Can you remember your first real office? I will always remember mine. I was 25, had just graduated from seminary, and was beginning my first full-time staff position as minister of education and youth at a county seat Baptist church in Kentucky. Happy days!!! I had made it to the big time and if anyone had any doubts, they need only visit me at my office. My credibility abounded there; I had the big desk, diplomas on my wall and even a few books on the bookshelves. I had arrived.
Needless to say, that feeling of self-importance only lasted a few days until I realized I didn’t really know what I was doing! I recall sitting at my big desk feeling completely overwhelmed and asking myself—what am I supposed to be doing? I set out then to bridge the gap between the seminary campus and the church campus. All of these years later, as a seminary Christian education professor, this pursuit is stronger than ever.
Not too long ago, most ministers of education (MEs) followed the same track that I did toward ministry—college, then seminary, and maybe a part-time church staff position while in seminary if they were fortunate, and then their first full-time church position. The only problem with one size fits all is that one size doesn’t fit all. Back in the day, MEs either fit into the educational system or were asked to kindly excuse themselves from the whole process.
Today’s cohorts of MEs are not the same as previous generations. It seems that more and more laypeople are accepting ME positions in their own churches. Many of these MEs are entering the ministry as a second career and have left a substantial position and future in industry, not to mention significant personal income, to pursue God’s calling in their life.
A substantial number of my students today who are preparing for the educational ministry in the local church are in this category, with many of them already having completed a graduate degree. These folks are past worrying about what type of office they will have; they are ready to be armed to go to work! And because of their experience of making things happen in the corporate world, in some ways, they already know what they are supposed to being doing. The question of the day is how do seminary professors effectively prepare these MEs for ministry? This new paradigm is clearly not the one many of us followed, but that doesn’t make this new trend inferior, just different.
Gone are the days of rounding up the family and pressing life’s “pause” button and moving to seminary. While there are definite advantages to this method of ministry preparation (some would even argue that this is the most effective educational structure), this is not the world that we live in today. Most of the new ME’s mentioned above want to continue in front line church ministry while earning their seminary degree.
So how do we teach ministers who are not in a traditional setting? Certainly, we use the emerging formats; i.e., extension centers, continuous interactive video driven courses (think Skype on steroids), internet and all manner of hybrid formats that develop out of these settings. Yet, as effective and convenient as these formats are they bring a lot of questions regarding teaching methodologies. Teaching adults in a manner that is conducive to their learning styles and nature is the order of the day in seminary education, not just the format from which we teach them. The knowledge and understanding of how and what motivates these adults to engage in learning activities is of vital importance for this venture.
Andragogy provides a footing for adult Christian education. Andragogy is a set of assumptions concerning adult learning on which several directives regarding appropriate teaching methods can be obtained. This model is based on a few assumptions by Malcolm Knowles. Basically he theorized that adults are self-directed learners, utilize their own and other’s life experiences in learning, want to improve their competency in the hats they wear, desire immediacy of application of the information learned, and tend to shift from subject-centeredness to (life) problem-centeredness in their learning .
The great thing about andragogy is that it mostly bypasses the course format and speaks straight to the learning motivations and nature of the adult student. In andragogy, students are heavily involved in the planning of their own educational pursuits. Remember the demographic of many of the new ME’s?—corporate professionals who are accustomed to making things happen. This educational model serves as a doorway through which they can negotiate and realize their own learning objectives. They can recycle the experience from their life in industry and refine it for ministry.
Andragogy recognizes adult learners as adults and gives them ownership over what they determine they need to learn and the methods they employ in this process. Because many of these ME’s are in a ministry position that they will probably keep for some time, they need to know how to make sense of their ministry today. They simply can’t wait until seminary graduation to see if the course material works.
This all leads to the life-centered education. These new generations of ME’s recognize the urgency of the education ministry of the local church. Giving consideration to the assumptions of andragogy can remarkably increase the level of learning among students in seminary, regardless of the course format. A seminary professor can make a great impact on the lives and ministries of many people simply by letting go!
Yes, my first office will always be a significant memory to me; after all it did mark an important turning point in my life. But these days I look back on it not so much as an arrival to great things but as a reminder that a nice office doesn’t give credibility. Only being creditable can provide that. I truly believe that God has used andragogy to teach me this truth, oh and my first office as well!
Dr. Allen England is Assistant Professor of Church and Educational Administration, occupying the J.M. Frost Chair of Christian Education at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary
