Continuing to read John Hull's book and have now finished chapter 1. Here are some more of the interesting points he makes:
(Page 19) "By studying what a congregation experiences as being distracting, we may often gain a deeper understanding of the problems of adult learning in that congregation. The source of the distraction is the centre of a potential interest which has been ruled illegitimate by the form of spirituality into which the worshipper has been domesticated ... (for example) Congregations where children are found a distraction should stop thinking about their ministry to children and start thinking about the ministry of children to them ... Learning breakthroughs occur when barriers suggested by the experience of distraction are broken through."
(Page 21) "A future without a past is as empty as a past without a future is hopeless. What is needed is a shift in the Christian construct of the past such that the past is seen in a learning perspective... (Page 23) The Christian learner does not only learn the Christian past; he learns from the Christian past. This has important implications for the way in which the Bible is handled in the Christian education of adults today. The important thing is not the world out of which the text came, but the world to which the text points. The meaning of the biblical text is not only to be found in the historical and philological factors which created the text; its meaning also lies in that which the text has since created and may still create."
(Page 24) "Although, as (Christians) look back on their lives, they admit that it could have been different, there is often a strong sense that life has unfolded according to a preconceived divine plan. The Christian, it is thought, must try to get to know this plan, but once he does know it, many of his choices will be settled. Popular attitudes to prayer often suggest this release from responsibility."
Describing how a vicar preached a sermon condemning a TV series called Jesus: The Evidence, before it had even been broadcast, and had warned his congregation not to watch it, Hull writes (Page 37) "From the point of view of education, the Christian believer is here given no alternative to the life of docile, unquestioning obedience, for the life of active enquiry would induce guilt and would be blasphemous. To enquire is to doubt, to doubt is to mock. The world of television and of scholarship may enquire and so mock, but the little flock which is the church trusts and has faith."
Food for thought!
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OK, so what do we find distracting at St G's? How can we turn things around?
ReplyDeletePerhaps there are some people who would prefer to be told what to think? To have clear leadership and no responsibility, no thought required...
Are there arguments for or against this perspective?
St George's would be very interesting case study, a very difficult one as well. I think it would be hard to pinpoint any particular distraction because of the dynamic that makes our congregation. I would say St George's has a much lower percentage of the lukewarm bureaucratic busy bodies and much higher percentage of the spiritually radical traditionalists. The level of Faith in our church is extraordinary! The onus would be on you Andrew not to be able to identify the congregations key distraction but the individual's. We all live such separate lives our individualism, unlike a local church community in a native country, doesn't really get tampered with. In fact surviving as a Christian in Spain is resisting the compulsion to conform
ReplyDelete'The level of Faith in our church is extraordinary! ' I totally agree, Ed, that makes it such a privilege for me to worship at St G's.
ReplyDeleteGood observations Ed. Another reason you can't pick a single distraction in a church like StGs is that we have such a broad variety of people. For a church leader that is a real joy but also a challenge!
ReplyDeleteRef your quotes from pages 21 and 23 since joining Bible Study at St George's on Wednesdays, the Bible has come alive to me as hugely creative and challenging and very much relevent to daily life in today's world. Also sharing together with others is an inspiration to the imagination and interpretation,as we read and discuss and share our thoughts and ways of application within the texts to day to day living. Thanks for the leadership Andrew!
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