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It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been a long trip from downtown Portland to pastoral ministry in New York City to ecumenical work in Richmond, Virginia.\u00c2\u00a0 Much has changed in Christian Education along the way, but much remains the same.\u00c2\u00a0 Children, from toddler to adolescent, still search for community and meaning.\u00c2\u00a0 So, too, do grown-up children.\u00c2\u00a0 That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why, when a review copy of a new Judson Press book arrived in our mailbox at The Resource Center, it was an easy choice for this first entry: Hope for Children in Poverty: profiles and possibilities<\/em>.\u00c2\u00a0 What really caught my eye, however, was a name in the Table of Contents: Charles E. Poole.\u00c2\u00a0 Popular Baptist preacher, pastor of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153important\u00e2\u20ac\u009d churches – – that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what I knew about him.\u00c2\u00a0 We even have a book or two of his on our shelves.\u00c2\u00a0 But what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s he doing with the likes of Ron Sider, Heidi Unruh, and Marian Wright Edelman?\u00c2\u00a0 And what about that chapter title?\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Slipping Off on the Bible\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Sloping Slide.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n My early formation kicked in, and I read the book. All of it.\u00c2\u00a0Poole talks about leaving the pastorate of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153a wonderful congregation\u00e2\u20ac\u009d to become an inner-city minister with the LifeShare Foundation, a charitable foundation working to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153meet unmet needs in the lives of Mississippi\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s most at-risk and underprivileged children.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 He speaks of meeting specific needs like diapers, refrigerators and utility bills, and of gatherings in apartment complexes to pray, learn Bible verses, talk about \u00e2\u20ac\u0153God, life, and right and wrong . . . we also eat lots of cookies and drink lots of juice<\/p>\n The eloquent preacher talks about the slippery slope when he writes about how he responds to those who ask why he would leave the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153normal\u00e2\u20ac\u009d pastorate for his present ministry.\u00c2\u00a0 First, he writes, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The answers to such questions are never simple.\u00c2\u00a0 What we church folk refer to as a call is wrapped in quiet mystery that runs deeper than words.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 Acknowledging that, he adds, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I do have a rather simple answer.\u00c2\u00a0 My answer is that I sort of slipped off on the Bible\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s sloping side.\u00c2\u00a0 Even if you place a perfectly smooth Bible on an even table on a flat floor in a level building, the Bible will still tile in the direction of whoever is most powerless, most voiceless, invisible, small, and poor.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n Educators, it seems to me, have many choices to make, among them what it is that we will teach.\u00c2\u00a0 To which Jesus will we introduce children of all ages?\u00c2\u00a0 If we want to lead Christians-in-formation to the Jesus who was lopsided in his concern for the poor and the powerless, and if they are at all open, for whatever reason, to consider the mission at their doorstep, this book is powerful, practical, challenging, inspiring – – and it points directly toward that slippery slope.\u00c2\u00a0 Read it at your peril.\u00c2\u00a0 (On the other hand, you can just buy a copy and 10% of the proceeds goes to support ministry with children in poverty, and keeps them at a safe distance.)\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/a><\/a> Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s begin with a confession: All I ever wanted to be was a Sunday School teacher.\u00c2\u00a0 Not that my earliest experiences with Sunday School were positive ones.\u00c2\u00a0 Actually, I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t remember a single teacher from those early years when my … Continue reading <\/a><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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