wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] Be "light" in a radically changing world, Lindner tells 1, 000 educators

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Be "light" in a radically changing world, Lindner tells
1,000 educators

>By Eva G. Stimson
>Special to the Presbyterian News Service

SAN ANTONIO - Eileen W. Lindner recalls her grandmother
insisting that the recipient of a gift was always required
to send a handwritten thank-you note. Such practices might
seem quaint in today's world of changing communication
patterns, where church youth groups and Sunday school
classes are organized by e-mail and cell phone text
messages.

What does it mean to be "a light to the nations" in today's
world? Lindner, executive presbyter of Palisades Presbytery
and former deputy general secretary for research and
planning of the National Council of Churches (NCC),
examined this question from multiple angles when she spoke
to more than 1,000 people gathered here for the 2009
conference of the Association of Presbyterian Church
Educators (APCE). Her keynote addresses focused on the
theme of the event, "A light to the nations," from Isaiah
42:6-7.

Quoting from Genesis 1, Lindner said, "Almost the first
thing we know about the God of the Hebrew scriptures is
about God's relationship with light." Light is associated
with goodness, and is "understood as the very essence of
God."

As God's covenant people, she continued, "our job is to get
the light to the lamp stand where it can magnify God's
goodness and promise."

But believing we are "a light to the nations" can cause
arrogance, Lindner warned. We must remember that "we are
not the source of the light, but the stewards of the light."

It is important also to be aware of the context in which we
are to spread the light, she said. In sketching out that
context, Lindner, a historian and researcher who edits the
NCC's Yearbook and American and Canadian Churches, gave her
audience of educators enough statistics to stuff a
conference tote-bag.

She noted striking geopolitical changes - from political
systems to communication platforms. While communication and
travel have "shrunk the world," they have not decreased the
level of instability and misery in a world "groaning for
liberation."

The religious landscape has changed as well. The percentage
of those in the United States who claim affiliation with a
Christian church (62 percent) is twice the rate in Europe,
Lindner said, but "this rate is not borne out in Sunday
morning attendance."

But while membership in most denominations is declining,
she noted, these statistics do not tell the full story. For
example, "this generation will come to church, will pledge,
and may even participate on committees, but will not make
formal professions of faith."

The way we do Christian education, Lindner said, is
affected by these and numerous other changes: growing
religious pluralism, congregationalism, a cafeteria
approach to resources and ministries, and more.

"Today, congregations are finding their own way to
faithfulness and finding the resources to meet their needs,
rather than walking in lockstep with their denominations,"
Lindner said. At the same time, denominations are
reinventing themselves as "resourcing bodies" rather than
"regulatory bodies."

"Contexts change," she said in closing. "But callings
remain unchanged. We are called to give our children
confidence that they are beloved children of God. And in
any context that makes sense."

APCE is an organization of educators from five
denominations: the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the
Reformed Church in America, the Christian Reformed Church,
the Presbyterian Church in Canada, and the Moravian Church
in America. Also attending this year's event were guests
from countries including Taiwan, Pakistan, South India and
New Zealand.

Eva G. Stimson is editor of Presbyterians Today magazine.

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