Using Christian Education as a Tool for Church Growth

The Education ministry of the church is the engine room of any local church. It is the ordained means of transforming babes into men. Christian Education involves teaching, training, caring, planning and programming in ways that would inform, equip and positively affect the knowledge, attitude and behaviour of church members. To ignore or relegate this ministry is to jeopardize the future of the church.

The Christian Education ministry of a church is very critical to the well being and even the continuous existence of a local church. This is because Christian education:

}  Is the divinely chosen path to total maturity. Knowledge is essential for growth and development.

}  Stabilizes both individual and church. When people truly acquire godly knowledge they would not be tossed here and there by every wind of doctrine.

}  Reproduces leaders. An effective education ministry will discover and mentor potential leaders.

}  Promotes understanding, commitment and ability to practice Christian teachings.

Teaching and training are effective ways of developing the belief, conviction, confidence and utility values of believers.  People who are spiritually ignorant would plague the church. Those who are unskilled would slow the church’s growth. When the evil one wants to cripple the church he promotes ignorance, misplacement of priorities and the pursuit of shadows.

God expects the education ministry to contribute to the three ways churches grow. Healthy churches grow up, grow down and grow out. They grow in size through conversions of the lost (UP). They grow deep in relationships and spiritual maturity (DOWN). They grow in ministries, church planting and missions (OUT).

For the church to be healthy and for it to grow in ways pleasing to God the church must intentionally teach believers the scripture.  In some churches teaching is confused with talking and listening is equated to learning.  If understanding, conviction and application of what is heard to life has not occurred then people have not learned.  The goal of the church in instructing believers is to produce conviction and application of scripture to life.

Six Factors that Would Affect the Effectiveness of Christian Education Ministry as a Tool For Church Growth

If you want your Church to grow you must intentionally cultivate and nurture the educational ministry your church. To empower your church’s educational ministry you must pay attention to following factors and recommendations:

1.     Teachers (Leaders)

2.     Context

3.     Content

4.     Learners

5.     Teaching Method

6.     Holy spirit

The Teachers: The teacher is probably the most important factor in the learning process. Teaching aids, tested methods and well written curriculum materials become effective tools for change when a teacher that is sound or competent uses them. Conversion experience, character, and all round competence must influence the choice of whoever is allowed to serve as teacher or leader in the educational ministry of the church. 

Recommendation: To enhance the competence of those who are called to serve in the educational ministry of the church you need to:

-      pay attention to the recruitment process

-      organize series of training programmes

-      ensure they participate in Christian Education Conferences.

The Context: How you organize the educational ministry of your church, where you provide for the teaching and learning activities, and what takes place amongst the people during the teaching and learning would affect the results you would get. You need an effective organizational structure and an inspiring learning environment.  

Recommendation: The help the church to maximize her resources and opportunities we recommend that you should:

-      organize a Christian Education Council that would plan, harmonize and evaluate your educational activities

-      appoint a volunteer Education Minister or call a trained Education Minister

-       train your teachers in classroom management techniques.

The Content: The kind of education that produces Christ-likeness and church growth is creative, appropriate but unapologetically biblically sound. Church practices, opinions, research findings, and traditions must be examined in the light of sound biblical interpretations. What you intentionally teach would determine the kind of people and church you would produce. If you teach vanity you would produce ….

Recommendation: To help your church produce effective end-time soldiers we recommend that you should:

-      study all the basic curriculum materials that used in your church

-      ensure that the curriculum are appropriate for the intended age group

-      use the discipleship training resources such as Master Life,

-      send your gifted members to attend our writers’ workshop

-      ensure that you give our Department feedback on the relevance of our resources

The Learners: In a sense, everybody in the church is a learner. The church must provide relevant and appropriate learning experience for all members of the church. All members must continuously be engaged in a form of Bible Study and an appropriate skill acquisition or capacity development ministry of the church.

Recommendation: To help the church become and remain a learning community we recommend that you should:

-      ensure, through period comprehensive evaluation, that you have effective Sunday School, Discipleship Training, Literacy Ministries and Family Life Education ministries

-      ensure that you have clearly defined membership enlistment  and retention  programmes

-      invite our staff to help you during your promotional activities

The Method: Often it is not what you say but how you say what you say that determines the result you get. While some people would respond to your words, others would respond better to what you draw (diagram) or dramatise. The journey to transformation is usually initiated and nurture by speaking in the preferred ‘language’ of the learner.

 Recommendation: To help your teachers become effective in communicating with the learners we recommend that you should:

-       Use methods that actively engage the learners in the learning process

-      Train your teachers to use interactive teaching techniques (You will find the following books written by this presenter, Training Manual for Teachers of Youth and Adults and Activate: Connecting with Learners very helpful)

-      Invest in white boards, flannel graph and projectors.

The Holy Spirit: For the Church to grow through the Educational Ministry of the church the Holy Spirit must be recognised and treated as the Driver and Governor of the Ministry. We must remember that He is the Author and interpreter of the Word. He is also the Teacher and Enabler. We must recognize and use people in the area of their spiritual gifts. To have a Spirit led and growth oriented educational ministry we must not:

}  Quench the Spirit or

}  Grieve the Spirit rather we must

}  Walk in the Spirit and

}  Be filled with the Spirit through communion and obedience

Conclusion:

The Educational Ministry that will lead to growth must be:

·       Christ centered. It must magnify and ensure obedience to Jesus Christ.

·       Communal (Relational). It must encourage healthy and intimate interactions among church members.        

·       Contextual.  It must be relevant and appropriate.

·       Confrontational. It must confont ungodly sterotypes

·       Challenging. It must demand growth and transformation from participant.

·       Creative. It should be interesting and engaging in format and presentation.

The more members are trained to serve and their knowledge of the mission of the church is expanded the more usable they tend to be in the hands of the master.  A membership that is starve of the knowledge of God word will remain a congregation of babes probably tossed around by every wind of doctrine.