Last week in class, we discussed John Westerhoff's three Christian education metaphors. In my own experience, I can say that each one accurately portrays different times of my life.
My earliest memories of attending Sunday school, at about the 1st or 2nd grade level, exemplify the
Production metaphor. It was a classic school setting where I was grouped into a classroom with kids my own age and we were "taught" to by a teacher. I would say this technique was again mirrored during my time in confirmation. Each week, I would just sit at a desk in a classroom and the pastor or a volunteer teacher would lecture to me and my classmates. In both instances, the setting was formal and less than stimulating. I especially remember the painful times during confirmation classes when, after having lectured for some time, the instructor attempted to engage the students in some sort of discussion. In reality, the instructor just wanted us to recite what had just been presented. No room for discussion. It was just like the classroom scenes from Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
Westerhoff's
Greenhouse metaphor more accurately describes my 4th through 6th grade Sunday school experiences. Clearly the church educators in my congregation started to wise up and divided the Sunday school into groups of similar abilities rather than just age levels. While we met as a combined group of elementary-aged kids for portions of the time, the material was presented for our benefit and much of the small group work was conducted in a way that matched our developmental stage. While I think this may have increased levels of participation, I'm not sure that there was any greater transference of knowledge or understanding.
In contrast to these first two metaphors stands the idea of Christian education as a
Pilgrimage where the teacher and students progress with each other. My time as a post-confirmation junior and high school student active in youth group activities seem to be best described in this manner. The primary person responsible for Christian education during this time was the youth director. Everything we did was done on a journey together. Sometimes this was more figurative in nature, like discussions about faith in very secular settings. Sometimes the educational journey was literal, like trips to Montana to go backpacking at bible camp. No matter the activity, the youth director always engaged the rest of the group as a co-learner and co-experiencer. There's no doubt that those trips were foundational in the formation of my faith. There's something to be said for a journey shared together.
My earliest memories of attending Sunday school, at about the 1st or 2nd grade level, exemplify the Production metaphor. It was a classic school setting where I was grouped into a classroom with kids my own age and we were "taught" to by a teacher. I would say this technique was again mirrored during my time in confirmation. Each week, I would just sit at a desk in a classroom and the pastor or a volunteer teacher would lecture to me and my classmates. In both instances, the setting was formal and less than stimulating. I especially remember the painful times during confirmation classes when, after having lectured for some time, the instructor attempted to engage the students in some sort of discussion. In reality, the instructor just wanted us to recite what had just been presented. No room for discussion. It was just like the classroom scenes from Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
Westerhoff's Greenhouse metaphor more accurately describes my 4th through 6th grade Sunday school experiences. Clearly the church educators in my congregation started to wise up and divided the Sunday school into groups of similar abilities rather than just age levels. While we met as a combined group of elementary-aged kids for portions of the time, the material was presented for our benefit and much of the small group work was conducted in a way that matched our developmental stage. While I think this may have increased levels of participation, I'm not sure that there was any greater transference of knowledge or understanding.
In contrast to these first two metaphors stands the idea of Christian education as a Pilgrimage where the teacher and students progress with each other. My time as a post-confirmation junior and high school student active in youth group activities seem to be best described in this manner. The primary person responsible for Christian education during this time was the youth director. Everything we did was done on a journey together. Sometimes this was more figurative in nature, like discussions about faith in very secular settings. Sometimes the educational journey was literal, like trips to Montana to go backpacking at bible camp. No matter the activity, the youth director always engaged the rest of the group as a co-learner and co-experiencer. There's no doubt that those trips were foundational in the formation of my faith. There's something to be said for a journey shared together.
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