wfn.org | UMNS# 04496-Christian educators organization offers support,

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Christian educators organization offers support, advocacy 

Oct. 26, 2004	 News media contact:   Kathy  Gilbert * (615) 7425470* 
Nashville {04496}

NOTE: By Kathy L. Gilbert*

By Kathy L. Gilbert*

NEW ORLEANS (UMNS) - Are there any teachers in your church who are passionate
and committed but have never had any formal training?

Christian educators are those "grassroots workers" who are helping churches
grow but often they are left to lead without any formal training, according
to Chris Jackson, president of the Christian Educators Fellowship board of
directors. 

More than 700 Christian educators met Oct. 14-18 in New Orleans for the
fellowship's national conference to network and build relationships with
others from around the United States. 

The need for trained Christian educators is "bubbling to the surface" as
churches start to understand the need to concentrate on Sunday school, noted
Corinne Van Buren, a fellowship director.

"From what I hear through seminaries and the United Methodist Publishing
House, churches are becoming more aware that Sunday school is needing the
attention that perhaps it hasn't had in the last few years," she said. "So
the need for people to be trained and feel supported in the teaching learning
ministries of the church is bubbling to the surface again."

The Christian Educators Fellowship is an organization that will help "brand
new" Christian educators and those who have been teaching for 20 years,
Jackson pointed out.

"One of the things we are doing now is trying to meet the needs of those
brand-new Christian educators who may have been in public school education in
their local communities, or social workers that have felt a call to get
involved in their local church," he said. "They are coming to Christian
education with a lot of passion and commitment but not a lot of formal
education."

The fellowship's mission is to nurture, support, challenge and advocate for
any person with responsibility for fostering discipleship through Christian
education, he explained. The fellowship meets every two years and has
recently "crossed a new barrier" by increasing its membership to 1,003
educators.
 
"The Christian Educators Fellowship was founded in 1968, (and) we were the
first organization to establish a relationship with the new United Methodist
Church," he said. "Our first conference was held right here in New Orleans in
this same hotel. We want to be able to continue into the future with that
close relationship with the church."

A large number of participants in this conference were students from
seminaries and United Methodist-related schools as well as many ethnic
minorities and members of Pan-Methodist churches. Their presence helped make
the conference's theme, "Reflecting the Face of God," really show the
church's diversity, Jackson added.

A seminar introduced before the conference, "PEP: Professional Education
Preparation," covered the basic competencies involved in the responsibilities
and tasks of a Christian education position. "We hope to offer this seminar
in other settings throughout the year," Van Buren said. 

By attending a seminar such as PEP, Jackson hopes to help those new to
Christian education go on to more extensive training, such as certification
courses offered by the United Methodist Board of Higher Education and
Ministry or courses taught in a United Methodist seminary or college.

For Karli Pidgeon, a second-year student at United Methodist-related
Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, the conference was a "wealth of
information."

"The worship services have been phenomenal, and I have really had the freedom
to network with other Christian educators," she said.

Each day featured a morning Bible study lead by the Rev. Grace Imathiu,
assistant director of development at Kenya Methodist University.

"I am delighted with the presence of so many students this year," said Peggy
Eshelman of the Missouri Annual (regional) Conference. "The Bible study with
Grace has been a highlight of the conference for me. It has been done with
such care, and the power of something done so carefully honors the
Scriptures."

Sherrie Randall, a student at Pfeiffer University, Misenheimer, N.C., called
the conference was "a great opportunity to gain the experience of older, more
experience Christian educators." The workshops "gave me new ideas and
reinforced what I am learning in school."

In addition to Fleming and Imathiu, other conference leaders were Daniel K.
Church, top staff executive of the denomination-wide Council on Ministries;
the Rev. Carol Cotton Winn and the Rev. John Winn, directors of Spiritual
Formation, Louisiana Annual Conference; the Rev. Victor McCullough, pastor of
the historic Mount Zion United Methodist Church, New Orleans; and the Rev.
Deborah Kaye Wallace-Padgett, Prestonsburg (Ky.) District superintendent.
Jorge A. Lockward, a native of the Dominican Republic and Global Praise
Program coordinator for the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries,
served as music director. 

The 2006 Christian Educators Fellowship conference will be held in Lake
Junaluska, N.C. For more information about the fellowship, contact Corinne
Van Buren at P.O. Box 24930, Nashville, Tenn., 37202; (866) 629-3113; or
e-mail cef@cefumc.org.

*Gilbert is a United Methodist News Service news writer in Nashville, Tenn.

News media contact: Kathy L. Gilbert, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or
newsdesk@umcom.org.

********************

United Methodist News Service
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