Education and Leadership Ministries Commission
gathers to ponder the future of Christian Formation

Evanston, Ill., May 9, 2011 -- The future of Christian formation in the ecumenical context was considered here April 27-29 by Christian educators at a conference sponsored by the National Council of Churches' Education and Leadership Ministries Commission (ELMC).

Leaders who attended the conference agreed that education must be a major component of church program and mission. "The proper question," said the Rev. Dr. Michael Kinnamon, NCC general secretary, "is not, 'Does the church have an educational program?' but 'Is the church as a whole programmed for education?'"

The conference coincided with the 40th anniversary of the integration of the World Council on Christian Education into the World Council of Churches in 1971. Until that happened, Kinnamon said, Christian education was not a primary focus of the international ecumenical movement.

In the U.S., Christian education was assigned great importance by the National Council of Churches, and Kinnamon noted that the Bossey Ecumenical Institute, one of the world's great centers for Christian education, was founded immediately following World War II, before the WCC came into existence.

"Nonetheless," Kinnamon said, "it was a big deal when the WCCE became part of the WCC in 1971, the World Council having established an office of Education in order to prepare for the merger.  This was a visible sign that education is, indeed, the fourth, and equal, stream of modern ecumenism.  It is very appropriate that we remember this anniversary with a special consultation."

In a message welcoming participants, the Rev. Garland F. Pierce, NCC associate general secretary for ELMC, expressed the hope that the ecumenical space provided for the conference "will be broad and spacious enough for us to wrestle with the difficult issues and realities of our times."

Christian education, Pierce said, is an essential discipleship resource "for the empowerment of people, the strengthening of the church, the good of the world, and to the glory of God."

The conference marked Pierce's last official function at the National Council of Churches. He has been named a senior assistant to the World Council of Churches general secretary, the Rev. Dr. Olav Fykse Tveit, and will live in Geneva, Switzerland.

Psalm 66:12c set the scene for the conference: "...Yet you have brought us out to a spacious place."

"That space," said the Rev. Mayra Castaňeda, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Westfield, N.J., and a conference planner, "was framed through the lens of acknowledging the past of the education stream in the ecumenical movement."

Those lessons, Castaňeda said, will inform Christian educators of today as they set future directions for Christian education.

In his address, Kinnamon presented four educational principles that have guided the National Council of Churches in society, and four that have guided the NCC in the education of the church. (See the full address here.)

Kinnamon said: "We at the NCC have maintained that faith formation, in this era and setting, demands a) biblical literacy (through which we learn to challenge our culturally-shaped prejudices), b) interfaith literacy (through which we come to know neighbors who adhere to other religions), c) cross-cultural literacy (through which we come to relativize our own perspectives by encountering those of others), and d) social literacy (through which we move beyond the individualism of our culture, including the tendency to see education solely in terms of personal betterment).  I hope we will add to this list during our days together."

President Philip Anderson of Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary brought greetings.

Other presenters were:

Fr. Dr. Ioan Sauca, director of the Ecumenical Institute of Bossey, who spoke on ecumenical formation and global Christianity; the Rev. Dr. Eileen W. Lindner, editor of The Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches, who spoke on "Snapshots of the Present;" and the Rev. Dr. Joseph V. Crockett, American Bible Society, who spoke on the bible and Christian formation.

Also, the Rev. Dr. Carmichael Crutchfield, Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, who spoke on formation for justice and witness; the Rev. Dr. Shanta Premawardhana, president of the Seminary Consultation for Urban Pastoral Education, who spoke on leadership development and formation in the context of religious pluralism; and Dr. Marcia Bunge, Valparaiso University, who spoke on childhood and formation.

Also, Dr. Julie Lytle, Episcopal Divinity School, who spoke on the media and technology and the implications for faith formation; John Roberto, Lifelong Formation, who spoke on the future of faith formation; and the Rev. Dr. Daryl B. Ingram, chair, Education and Leadership Ministries Commission. 

Since its founding in 1950, the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA has been the leading force for shared ecumenical witness among Christians in the United States. The NCC's 37 member communions -- from a wide spectrum of Protestant, Anglican, Orthodox, Evangelical, historic African American and Living Peace churches -- include 45 million persons in more than 100,000 local congregations in communities across the nation.

NCC News contact:  Philip E. Jenks, 212-870-2228 (office), 646-853-4212 (cell), pjenks@ncccusa.org