Christian Education
CEWeb
Welcome
to the Christian Education page of the American Baptist Churches of
Wisconsin Website!
This online
resource will serve as a forum to share ideas, get information and
the like.
Please share the Web address for
this site with Christian Education workers in your church. I would
also invite you to offer
suggestions of things which would make the site useful to
you.
Some Suggestions for Summer Reading
April 2006
Greetings. I hope all of you are planning some time
for rest and reflection this summer.
One of my favorite summer activities involves taking
some extra time for reading. I try always to have two books going
all the time. One will be in theology, often in the area of Christian
education and nurture. The second will be just for fun, either a novel
or a good "Who Dun It?" I learned this trick from a mentor
I once had who encouraged me to see both kinds of reading as a spiritual
discipline. The novel keeps us in touch with the world and introduces
us to people who live in that world, making a variety of decisions
to deal with the things that happen. I have found that it works for
me. I thought I would make a few suggestions of some things in the
Christian education/nurture area I have recently completed or are
on my reading list. Maybe it will give you a few ideas, too. They
are in no particular order.
1. The
Teaching Ministry of Congregations was written by Richard
Robert Osmer (a professor of Christian Education at Princeton Theological
Seminary) and published by Westminster John Knox Press in 2005. This
is really a practical theology of the teaching ministry of the church.
His use of case studies of the teaching ministry of three contemporary
congregations makes this book interesting and readable
2. Growing
in the Life of Faith: Education and Christian Practices
is by Craig Dykstra, Vice President for Religion at Lilly Endowments,
Inc. The book was published in 1999, with a second edition in 2005,
by Westminster John Knox Press. This book deals with helping people
grow in faith through the integration of thinking and doing, believing
and living, education and its content, etc. There is also a study
guide including in this book which makes it a book for a group study.
3.
Is It A Lost Cause? Having the Heart of God for the Church's Children
is written by Marva J. Dawn. Eerdmans Publishing Company published
this book in 1997. While it is not a new book, I found it to be thought-provoking.
She raises many of the issues involved in raising children in today's
world and discusses ways the church might speak to discipleship issues
and children.
4. The
Practicing Congregation: Imaging a New Old Church is
an Alban Institute book written by Diana Butler Bass in 2004. This
author has researched and written on the subject of mainline Protestant
churches for sometime and gives a hopefully view. She offers compelling
alternatives on the subject, and I have found that it provides a helpful
balance in thinking through this subject of importance to most of
us.
5. The
Ministry of Children's Education: Foundations, Contexts, and Practices,
published by Fortress Press in 2004, is a book of essays dealing with
both the theological rationale for ministry with children and some
practical guidance for designing and implementing programs within
that ministry. The book is made readable through the use of a scenario
from childhood introducing each chapter.
6. Eat
This Book: A Conversation in the Art of Spiritual Reading
is the second in Eugene Peterson's new spiritual theology series,
and was published by Eerdmans in 2006. I mentioned the first in the
series last year. This one deals with the way to read the Bible so
that it is formative and life-changing. It is a very readable book.
7. Soul
Stories: African American Christian Education (Revised
Edition.) This volume was published by Abingdon Press in 2005 and
is written by Anne E. Streaty Wimberly. I have just ordered this book
and am anxiously awaiting its arrival. The description says that the
author links stories of family identities, events, relationships and
story plot with Bible stories and faith stories from an African American
context. Perhaps some of you have already read this (or the first
edition) and can give a fuller account.
If any of you have discovered interesting reading,
please let me know. It is always helpful to share ideas! Have a good
summer! Happy Reading!
Maxine Ashley
Staff Associate in Christian Education
Christian.Education@abcofwi.org
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