to go to make room for life in my own situation. It provided me a visual representation that motivates me to navigate the necessary process of making choices which give primacy to the most important relationships and activities, and either removes or limits those that have lower priority. It was the splash of cold water which helped me recognize reality as it is, rather than my comfortable perception.

I also was helped by the view into the lifestyle of the Bedouin shepherds. Comparing their way of living with even the most relaxed US American (and I consider myself pretty relaxed these days) is really quite shocking, underlining the degree to which we truly are a consumerist society, even those who are the most modest among us. It is as if our ability to attain wealth and purchase goods is intrinsic to our spirituality. We have only to browse the foyers and parking lots of the average US American church, or visit our own homes with an outsider’s pair of eyes to see the truth of this.

Making Room for Life is a necessarily challenging, provocative, and encouraging book which should be a must read for every Christian who is sufficiently frustrated with the status quo, as I am. They may not agree that every suggestion is right for them, but they will no doubt be challenged to make room for life in a realistic and sustainable way.

Report Review: Hardwired to Connect

Hardwired to Connect: The New Scientific Case for Authoritative Communities, YMCA of the USA, Dartmouth Medical School & Institute for American Values, publisher Institute for American Values. (To order, go to www.americanvalues.org > bookstore > Reports > Hardwired to Connect > follow order instructions)

The Commission on Children at Risk, under the direction of principle investigator Dr. Kathleen Kovner Kline of Dartmouth Medical School, and comprised of thirty-two additional distinguished USA scholars, published this brief but impressive report in 2003. They have identified the “twin dimensions of the crisis of American childhood” (33).

First, disturbingly high and apparently rising rates of depression, anxiety, attention deficit, conduct disorders, thoughts of suicide, and other forms of mental and emotional stress among U.S. children and adolescents.

Second, influential intellectual models of individual risk-assessment and treatment which, while valuable, seldom encourage us, and often prevent us, from recognizing the broad environmental conditions that are contributing to growing numbers of suffering children. (33)

Together, based on a large literature review, eighteen commissioned papers, and lengthy collaboration, they have concluded that “we are hardwired to connect to other people.” Second, “we are hardwired to connect to moral meaning and to the possibility of the transcendent.” As a core proposition, they posit that “authoritative communities are groups that live out the types of connectedness that our children increasingly lack.” This leads them to the rational that we must seek to build and renew authoritative communities as an integral dimension of the ecology of our society (33).

In their words, this is a “bio-psycho-social-cultural model of child development.” It seeks to “integrate the ‘hard science’ of infant attachment and child and adolescent brain development with sociological evidence of how civil society shapes outcomes for children” (7).

The commission hastens to add that by authoritative they do NOT mean authoritarian. They are not suggesting coercive methodologies. Rather, they mean authoritative by virtue of communities which create healthy conditions for the next generation by building a “good life” for them (35).

Ten Main Characteristics of Authoritative Communities (34)

1. It is a social institution that includes children and youth.
2. It treats children as ends in themselves.
3. It is warm and nurturing.
4. It establishes clear limits and expectations.
5. The core of its work is performed largely by non-specialists.
6. It is multi-generational.
7. It has a long-term focus.
8. It reflects and transmits a shared understanding of what it means to be a good person.
9. It encourages spiritual and religious development.
10. It is philosophically oriented to the equal dignity of all person and to the principle of love of neighbor.

The report says much more than what I haved communicated here. With non-technical prose, the commission passionately appeals to every person, organization, family, institution and entity to take part in building authoritative communities which strive to improve the ecology of children’s lives. They recognize the limitations of their research and suggestions and say so clearly in the text. Yet they are not simply calling for targeted attention to specific at-risk groups of children, as important and necessary as that is. They are calling for fundamental change in how broad USAmerican culture (with its multiplicity of cultures contained therein) relates to its children. Quite possibly there will be points of relevance to cultures in the rest of the Western world and in the Majority world as well.

Suggestions for the Local Church and their Children’s Ministries

1. Go to the url posted above and purchase this report. It costs $7 dollars, plus $3 shipping. It is a quick, but enlightening and convincing read.
2. Ask yourself how you might make adjustments in your ministry which benefit the children and families you influence, taking into account the inculcation of the ten characteristics cited above. For example, if children tend not to have the benefit of multi-generational influence on a regular basis, how might that be changed in healthy ways?
3. Challenge yourself to think beyond short-term solutions (not to forget them, but to think beyond them) and to consider long-term substantive adjustments by which all other goals, initiatives and activities must be measured. What are the core principles, in light of this report, which must inform decisions concerning how best to minister to your local neighborhood and the parishioners of your church?
4. Challenge yourself to think beyond simply the academic model of doing ministry (teach them what they need to know; this is important, but on its own is inadequate, in my judgement). Consider their need for connectedness in the family and with peers. Consider their need for connectedness with God through prayer, worship, liturgy, sacrament, etc.
5. Many of my readers are the proverbial choir who are already doing this…. But do not simply give lip service to “partnering with parents to nurture and train up children.” DO IT in practical, substantive, measureable ways. I would suggest moving beyond the theoretical which is typically delivered through traditional classroom settings or training sessions. Give opportunities for hands-on collaborative learning and mentoring. Give opportunities for community connectedness whereby families may model for each other spiritual maturity and positive parenting.

I could go on, and soon I will. For now, I trust that this sparks our thinking. I have probably missed some things which are obvious to you. Share them! As the commission repeatedly says in its report, there will be required a variety of contextualized strategies which are appropriate for specific situations. This is true in the many kinds of churches as well. Some of the things which will be appropriate for my church, might not be timely for yours. This is why it will be helpful for you to connect with the parents, leaders and team members in your settings.

Blessings,

Glen Woods

Missiological Implications of Epistemological Shifts: Affirming Truth in a Modern/Postmodern World–Book Review

As part of the Christian Mission and Modern Culture series, Missiological Implications of Epistemological Shifts: Affirming Truth in a Modern/Postmodern World by Paul G. Hiebert (Trinity Press International, 1999) is a first rate contribution to the ongoing discussion regarding mission and epistemology, particularly as it pertains to the real world practice of ministry. Admittedly not a trained philosopher, Dr. Hiebert nevertheless has made the gnarled abstractions of epistemology accessible to the thinking practitioner.

Dr. Hiebert provides us with an understanding of the basic contours epistemology germaine to the ongoing conversations regarding the cultural ebb and flow of modernity and postmodernity. The book is arranged in three major sections: 1.The Epistemological Foundations of Positivism; 2. The Epistemological Challenges of Instrumentalism and Idealsm; and 3. Critical Realism–A Way Ahead. Additionally he offers sixteen concise figures which provide, in some cases, diacritical analyses of the subjects covered in the text, and in other cases illustrative examples.

The first two sections set the stage for explaining and contrasting his adopted perspective, Critical Realism. Although he is not dogmatic in his assertions, he does provide strong arguments as to why he thinks critical realism is a better way forward. Notably, in the process he critiques the positivism of modernity and the instrumentalism of postmodernity. Postmodernity, he argues rightly, is a negative reaction against modernity, often for good reason, but not so often with ideas for a better way forward. Postmodernity tends to focus a bit more on deconstruction and criticism, sort of as a inevitable antecedent of its reluctant forebear, rather than as a healthy corrective. However, I would add that there is much to be thankful for in certain elements of postmodernity and the emerging church movement in the Western hemisphere, namely the call for holistic gospel and ways of doing church, and a move away from Greek dualism, which unfortunately separates concern for the soul from concern for health and social justice. Moderns generally tend to think and act as if body and the material is bad and the spiritual is good. This is not a biblical concept.

On page 107, Figure 15 is offered as a comparative chart of the Epistemological Shifts Western Thought. I will use the next few paragraphs to describe partially the conflicting views. Critical Realism is posited as globalism and vice versa. Whereas modernity espouses positivism which declares, for example, that a photograph is an exact representation of truth, and whereas postmodernity suggests alternatively that a Rorschach instrumentalism reveals relevant truth perspectivally, globalism as defined by critical realism offers maps, blueprints and models as partial representations of truth. Critical realism then, argues that there is an ultimate reality, a truth that is independent of human perception, but also suggests we can know in part to the extent that ultimate reality reveals itself to us, and to the extent we are able to observe and perceive in the natural.

Positivism focuses strictly on absolutes, often naively so. Instrumentalism focuses on the pragmatic vis-a-vis the perspectival and often, as they are so often accused, the relative. Positivism tends to be reductionistic while instrumentalism is usually pluralistic and fragmented. Both worldviews focus almost entirely on their own preferential tendenz. Critical realism, on the other hand, suggests a different way, an integrative metacultural perspective, neither modern nor postmodern, neither positivism nor instrumentalism.

Anthopologically, the positivism of modernity adheres to evolution, specifically articulating the unity of humanity and civilization and absolutes. Positivism focuses on one comprehensive theory to describe everything. The instrumentalism of postmodernity, on the other hand, offers particularistic theories, reflecting the diversity of cultures and humanity. Wheras modernity tends to be etic, absolute and sender oriented, postmodernity is characterized by functionalism, emic, relative and receptor oriented. Critical realism, however, is postfunctional, focusing on the unity/diversity of human cultures, etic/emic, absolute/relative, correspondence oriented, and integration of several comprehensive theories. For critical realists, the goal is a metatheology leading to community based theology rather than simply the systematic comprehensive theology of modernity or the deconstructionist and pluralist theology of postmodernity.

This serves as a poignant reminder of the helpful elements of both modernity and postmodernity. The former focuses on the text and rightly so. The latter on social context and rightly so. Globalism posits the necessity of the text in context, which is to say doing theology within the rubric of the social sciences so that the text truly can be communicated and understood within varied human contexts. Lest anyone within modernity should see red here, I am not suggesting that culture should inform the meaning of the text. I am suggesting that practitioners and scholars should gain particular understanding of specific cultural contexts so that we may communicate appropriately the sacred text with winsome clarity.

This implies, as Hiebert suggests, an incarnational witness which offers revelation from above to all cultures, rather than simply the West to the East as in modernity, or simpy dicovery from within as in postmodernity. The confrontationalism of modernity is rightly critiqued by postmoderns as being no longer effectual, at least not in the postmodern culture of many western cities. But to be fair, the nonconfrontational approach of postmodernity may also prove to be equally ineffectual. Surely there must be a middle groud, a better way forward. Hiebert suggests that the “hard love” which can only be effectively employed by legitimate incarnational witness offers the best alternative.

For my part, I am not prepared to do away completely with confrontation, where appropriate. Nor am I prepared to disregard as a fad the postmodern preference of nonconfrontational evangelism, understanding that sometimes this is the very sort of thing God will use to draw the lost to him in specific contexts. I wish that writers from both worldviews would tone down their antipathy and rhetoric toward each other.

As I reflect on my reading of this book, I feel called to weigh carefully the weaknesses and strengths of the opposing worldviews, namely modernity and postmodernity, but not so much that I accept uncritically the critical realism set forward by Hiebert. I think his thesis is timely, even if the book is a bit dated. Yet I ask myself, how might I as a practitioner, take the best implied by critical realism and integrate it into my own life and ministry?

Book Review- Simply Christian: Why Christianity Makes Sense

I finished my first reading of N.T. Wright’s book “Simply Christian” this afternoon with the full intent of reading it again. This volume is a magisterial and accessible treatment of what it means to be Christian, intersecting the best of theological scholarship and the most relevant of pastoral concern. It is magisterial in the sense that he writes cogently, demonstrating mastery of the complex interface of multiple scholarly disciplines. It is accessible in that even the most skeptical yet thoughtful reader will be challenged to consider carefully his persuasive and winsome narrative approach to the issues.

Notably I was deeply moved at several points in my initial reading of the book. As someone who has been raised in various expressions of free church ecclesial traditions I had never seriously considered anglican scholarship due to unfortunate disregard on one hand, and disagreement on a few key issues on the other, some peripheral and others less so. Nevertheless N.T. Wright has earned my sincere gratitude with the writing of this book.

One key issue I should like to highlight is that of the intersection of heaven and earth via the temple and via the incarnation according to the biblical record. Specifically the temple as abode for God immediately lends itself to a deeper understanding of humans being temples of the Holy Spirit. This is not some offhand consideration in the biblical framework. It is central to what it means to be humans made in the image of God. Indeed, our humanness, Wright would argue, is most fully realized as we embrace our role as image bearers for God, as temples of the Holy Spirit. Consider what this implies! God himself chooses to dwell in our hearts, our temples, so that he may be in redemptive community with us, depositing his Spirit as the guarantee and empowering us to be his embassadors of heaven this side of eternity.

Correspondingly, the bodily resurrection of Jesus does not simply provide us the hope of eternal life, that is to say life after death. It actually provides hope of “life after life after death.” Specifically, Wright reminds us that there will be a new heaven and new earth and that there will be a bodily resurrection of redeemed humans whereby we will experience a fully redeemed creation, one that has been delivered from the present taint of evil by virtue of God’s sovereign purposes. Creation, he argues, is good. And also the lives we live now are significant in the economy of God’s Kingdom. We do not have to wait, as many in evangelical and free church circles tend to think, for what happens after death to realize God’s redemptive purposes in our lives. God is on the move now in and through us as a community of faith vis-a-vis our role as the church and individually as image bearers of God.

Children Among Us: Foundations In Children’s Ministry

Children Among Us: Foundations In Children’s Ministry was edited by Cassandra Williams and published by Witherspoon Press in 2003. Fourteen contributors were enlisted to write or collaborate on specific chapters within the book. While it is designed to meet the needs of ministers and educators within the Presbyterian Church USA denomination, practitioners from other theological and ecumenical distinctives will benefit from the results of this ambitious effort.

Not surprisingly for a group that hails from a mainline tradition, there is a substantial emphasis on advocacy, and rightly so. Additionally there are helpful overviews pertaining to child development, learning styles theory and multiple intelligences theory.

This is the sort of book that can act as a resource for specific issues. It would serve well in an academic setting as one of many required readings in courses on educational ministry or children’s ministry. One word of caution: Although it is a relatively recent work (2003), its cited statistics are rapidly becoming dated. So it behooves the reader to access current statistical information rather than relying solely on the information contained therein.

I hope that the editor has opportunity to commence further efforts in publishing for the benefit of the church.

Out of the Basement: A Holistic Approach to Children’s Ministry

Out of the Basement: A Holistic Approach to Children’s Ministry was written by Diane C. Olson in 2001. This is a serious effort that explains the theological and philosophical foundations of a United Methodist Church perspective toward children’s ministry. Written in a winsome and cogent fashion it should appeal particularly to children’s ministry leaders and pastors within the United Methodist tradition, but also to thoughtful practitioners from other traditions. It appears to assume a college or seminary educated audience based on its vocabulary and style, but it’s numerous personal illustrations make it accessible beyond the academic world.

There is much that is positive about the book; much that should challenge evangelicals to raise the bar in ministry expectations. Evangelicals would do well to look at mainline denominational ministries to learn from what they do with excellence. Without question in my view, social compassion and justice are high among those characteristics in which they excel.

Olson highlights the complementary (my word) difference between acts of compassion and acts of justice. To illustrate she uses the example of people floating by injured on a river as we stand on the bank of the river and watch. She says, “Pulling the people out of the river and tending to their injuries are acts of compassion. When you walk upriver to find out why people are being injured and stop the people from being injured, you have accomplished an act of justice” (Olson, 47).

This is an excellent illustration and explanation. But I found myself a bit confused at an earlier statement which seemed to contradict it. Describing her current urban ministry setting in the heart of Chicago she said, “Not included in this system in this church setting are vacation Bible school, afterschool ministries, and other weekday children’s ministry for school-aged children. I believe in and support these ministries in other settings, but we have a geographical disadvantage. The church is located in the heart of the city and a long drive from most of the members’ homes” (Olson, 19).

Perhaps her church is away from any residential areas. I am not sure. To be fair that may be the case. However, my first impression on reading her statement is that activities of the children’s ministry must be designed for church members, rather than outreach based. Therein lies the apparent contradiction with her statement above. Isn’t that a type of injustice? Again I am sure I do not have all the information. Indeed most churches in the USA urban areas tend to be commuter churches. My point is that local neighborhoods near our church locations need Christ and it would be an act of compassion and justice to be intentionally incarnational in reaching out to them, regardless of whether our regular members can attend certain events. In my view this is an an integral aspect of missional thinking.

This minor point was my only real quarrel with the whole of the book. I do recommend it to any serious ministry practioner. It is a quick read with many valuable insights and a helpful annotated bibliography.

Shaking of the Foundations

In his seminal book “Will Our Children Have Faith” John H. Westerhoff, III grapples with the state of Christian Education. Originally published in 1976 by Seabury Press and later revised, expanded and republished in 2000 by Morehouse Publishing, Westerhoff’s discourse deserves wider consideration from church leaders, children’s ministry leaders and educational thinkers beyond the scope of mainline denominations. While many evangelicals would quibble with some of his theological assumptions–he is Anglican, having been originally Church of Christ–they would be wise to listen to the heart of a man who has walked out the struggle of shifting educational tides, especially in the church context. He is a distinguished scholar to be sure. But more importantly he is a thoughtful practitioner of ministry.

He begins his book by sharing his own story. I will not attempt to steal his thunder here, but his brief autobiography surely does shed light on his own sensibilities, theologically and sociologically. Essentially he believes that education in the church is being shaken to the core from a foundational standpoint. He challenges the necessity of modeling church schools after the example of secular education and psychology. While he recognizes the many helpful insights of those disciplines he feels that the church has bought into it wholesale. Notwithstanding my own background in educational ministry at Western Seminary, I share his concern.

Think about it. We are really good at teaching children facts–well many churches are good at it, some are less so but that is another debate–but how well do we do with inculcating a life of following Jesus Christ into their hearts and minds and actions? Again some do this better than others. As I look back on my own ministry I cringe at certain memories; certain opportunities lost.

Building a knowledge base is truly important. Building postive character attributes is also truly important. But there is only one thing that gives dynamic life to both of those characteristics. We must build a foundation of knowing and walking with God daily in the hearts of our children.

I am sure that Westerhoff would point out the helpfulness of sacred rituals and shared story. I concur with that observation. By sacred ritual I refer to prayer, Bible reading and memorization, service, holy communion, giving, water baptism, observance of holy days and so on. Remember I said sacred ritual, not empty ritual. I do not mean to imply that mere repetition of certain sacred acts is in itself beneficial–although repetition does remind us of important details in our relationship to God–but I do mean to imply that in the cycle of the weeks, months and years we would do well to guide children and their families into deeper understandings of their relationship to God by recalling to their minds the sacred rituals that are integral to the Christian experience.

Evangelicals, especially in my own tradition, have largely forgotten the fullness of the church calendar. For most of us Easter lasts one day, or at best one week if you include the week preceeding it. We completely miss out on the meaningful observation of the entire Lenten season, starting with Ash Wednesday. We also forget about observances following Easter Sunday, culminating in the Ascension of our Lord. Why is this? A fear of following empty ritual? Of being legalistic? As I reflect on my childhood I regret that I was not exposed on these rich traditions and observances at a much earlier age.

Westerhoff would also point out the importance of the arts to which I certainly do agree. I support the encouragement of the arts not only in the traditional sense, but also in other less often recognized forms, at least in my church tradition. We are accustomed to vocal and instrumental music and drama. But what about painting and drawing? What about poetry and novel writing? What about pottery and other forms of multi-dimensional artistry? What about comedy and improvisational sketches? What about blogging? I won’t dare mention dancing here because that just goes too far. But why not, if it is done honorably and as a form of worship unto the Lord?

All of these expressions can provide a basis to formulate fresh understandings of our journey of faith. And it doesn’t stop there. I haven’t even mentioned sports, book clubs, debate clubs or the like. Those all must be discussed at a later time.

The foundations of Christian Education may well be shaking from a certain point of view. That is to say the secular schooling foundations are shaking. But the true foundation which is rooted in the biblical text strong. Perhaps it is just the scaffolding erected around the biblical foundation–quite unnecessarily I might add–that is being shaken. What do you think?