There is little question that there is a problem evident in the Christian Education arm of the evangelical church in North America. As I stated in an earlier post, there are probably many of reasons for this predicament and, thus, the solution is multifaceted. To that end, I want to tackle a few of these reasons in several sequential posts (they will come more regularly now that I am fully back from vacation).
I want to begin this series of posts by addressing the fact that part of the problem is that we have looked at Christian Education more as Indoctrination.
Let me explain…
I define “indoctrination” as simply teaching people what to believe rather than education, which I assert is teaching why we believe in something. Education, while teaching one’s view, also endeavors to accurately and truthfully understand the other side of the issue. The motivation for indoctrination is, on the surface, a good one: we want to protect our people, our kids and our youth from being led astray. Therefore, we focus on what they should believe rather than helping them fully understand the issue and owning their belief for themselves. In summary, indoctrination is simply loaning one’s belief rather than allowing someone to own it for him or herself through education.
Anecdotally, I have seen this play out with many young people who have gone to university after attending 18 years of church programs. When they attend university, they are faced with the complexity of an argument or a belief that they were unaware existed. Because they had never been taught the essential skills of discernment and critical reflection, they are left afloat with no paddle to navigate themselves through these waters and often end up confused and lost. Specially, I have seen this play out with the evolution debate with many young people unaware of the complexity of the discussion. If they have never been taught the tools to figure this out for themselves, they end up confused or even worse, willing to give up on their faith.
I, obviously, get the complexity of education rather than indoctrination. It is more difficult to do, it is messier and you may, as the teacher, end up in a discussion beyond your pay-grade. That being said, we have to be training people how to theologically reflect on issues that are not as simple as some make them out to be.
I admit I have probably been guilty of simplifying complex issues, sadly to the detriment of my students/parishioners but the challenge still remains. I believe it is our goal to create disciples who have the tools to learn on their own and critically think for themselves. This is a difficult task but we are living in the alternative and I, for one, am not satisfied with the results!
