Editorial
January, 1974
Volume 9, Number 1
An analysis of the basics of Christian education is in order, because the opening of next Summer’s Brethren Bible Institute is drawing closer. Nurturing the believer in Christ is one of the functions of the Church. For many, the setting for such an exercise is in the home, or among friends, or in either informal ways. Others experience the benefits of more structured education through formal instruction.
Our primary concern is that Christian education be “Christian.” Much that goes on under the general title “Christian Education” is not very helpful and less yet “Christian.” Group dynamics, drama, serendipity and sensitivity exercises have replaced much of the biblical preaching and teaching that instructs according to Truth. We believe this shift in emphasis is resulting in a general lack of knowledge of the Bible. Jesus said, “Know the truth and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32).
One of the great errors of modern education is that the teacher often feels obligated to throw all the possibilities of truth out on the table of learning, and then lets the student select what he feels is right. This has resulted in chaos and confusion on the part of many students and some have even lost their faith. There is a sense in which the mature teacher of the Word, who documents his positions with the over-all teaching of Scripture, has a right to say, “This is the way; walk ye in it.”
The Brethren Revival Fellowship believes that the concept of the Bible Institute is one way of giving an answer to the need for effective Christian education. In no way does it replace the need for home instruction on the part of parents. Neither does it relieve the local church of having every sermon, Sunday School class, and Bible-study-session carefully planned to effectively teach the Word of God. But it does provide a setting for more concentrated study, and it gives an exposure to more dedicated and structured teaching.
The message in this Witness was delivered as the main feature at the Annual BRF Meeting at Broadfording, Md., September 8, 1973. Brother Martin has been a school teacher for many years and can speak with authority on the subject. It is quite evident that he does not see education itself solving life’s problems, but true Christian education can serve as a means toward effective Christian ministries,
True Christian Education
by Harold S. Martin
The Scriptures have something to say about education. The Bible predicts that in the last days “knowledge shall be increased” on the earth. And indeed it is increasing! More people are going to school, for a longer period of time, studying a wider range of subjects than ever before. College courses provide training in hundreds of areas all the way from advanced calculus to simple cake decorating. In some fields, more new facts have been discovered in the past fifty years, than have been discovered in all the previous centuries of human history.
The Bible also predicts that in the last days men will be “ever learning but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.” Knowledge is increasing, but it does not necessarily follow that a knowledge of God is increasing. In spite of all our education, there is more carnality and crime and lying and stealing and adultery in our day, than at any other time since the creation of Adam (with the possible exception of the days just before the Flood).
Many people seem to have a naive faith in education as an abstract something that’s good in itself. I don’t! I don’t believe that education is a cure for man’s ills. People are being educated – but education doesn’t change man’s nature; it doesn’t make him a new person — and because man’s nature has a strong bent toward sin, the average unregenerate person (educated in the schools of our nation) — instead of being a devil, merely becomes a clever devil. He becomes more clever in doing evil when he’s educated.
I have strong feelings of respect too, for those who have never received a formal education beyond high school (or even beyond seventh or eighth grade). Some of the finest Christians I know are persons who have never had a formal education. Many of these people are well-informed and use good common sense in their approach to the problems of life. A friend of mine says sometimes, “When you ain’t got an education, you just gotta use your head.”
Having said all of the above, however, there is something like true Christian education. God doesn’t place a premium on ignorance. Ignorance is not bliss -as some seem to think. ]ignorance can be a definite handicap. Paul grieves over his fellow-Jews in Romans 10:2. He says, “They have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.” It’s amazing how much emphasis the Scriptures place upon acquiring knowledge and wisdom. In the Old Testament, God complained that His people behaved like “stupid children” who had “no understanding” (Jeremiah 4:22). Hosea said his people were destroyed “for lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:6). The poetic Books of the Old Testament repeatedly stress that “only fools hate knowledge” (Proverbs 1:22). In the New Testament, the Apostle Peter says “Give all diligence to add to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge” (2 Peter 1:5). Paul prayed that the Philippians “may abound more and more with knowledge and all discernment” (Philippians 1:9), and again that the Colossians might “bear fruit in every good work, increasing in the knowledge of God” (Colossians 1:10). True Christian education does have a place. We want to note its meaning, its objectives, and its channels.
1. THE MEANING OF THE PHRASE “TRUE CHRISTIAN EDUCATION”
There are many ways to define education. One definition says, “A real education is what a man learns after he thinks he knows it all.” More accurately however, the word “education” is a term that describes the processes by which one person tries to influence the behavior of another person. Formal education includes organized instruction given by teachers in such institutions as schools and universities. Informal education involves learning from people and agencies whose purposes are not necessarily organized instruction. These would include families, social groups, the news media, etc. Their purposes are not organized instruction — yet they educate. Parents educate children when they teach them how to talk, how to handle tools, and to behave in certain ways. The news media educates people by means of propaganda, advertisements, articles, pictures, and the like.
Still, for most of us, the word “education” means the systematic teaching and learning provided in schools and other formal institutions of training.
The phrase “Christian” education speaks of the kind of training that centers not merely in knowing information, but in knowing a Person. The word “Christian” is often misused. Sometimes anyone who is a church member, or who lives a fairly decent life, is said to be “Christian.” Education that is “Christian” however, refers to the kind of training that leads persons into a vital, living relationship with Jesus Christ, and that nurtures each student in the doctrines set forth in the written Word.
Most of the universities in our country were first started to promote the Christian faith, and specifically to bring young people to a knowledge of Christ. Timothy Dwight (president of Yale University in the early 1800’s) said to one of his graduating classes: “Christ is the only, the true, the living way of access to God. Give up yourselves therefore to Him, and the greatest decision of life is done.” Can you imagine the President of Yale University advising such a course of action in our day?
“True” Christian education speaks of the kind of training that is more than merely acquiring knowledge and skills to make a living. True education aims at learning to live — and this requires a study of the Scriptures. True education answers the basic questions of life: Why am I here? What is the purpose of life? How do I become rightly related with God? These are the fundamental issues of life, and the Bible is the only Book that has authoritative answers to these questions.
The reason young people sometimes go off to school, and lose their faith and become confused in their thinking – is because in many schools, the Bible is not considered authoritative. Thus man is a mere product of evolution; ethics and morality are relative, the present life is all that is considered important. True Christian education, on the other hand, accepts what the Bible says about the origin of the universe, the purposes of history, and the nature of man. Learning, minus an authoritative Bible, equals confusion and chaos.
“True Christian Education” may be defined as follows: “Education” — the process by which one person tries to influence the behavior of another; “Christian” — the training that centers in knowing a Person, Jesus Christ; “True” — the study of the Book that answers the basic questions about life here, and life hereafter.
2. THE OBJECTIVES WHICH TRUE EDUCATION AIMS TO FULFILL
One of the aims of true Christian education is to develop the character of the individual. The Bible teaches disciplined living. True Christian education trains students how to live soberly and in obedience to the will of God. It stresses the submission of self to the greater authority of the indwelling Spirit. It seeks to clarify and exemplify the great virtues of Christian living.
One of the great virtues is humility. It’s only fair to point out that there is a danger related to formal education. The early Brethren picked it up way back in 1857. The Annual Meeting that year (in discussing the request to establish a school among the Brethren), cautioned with these words, “The Apostle Paul says Knowledge puffs up, but charity edifies.” And indeed this is a very real danger. Sometimes when young people come back from school (even from Bible schools, they display an air of superiority, a feeling that says, “I wish all you poor dumb-bells had the learning I have.” On the other hand, it does not need to be that way. Some have achieved an academic education, and at the same time have maintained a spirit of true humility and simplicity. Bro. I. N. H. Beahm was well educated. He had been the founder and president of several colleges — yet he was so modest about it all, that a little girl (at a church where he was preaching) once asked him whether he had ever gone to school.
One of the objectives of true Christian education is to clarify and exemplify the great virtues of Christian living — to develop the character of the individual.
Another objective of true education is to teach a Christian philosophy of life. For many persons, truth is determined by a majority vote, or by the common practices of society. One college professor repeatedly said, “An action is right only if the society in which you live says it’s right.” His favorite illustration was this: If your society says that polygamy is right — then, for you, polygamy is a good thing.
The Christian believes, by way of contrast, that truth is absolute. The Bible is God’s unique revelation to man. The believer aims to be a seasoning influence in the world — and a man needs a rock on which to anchor his lever, if he aims to move the world, The Bible is that rock. True Christian education builds upon the words of the Lord when He said, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away.” God’s Word is the standard by which our decisions need to be made.
Another objective of true Christian education is to prepare for the service ministries of the Church. Most of our churches, for example, need some major improvements in Sunday School teaching. The average Sunday School teacher in our churches prepares his lesson in a few minutes on a Saturday night. Some scarcely study at all. Some read out of the quarterly (with the excuse that someone else can say it so much better than he can). Others talk about anything and everything except the heart of the lesson itself. Still others simply try and kill time until the bell rings. One teacher said, “I never study before I go to church; I just open my mouth and the Lord puts the words in it.” But the Lord never made any such promise to His people. He did promise to help the apostles know what to say when they were persecuted and tried before councils — but ordinarily we are expected to study the Word. A preacher said to Charles Spurgeon one time, “I seldom know five minutes before I speak, what I’m going to say.” Spurgeon replied very quickly, “That’s why no one knows either what you said, five minutes after you sit down!”
The Sunday School teacher must be a student of the Bible. He must study it and quote it and reinforce his teachings by referring often to it. Luke says that Jesus expounded to His disciples “in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself” (Luke 24-:27). And so one of the objectives of true Christian education is to give the student a working mastery of the whole Bible, and thus better prepare him for the teaching ministry of the church.
3. THE CHANNELS FOR GETTING THE TASK ACCOMPLISHED
One of the major channels is the home. Education begins in the home. The home is the world’s greatest university, and dad and mother are the world’s greatest teachers. One-half of all growth in human intelligence takes place between the ages of one and four, and so parents must make use of every opportunity available to mold the lives of their children during the early formative years before they are thrust out into the influences of the world.
God told the families of Israel, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart …and these words which I command thee …shall be in your heart, and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children” (Deuteronomy 6:5-7). Desmond Bittinger, in the book Church of the Brethren Past and Present, describes the home-life of the earlier Brethren: “All parents and older (children) became teachers. Education was continuous, home-centered, and proceeded from morning until night. Much of the teaching was informal, but each day had its time of formality also. Family worship was a time for Bible reading and teaching. The memorizing of Scripture was emphasized. The Brethren understandings were carefully taught.”
Education in the home should be both formal and informal. Informally — everything we say; how we say it; our attitudes; everything we do; everything we leave undone — is continuously teaching our children. A child learns what is right and true and good by what his parents are, and also by what they do. When they return the extra change at the store; when they practice clean habits of speech; when they admit mistakes and ask forgiveness — these are tremendous assets to a child’s spiritual education.
One of the ways to teach our children formally in the home, is to conduct regular daily family worship periods. Some of the most cherished memories of my childhood, are the times when my parents would call us children together, and my dad would get his Bible and read from its pages, and then we knelt together in prayer. I’ll always carry with me a mental picture of a praying father, and of family worship each day. In too many of our homes, the things of the Lord are almost completely ignored during the week, even though the family goes to church regularly on Sundays. How many of you parents take a textbook and study biblical doctrines together with your children? Do you memorize passages of Scripture together as a family? Do you read good books to your children, all seated in a circle on the living room floor? Every Christian home should be a miniature Bible School.
Another channel by which true education is disseminated is through the church. The church should be a school where Christians are being taught in a systematic way the “all things” which our Saviour commanded. It is not quite accurate to say that the Bible assigns entirely to parents the responsibility for the spiritual instruction of children. True fathers are to bring up their children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4) — but the church likewise is commanded to attend to the ministry of education.
Education is one of the major responsibilities of the church, and should permeate all its activities to some degree. In the Great Commission there is a two-fold command to teach. Paul says that an elder should be “apt to teach” (1 Timothy 3:2). The New Testament in several places ranks teachers along with apostles and prophets. Acts 2:42 (Living Bible) says, “And they joined with other believers in the apostles’ teaching sessions.” Preaching itself includes the concept of teaching. One of the Greek words translated “preaching” refers to the teaching needed by those who have received Christ as Saviour. Believers in Christ need to be nurtured and instructed, and preaching is one of the means God uses. Expository preaching is the door to an educated church constituency.
The church should provide many opportunities for carefully teaching its members, so that each might become a workman that need not be ashamed. One of the instruments designed for implementing the teaching ministry of the church, is the Sunday School. Another avenue for education is the instruction class for new converts. Others include the Vacation Bible School, the Christian Day School, Bible Conferences, etc. The church should be a training center which helps to mold and build an understanding of Bible truth. Each congregation should be a small theological seminary.
Another channel for promulgating true Christian education is the Bible Institute. The Bible Institute is simply a series of daily studies of the Bible, under the direction of dedicated teachers. It is not a place where the teacher simply gives “off-the-cuff” comments that happen to come to mind. It is not like the average Sunday School class where a few talkative members discuss subjects that nobody knows much about. Most Sunday School classes constitute merely a rambling discussion, not a genuine Bible study. In the Bible Institute, each lesson is carefully planned — and insights which are learned, are later reviewed and tested.
Some object to an education beyond elementary and high school — especially do they object to a comprehensive Bible training — but such objections are usually based on careless thinking. Christian scholarship is necessary in order that we tell the story of Jesus and His love fully and clearly. Some object and say, “But isn’t the Gospel a very simple thing?” And certainly it is a simple thing. So is scholarship. Scholarship is the careful study which brings order out of confusion and places things in their logical sequence. True — there are many good preachers and evangelists and teachers who are not scholars — but scholarship is necessary all the same.
Men like the Apostle Paul and Martin Luther and John Jacob Spener were scholars. One of the eight baptized at Schwarzenau was skilled in his understanding of the common Greek language of the New Testament. This is one reason why the Brethren have historically taken a clear stand on such doctrines as the veiling and the lovefeast and nonparticipation in war. You see — those who are not scholars — are dependent upon scholars to help them get their message straight.
John Jacob Spener influenced Alexander Mack perhaps more than any other man. Spener received his formal education at the University of Strasburg, and in fact was a professor at that University. Christopher Hochmann wrote out a Confession of Faith which helped Mack crystallize the doctrines into the form we have historically had them. Hochmann was educated at the University of Halle in East Germany. Thus we see that those who are not scholars, are dependent upon scholars to help them get their message straight, and true Christian education does have a place.
The words of John Milton, spoken three centuries ago, are a fitting climax to a message on Christian education. He said, “True education is to learn to know the God of the Holy Scriptures aright. Education divorced from the Bible is capable of infinite complexities and confusions.”