In Toward a Theory of Instruction, Jerome Bruner insists that a theory of development must be linked both to a theory of knowledge and to a theory of instruction, “or be doomed to triviality.” (Bruner p. 21)

I’ve long felt that this is partly the reason so much of what passes for Christian education is at best benign, and that at worst, it has a tendency to trivialize faith. Being “interesting” may provide enough impetus to keep people coming back to participate in church religious education for a while, but ultimately, there are more “interesting” things in the world to capture and hold our attention if entertainment is our vehicle for retaining people’s participation in Christian education. An effective Christian education program (1) must give rigid attention to the developmental dynamics and processes of its subjects (learners), including motivation (which is based on “need” and not “interest”), (2) must hold to an epistemological philosophy of how learners learn (including an answer to the question, “how learners learn faith”), and, (3) must apply and practice a theory of learning related to how to teach, be it instruction, nurture, education, mentoring, etc.

[Read more...]

I recently got a surprise evening phone call from a member at my former church. She had been in my Sunday school class and we had served together briefly on a church committee. Despite it having been over eight years since we last spoke, with little preamble she said, “I need to ask you a question.”

“O.k.,” I said, “What is it?” thinking to myself that conversations that start out this way often come to unfortunate ends. And her question did catch me by surprise, but not in the way I was beginning to anticipate.

[Read more...]

During a recent consultation I tried to help a minister work through some stuckness. He was stuck in what I call a “binding triangle” as a result of falling into the trap of the myth of confidentiality. A church member had come to the pastor to share some information. As typically happens, the reporting church member prefaced her comment with “Please keep this confidential.” To which the minister, falling into the trap of the myth of confidentiality, agreed.

What followed is that the church member (A) shared with the minister something that she heard church member (B) say about the minister. Hearing this, the minister knew enough to think, “Well, (B) should have come and talked to me about that.” But church member (A) ended the conversation by saying, “Please don’t tell (B) I told you. I don’t want him upset with me.”

[Read more...]

I’m currently working on a project on educational planning in the congregational setting. The project is in response to the many questions I get from church staff and lay leaders about planning the Christian education programs in their church. I’m not sure what’s going on, but it seems a lot of congregations seem to be at a loss about this fundamental and important aspect of education.

Here are some basic rules I always share with folks looking to get a handle on how to plan their church education program:

[Read more...]

Children belong in the worship service and they can be full participants in the experience. While there are some legitimate pragmatic reasons why some churches take children out of the corporate worship service, there are no legitimate developmental or theological reasons to do so. Often, the problem with children in worship is two-fold: (1) a lack of a “theology of children” on the part of the congregation and its leaders, and, (2) a lack of accomodation of the needs of children in worship. Focusing on getting clarity on those two points will go a long way to helping a congregation do good work of the spiritual formation of their children.

[Read more...]

I’ve been a lifelong doodler. In fact, my college notes look more like sketchbooks than notebooks (and the doodles are the only reason I’ve kept some of my college notes). Even today pencil and paper aren’t far from reach in the event an idle moment provides opportunity to doodle.

At times doodles have turned into sketches, and sketches into drawings. The graphite drawing below, done several years ago, started as a doodle which eventually became a favorite rendering, which today hangs framed in my study.

[Read more...]

Recently someone started a conversation with me by saying, “You were right.”

“What about?” I asked.

He explained that he was having a real tough year in ministry. He was experiencing a lot of frustration and restlessness, with periods of ennui and what felt at times like depression. Often, he said, he felt suffocated in his work. Then, during one day of introspection he realized that this was his fourth year in this ministry setting, and he remembered my presentation on the “Ministry Years.”

“I really didn’t believe you when I heard you say that the fourth year was always the year of discontent,” he said, “but you were right. That’s exactly where I am.”

[Read more...]

Attached is the article notes of a recent presentation titled “The Rules.” The article highlights fifteen “rules” about leadership in the congregational setting. These “derivative rules” are informed by Bowen Family Systems Theory.

You can download the article here: galindotherules.pdf (.pdf, 9 pages).

Three recent conversations reminded me of the importance of moving away from ways of thinking that lead us toward “naïve understanding” and of the necessity of working toward a more critical way of thinking about matters of importance. In one instance, a person seemed to have gotten stuck in a loop she could not get out of in dealing with an issue because she could not move beyond saying, “But the Bible says…” In another, a minister was trying to explain the need to address certain dynamics by using the analogy of a bus. Specifically, he tried to explain the necessity of getting the right dynamic on the right seat on the bus—in this case, “in the driver’s seat.” The third conversation was with a layperson that is having a difficult time with a congregational crisis. She would say over and again, “We’re supposed to be a family. How people act this way?”

[Read more...]

When I was an elementary school principal at a Christian school parents would often ask about the reason for why we required the children to memorize Bible verses (by fourth grade they were memorizing whole chapters as well as a repertoire of classical poetry). Actually, they weren’t really asking for an educational rationale as much as mildly expressing their frustration at having to spend time at home helping their children memorize the verses (and triangulating me in on their anxious relationship with the kid’s teacher). This may seem strange coming from parents who chose intentionally to send their children to a Christian school but for two things. First, adults tend to develop amnesia about children’s cognition and their experience of the world. When that cognitive shift in the brain happens sometime during adolescent, most adults lose the capacity to “think like a child” (thank goodness), but also to lose the capacity to appreciate how a child thinks and learns. Second, tragically, schools and churches often are delegated responsibilities for educating children in both culture and faith from parents too lazy, too busy, too reluctant, or too irresponsible for taking the responsibility that rightly belongs to them as parents.

My response to those parents usually included comments about the facility children have to memorize, and the necessity for insisting that they do. Nancy Ammerman has a great article in the current issue of The Christian Century titled “Memory Verses: Teaching Children the Bible.” She provides a good corrective to liberal and moderate-minded Christian educators who tend to shy away from pedagogy they regrettably have allowed more conservative Christian educators to co-opt for all the wrong reasons. Well worth the read, and well worth “taking to heart.”