wfn.org | Focus '97

[owner-umethnews@ecunet.org]

"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS 97" by SUSAN PEEK on April 15, 1997 at 14:24
Eastern, about DAILY NEWS RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (267
notes).

Note 267 by UMNS on Aug. 7, 1997 at 16:24 Eastern (5240 characters).

Produced by United Methodist News Service, official news agency of
the United Methodist Church, with offices in Nashville, Tenn., New
York, and Washington.

CONTACT: Linda Green                              455(10-71B){267}
         Nashville, Tenn. (615) 742-5470              Aug. 7, 1997

EDITORS NOTE: Photos are available with this story

Christian educators and workers with children 
urged to place acceptance above understanding

by Cheryl Capshaw*

     ST. LOUIS (UMNS) -- Educators attending a national United
Methodist conference for workers with children, here July 28-Aug.
1, were told that teachers and parents are at their best when they
are able to accept children for who they are.
     "Accept every child, even the ones you don't understand,"
urged Al Burr, an educator and educational consultant, who spoke
here at "Focus '97."
     Addressing an audience of more than 1,200 Christian
educators, teachers, pastors  and parents, Burr, co-founder of
Burr Educational Enterprises, emphasized that children can and
will learn if they are not understood, but that they cannot learn
if they are not accepted.  He added that children will allow
anyone to teach them "what to know," but that children are
selective about the people they allow to teach them "how to be."  
     The relationship between teacher and pupil becomes a value,
he said.  "Rules influence behavior only as long as no one is
watching.  A relationship influences behavior whether or not any
one is watching."
     In an address titled "Dare to Learn Together," Burr urged
educators to remember why they chose to teach.  "We make the
biggest difference when we remember why we teach, when we have a
mission to help children grow ... to teach them what to know and
how to be."  He also advised the educators and teachers to: 
     * keep things simple by having a mental list of what is most
important; 
     * treat students the way their favorite teachers treated
them;
     * treat students like ladies and gentlemen and expect them to
behave;                  
     * plant gentleness to grow gentleness;  
     * focus on successes and potential successes instead of on
the problems;
     * be risk takers and dreamers.     
     Burr told Focus '97 participants, example is the best
teacher. "We have to be good people even when our kids aren't
looking." 
     Other  speakers were the Rev. Lucia Guzman, director of the
Colorado Council of Churches, and United Methodist Bishop Kenneth
L. Carder, episcopal leader of the Nashville Area.
     Addressing the topic "Dance with Courage in Community,"
Guzman said, "children are not the future, they are the present." 
     The church must be a place of healing, she said. "When
children are scarred, it takes a lifetime to overcome
the scars ... The community is waiting for the people of faith to
come back to the community and dance the dance of value and
justice." 
     Carder echoed the call for the church to be present for
children. Stressing that the world is a nightmare for many
children, he  cited such statistics as:
     * 80 million children work at low wages -- practically slave
labor;
     * more children than soldiers are killed in wars; 
     * thousands of children are maimed by land mines left after
wars;
     * 10 million children die of poverty-related causes;   
     * a child is reported abused every 11 seconds in the United
States.
     "Added to the poverty and violence is a spiritual poverty
that knows no class or racial boundary," he declared.  "Every
child has the right to know that 'Jesus Loves Me' is more than a
song." the bishop said.
     Carder urged conference participants to live now as if God's
dream for the world had already come true by living with justice;
by enabling children and the most vulnerable people to flourish;
by saying to Congress, the President and others in power that they
must put children first. 
     He noted that there are enough resources to feed and clothe
everyone, but that people are dying because of political systems
competing with God's dream.  
     "Will the church lead the world in establishing a vision and
the moral will to change those systems?" he asked.     
     "Children are the signs of God's dream and the means of its
fulfillment.  The power of God is made manifest in what seems to
be weakness," Carder said.    
     Focus '97 worship services and workshops addressed such
topics as violence, drugs, children's health, computers and the
Internet, peace and justice, children and divorce, disaster
response, child abuse, cultural diversity, and much more.  
     More than 100 children attended Focus '97. They were provided
opportunity to participate in events to contribute to their
spiritual development.  One of the highlights of the event 
was a 100-foot long ice cream sundae built and consumed by the
children.  The ice cream party was sponsored by Pockets, a
devotional magazine for children, published by The Upper Room.   
     Focus '97 was sponsored by the United Methodist Board of
Discipleship. The next Focus event will be held in 2001.
                              #  #  #

     * Capshaw is director of communications for the United
Methodist Board of Discipleship. 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

 To make suggestions or give your comments, send a note to 
 umns@ecunet.org or Susan_Peek@ecunet.org

 To unsubscribe, send the single word "unsubscribe" (no quotes)
 in a mail message to umethnews-request@ecunet.org

-----------------------------------------------------------------------