Christian Education in the Small Membership Church
Karen B. Tye
Chapter Six & Postscript Review by The Mustard Seed
We’ve covered a lot of
material, considered many factors, focused on important guidelines, and widened
our understanding of teaching and learning as we strive to build/improve the
Christian education ministry within our small membership churches. Even though
we already know this, it bears repeating: there
is no one right way to do Christian education. So, what do we need to keep
in mind as we educate in the small membership church? What guiding principles
should remain before us as we think, dream, plan and do this important
ministry? Certainly we refer often to the who, what, where, when, and how of
Christian education as reminders of our mission. Additionally, the author
provides big-picture insight and inspiration for education in the small church.
Share these lovely quotes with your teachers during the year.
“Our small size is to be
celebrated and cherished for the gifts it brings. We aren’t just a little
church, or we don’t just have forty in worship on Sunday. We are a cell in the
Body of Christ and can faithfully educate our members to do and live as God
would have us. Small is beautiful.” (p. 84)
“Our work is to know and
understand our particular small church and, working as a team with others in
the church, to think through together what will work and what won’t in our
educational ministry.” (p. 85)
“Every community that
wants to last beyond a single generation must concern itself with
education…Whatever our size, education is essential in the community of faith.”
(p. 85)
“Too often the resources
we already have are hidden from view because we are focusing so much on what we
don’t have…It is really a matter of learning to see in new ways. To use what we
have, we have to see what we have. So start looking – you will be surprised at
what you find!” (p. 87)
“Innovate, avoid ruts,
adapt, and keep it interesting. That’s what the principle of imagine and
improvise is all about.” (p. 87)
“…we don’t wait until
failure is upon us to pray. Christian education in the small membership church
is rooted and centered in prayer from the very beginning. Prayer reminds us of
who’s really in charge here.” (p. 89)
“We cannot be too small to be faithful to God’s call.
We cannot be too small to carry out effective Christian education. Without
apology and without excuse, may we carry out the work of Christian education in
the small membership church, knowing that God is with us and the world awaits.
May we be faithful to the task!”
(p. 91-92)
All
quotes within this series of reviews are from the book “Christian Education in
the Small Membership Church”, by Karen B. Tye, which is available for purchase
through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Books A Million. The book was reviewed
by Anna-Sarah Farha, an associate of the Antiochian Orthodox Department of
Christian Education. Anna-Sarah enthusiastically supports the needs and efforts
of Sunday Church School Directors and can be reached at aodce.csdirectors@gmail.com. For further support, join the Orthodox community of
church school directors on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OrthodoxChristianChurchSchoolDirectors
Let
us, as educators and church school directors, consider the words of St. John Chrysostom from his Lessons of
Education, “Having children is a matter of nature; but raising them and
educating them in the virtues is a matter of mind and will…Your children will
always be sufficiently wealthy if they receive from you a good upbringing that
is able to order their moral life and behavior. Thus, strive not to make them
rich, but rather to make them pious masters of their passions, rich in virtues.
Teach them not to think up illusory needs, reckoning their worth according to
worldly standards…The youth to whom you give a good upbringing will not only
enjoy general respect, he will also become dearer to you yourselves! Your
attachment to him will not be a mere natural attraction -- it will be the fruit
of his virtue.”
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