The Pen is Mightier than the Sword
SPEED LINKS
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INDIVIDUAL ARTICLES
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INDIVIDUAL ARTICLES
Problems with Prayer?
What is an Elder?
www.local-church.org
Another King
[A Christmas Message]
The Three Point Sermon
Our Friendly Church?
The Light of the World
Only One Place – CALVARY
[A Good Friday/Easter Message]
Tithing or Stewardship – Which?
Togetherness!
But For One Thing!
In Whose Name We Preach
Happy Christ-myth
Something Was Missing
Watch Out For False Prophets!
Does God Really Exist?
Twenty-first Century Disciples
If I Have Not Love
The Word of God Stands Forever
Let Us Not Be Ignorant!
Lord Be My Guide
Giants in Our Land!
Jerusalem’s Golden Gate
The Christmas Story in Widescreen
Four Essentials of Christian Living
An Alternative Government
Women in Leadership in the Church
What is an Elder?
www.local-church.org
Another King
[A Christmas Message]
The Three Point Sermon
Our Friendly Church?
The Light of the World
Only One Place – CALVARY
[A Good Friday/Easter Message]
Tithing or Stewardship – Which?
Togetherness!
But For One Thing!
In Whose Name We Preach
Happy Christ-myth
Something Was Missing
Watch Out For False Prophets!
Does God Really Exist?
Twenty-first Century Disciples
If I Have Not Love
The Word of God Stands Forever
Let Us Not Be Ignorant!
Lord Be My Guide
Giants in Our Land!
Jerusalem’s Golden Gate
The Christmas Story in Widescreen
Four Essentials of Christian Living
An Alternative Government
Women in Leadership in the Church
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SERIES ARTICLES
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SERIES ARTICLES
Election and Freewill –
The Quest Begins
Election and Freewill – What I Believe
Election and Freewill – What Others Believe
Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Lord Jesus Christ
Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Deity of Christ
Jehovah’s Witnesses and Christ’s Pre-human Existence
Jehovah’s Witnesses and Christ’s Incarnation and Humanity
Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Death of Christ
Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Resurrection of Christ
The Quest Begins
Election and Freewill – What I Believe
Election and Freewill – What Others Believe
Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Lord Jesus Christ
Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Deity of Christ
Jehovah’s Witnesses and Christ’s Pre-human Existence
Jehovah’s Witnesses and Christ’s Incarnation and Humanity
Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Death of Christ
Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Resurrection of Christ
A New Approach to Education?
COMMITMENT
A New Approach to Education?
RELATIONSHIP
A New Approach to Education?
INVOLVEMENT
A New Approach to Education?
COMMUNICATION
A New Approach to Education?
RESPONSE
COMMITMENT
A New Approach to Education?
RELATIONSHIP
A New Approach to Education?
INVOLVEMENT
A New Approach to Education?
COMMUNICATION
A New Approach to Education?
RESPONSE
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SERMON NOTES
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SERMON NOTES
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A selection of articles set in series which seek to explore one particular subject in each group but are still Christ-centred and Bible-based throughout, prepared from an archive spanning over half a century of Christian ministry, together with more recent writings.
A New Approach to Education?
RESPONSE
RESPONSE
The title of this series poses a deliberate question. In recent years there has been much talk and debate, abundance of literature and frequent conferences held, each discussing what has come to be called “the experiential approach”. But is this really a new approach to Christian education? Would it not be nearer the mark to say that this is a new discovery of an old truth? A case of at last recognising the facts and applying them?
RESPONSE
In this last article we come to perhaps the most fundamental purpose of “the experiential approach” to teaching the Christian Faith – the importance of achieving a response. In many Christian circles this is a new aspect in Christian education, but the Pentecostal Movement * has made it a matter of priority for many years in its programme of educating young people. As Archie A. Biddle says in his contribution to the book Pentecostal Doctrine: “Pentecostals have captured the children and the teenagers in large numbers, as well as the middle-aged and old ... The Gospel brings to birth, but the babies are not left to perish on the doorstep of a materialistic, devil-ridden world. The Holy Spirit provides homes for them where they will be able to grow up to become mature Christian disciples, followers of the way of Christ.” Children must be encouraged regularly to make a definite response to Christian teaching.
The very nature of “the experiential approach” is such that it seeks to promote a response and, as Douglas S. Hubery puts it, “releases the educational process from a mere intellectual exercise, enabling the whole person to respond in confidence and trust to whatever God is offering in the experience-centred session.” As we have already said in an earlier article in this series, the object and aim of every teacher of the Christian Faith must be more than just teaching the Bible; it must be a constant process of training the child to be a good Christian; that Christianity is not just a religion; it is a way of life – a way to eternal life.
We must seek in our “child-centred” teaching to bring about a response from the child towards God; to establish conditions where young children and young people can readily and easily respond to the promptings of God the Holy Spirit. It is vitally important that the Sunday School teacher who is fully committed should leave himself or herself open to the prompting of the Holy Spirit at all times, for He will guide the teacher in this matter of response. Herein lies the most rewarding moment of a Sunday School teachers work. Because of his relationship with each individual child, and the situations in which he has become involved with the young people, he is in a unique position to really know them personally; and because of this unique position the Holy Spirit is able to use the Sunday School teacher at the right moment in the right way.
Generally speaking, the majority of “losses” are a direct result of failing to achieve a spiritual response from those children. Teaching the Christian Faith had become an end in itself. At the age of thirteen or fourteen years (although it is often now at an earlier age than this) the boy or girl feels that he or she is too old for Sunday School – and I suppose in one sense this is so. But the “experiential approach” involves a young person in so many things connected with the Christian Faith, including a vital spiritual response, that Sunday School is not the end but the beginning, the foundation, of a truly useful Christian life.
Then, of course, very closely related to this there is the response in the child’s heart towards the whole approach to Christian education. A chord of response must be struck when he realises that the Bible and what it teaches is not so much a subject on its own (such as geography, history, mathematics, and so on) but a way of life – the Guide Book to the Way of Life. In his book, Teaching Religious Knowledge, Bernard R. Youngman writes: “The Christian faith has been spoken of as being tried and found wanting; today, it too often it doesn’t get tried because it isn’t wanted! And perhaps it isn’t wanted because it isn’t known. Let us be frank. Our children do not know the Faith, or the Bible, as once these were known. It is the Bible that provides the way of life we need to give them.”
Generally speaking, in the Church today – especially evangelical churches – every age group is catered for, even the “over-sixties”! Writing in Pentecostal Doctrine, T. W. Walker reminds us of a scheme of things which developed very early on in some Evangelical Churches, and in particular in the Pentecostal Movement, “whereby there were clearly defined activities for children, youth, women and older people, but there were four focal points every week. There was a worship and Communion service on Sunday morning, a Gospel or evangelistic service on Sunday evening, and a prayer meeting and a Bible study on separate week nights.” It is important that as the children become involved in many of these activities which also bring them into an atmosphere of worship, they will find the opportunities to respond to both social, recreational and spiritual environments.
This series began by suggesting that “the experiential approach” is not so much a new approach to Christian education as a new discovery of an old truth; a case of recognising the facts and applying them. The whole system of teaching the Christian Faith, which should be constantly under review with the aim of improving the system, must always be “child-centred”, and not confined to the classroom. This is the whose essence of “experiential” teaching.
We begin with the committed Sunday School teacher who enjoys a healthier relationship with the children and young people, seeking to involve them in situations conducive to their experience. This he or she follows up with natural and acquired methods of communication, always seeking for a response from each child individually. These five points form the basic framework of “the experiential approach”, and whilst only dealt with briefly in this series, are nevertheless of vital importance, for they are the pattern of the future. It is not really a new approach but a case of realising this to be the only successful approach to Christian education – and an assurance policy for the future Christian Church.
* = Although the writer himself has never been a member of a Pentecostal Church, as this series of articles was written especially for a Pentecostal magazine, research outside his own denomination was necessary to “slant” this article for its intended readers. However, what applies to the Pentecostal Movement applies generally to the majority of Christian churches today.
© 2010 Denis A. Wheadon. All rights reserved. Website: http://www.Pen4God.co.uk. This document is the property
of the Author and must not be displayed on any other websites without permission. Copies may be downloaded
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by email addressed to: denis.wheadon@Pen4God.co.uk
of the Author and must not be displayed on any other websites without permission. Copies may be downloaded
and printed for personal use only. Any contact with the writer or comments concerning an article, can be made
by email addressed to: denis.wheadon@Pen4God.co.uk