wfn.org | Christian educators learn value of technology, storytelling

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

Feb. 10, 1999	Contact: Linda Green*(615)742-5470*Nashville, Tenn.
10-71B{079}

By Cheryl Capshaw*

CHICAGO (UMNS) - Churches must use today's music and technology to reach
young people, a well-known United Methodist professor said at an ecumenical
church educators event Feb. 3-6.

The "emerging culture" is changing the way in which people sense and
experience life,
said the Rev. Tex Sample, the Rogers Professor of Church and Society at
United Methodist-related Saint Paul School of Theology in Kansas City, Mo. 

"We in the United States had thought that there were universal ways of
seeing and feeling, but we are discovering that our senses are determined by
our culture," he said. "My grandchildren have senses that are different from
mine."

The emerging culture is multi-sensory and active, Sample said. Churches must
use today's music, images and technology to reach youth, he said. He defined
"soul music" as "the music with which you are encoded, the music that
touches your soul and tells your story or is the fundamental narrative of
your life," but he said popular music speaks to people's lives. "Churches
that will reach the younger generations are those that touch people in a
multi-sensory way." 

Sample was among the speakers at FaithOdyssey: An Ecumenical Christian
Educators Event. More than 2,000 local church educators, pastors, teachers
and other educational leaders met to gain insights and inspiration for
ministry in the 21st century.

Throughout the event, speakers and workshop leaders stressed the importance
of stories and story-telling. Participants were encouraged to use personal
histories and faith stories as education tools.

"We are a story-formed people. ... We must choose which stories we will
claim. We must rehearse them and teach them to our children," said Elizabeth
Caldwell, professor of educational ministry at McCormick Theological
Seminary in Chicago. "The variety of cultures and faith traditions in our
world today makes it essential that we know who we are and whose we are."

"Stories of family are sacred stories," said Stacy Kitahata, dean of the
Community, Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago. "Your lives are a witness
to a living faith. Our stories and testimony are part of a larger story."

The Rev. Ken Bedell stressed the importance of using new technologies in
telling personal and faith stories. 

"We are moving from the campfire to the Internet," said Bedell, a United
Methodist minister and visiting professor at the Center for the Study of
Communications and Culture in St. Louis. Religious education will be changed
in the same way that television changed newspapers and the Internet has
transformed other media, he said. "Religious education will be changed, but
we will still be building a community of understanding." 

Linda J. Vogel, professor of Christian education at United Methodist-related
Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Ill., discussed the
world in which Christian educators are called to work. She described it as a
world in which "malls are cathedrals, and online shopping is mecca." She
reiterated that people must remember "who and whose we are. This is harder
for people in our day because we are exposed to so much from so many
different value bases."

Other FaithOdyssey speakers included Mary Elizabeth Mullino Moore,
professor, Claremont (Calif.) School of Theology; Charles Y. Chai, director,
Korean-American Second Generation Ministry, Bethany Korean Presbyterian
Church, Marietta, Ga.;  Marva J. Dawn, author of Reaching Out Without
Dumbing Down and Is It a Lost Cause? Having the Heart of God for the
Church's Children; the Rev. Emilie M. Townes, associate professor of
Christian social ethics and black church ministries at Saint Paul School of
Theology, Kansas City, Mo.; and Brian A. Wren, poet, theologian, teacher and
author of Piece Together Praise -- A Theological Journey.

Workshops included such diverse topics as "Gender Specific Ministry with
Girls"; "Are Ye Liable? Ask the Lawyer"; "Discover Your Spiritual Type";
"Family, Faith and Terminal Illness"; "Ministry with the Millennial
Generation"; "Quality Child Care"; "Domestic Violence"; "New Insights About
the Bible from Archaeology"; "Cross-Cultural Considerations in Christian
Education"; "The Learning Congregation"; and "Black Heritage and
Christianity."  

Sponsoring denominations were the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church;
American Baptist Churches, U.S.A.; Church of the Brethren; Christian Church
(Disciples of Christ); Episcopal Church; Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America; Presbyterian Church (USA); Reformed Church in America; Presbyterian
Church in Canada; United Church of Christ; United Church of Canada; and
United Methodist Church. Cooperating denominations included the African
Methodist Episcopal Church and Christian Methodist Episcopal Church.
# # #
*Capshaw is communications director for the United Methodist Board of
Discipleship.

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