My “Christian” Pedagogical Creed
by Michael Mallory
Article One: What is Christian Education.
I believe that Christian education must begin by inviting and responding to the living presence of Christ. I believe that Christian education is the process of growth and transformation that proceeds from a dialogue with Christ.
I believe that Christian education must hold in tension traditional understandings with modern revelations. I believe Christian education must start with a pedagogy based on the gospel message of love. Love as a foundation for education will mitigate exclusive rhetoric and behavior and effectively challenge us to recognize the implicit curriculum over the explicit. This implicit curriculum suggests that learning moves beyond the Sunday school room or the adult forum and recognizes the living, teaching Christ infused in the dynamics of everyday relationships and situations.
I believe that Christian education must be anchored in Scripture while at the same time avoiding making the Bible an idol. I believe that Christian education moves beyond the specifics of cultural relativism and challenges us to recognize the universal church of God.
Article Two: Who is the Church
I believe the Church is the body of Christ. I believe that this body is made explicit by the confession of faith made by those who call themselves Christian. I believe that there is a mystical body of Christ that is ever-present and manifest in this world beyond the articulation of faith or creed. In other words, the Holy Spirit is working in the hearts and souls of every person on this planet and the light, which Christians call Christ, resides in every person. The people of God are the church of God and there are no distinctions between us since we are all made in the image of God (imago Deo). The Christian is only a part of the church of God and intentionally manifests the message of Christian faith and virtue in the mystery of Jesus Christ. I believe that the church consists of people made of flesh and that God declares and Christ confirms as very good. Therefore, Christian education must articulate a positive theology of the body and of sexuality.
I believe that the church is family. The bonds of love, which come from Christ, shapes and colors every relationship we encounter. The call of Christ is a call to move into authentic relationship. Thus, we do not move into relationship for the sake of the other person’s soul but for the sake of our own. The goal of community is to recognize each other and the role that we play in the lives of our church and world.
I believe that the church is catholic, universal and as such we are all brothers and sisters in Christ regardless of creed or denomination.
Article Three: The Subjects of Christian Education
I believe that Christian education must begin espouse the Christian concepts of koinonia, leiturgia, didache, kerygma and diakonia.[1]
I believe that community (koinonia) is our family with each other and with God. I believe that our hope lies in the ability to recognize in the stranger a potential to meet Christ and by this encounter it is we who are transformed. I believe that conversion is an ongoing process for both the individual and the community.
I believe prayer (leiturgia) is the connective tissue that binds together the entire body of Christ to God. I believe that prayer must be natural and simple and that the prime example is the Lord’s Prayer. I believe that prayer should not be excessive in words, but be attentive in silence. In other words, prayer is as much about speaking to God as it is listening to God. I believe that active listening to someone else speak is a form of prayer. I believe that it is through prayer that the World to Come will be manifest.
I believe our teaching (didache) is telling our story as a remembering (anamnesis) and a responding (eschatological) people with God. I believe that it is important for the individual to learn to articulate their own spiritual journey while, at the same time, recognizing their role in the gospel of Christ that is proclaimed.
I believe the proclamation (kerygma) is the liberation and love spoken by the good news of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This proclamation is ever-present, anchored in the four canonical gospels, illuminated by Scripture and manifested in the very lives of all people.
I believe the service, or ministry (diakonia) of the body of Christ is to make manifest the eschatological promise by bearing witness and walking with the wayward and the outcast and to be a sanctuary for the refugee. I believe in that all people who profess faith in Christ are called to be ministers and through spiritual discipline and discernment cultivate a mind that was in Christ (Philippians 2:5).
Article Four: The Method of Christian Education
I believe that the Christian education should be dialogical and transformational.[2]
I believe that Christians are called to come together as a body to worship and praise God and to pray for the healing and wholeness of the whole world.
I believe that Christians must constantly examine themselves in relation to power dynamics always remembering that our Lord, humbling himself, took the form of a servant and was obedient to the will of God. Therefore, we must admit to and learn to respond to the vast inequality that exist in the world today especially in understanding the distinction between the oppressor and oppressed.
I believe that the qualities of active listening and dignity of person should be inherent in dialogue. I believe that the gospel message of love is about transformation and transcendence. I believe that through creative expression, especially dramaturgy, people can embody and rehearse scenarios that represent real life situations regarding ethical and moral conflicts.
I believe that by posing problems we begin to recognize those thresholds that separate one from another and all of us from God.
I believe that the method of dialogue and transformation should encourage community and instill a sense of social justice and human rights advocacy. I believe that Christians must join forces with other faiths to bring about the promise of new life for all people.
Article Five: Eschatological Dimension of Christian Education
I believe that the eschatological dimension of Christian education is the promise of heaven. I believe that heaven is a place that exists within time and is in the process of realization.
I believe that the glory, the havod, of God is synonymous with the reign of God and that through the methods of Christian activity in the world this glory is made manifest.
I believe that all people are members of this holy realm and that our journey will lead us there. I believe that sin is the darkness we experience when our eyes are not set on the light of Christ. I believe hell is living in that darkness. I believe heaven and hell are real and ever-present.
I believe that the World to Come is moving towards us, rather than we moving towards it. I believe that Christian education should always emphasize the hope and faith we have in Christ Jesus. I believe in the Resurrection and that because Christ conquered death we can move in the world without fear.
I believe that we must engage and learn from each other, recognizing and sharing the gifts that God has given us, in order to form bonds of love so that we can proclaim together, “We are family for we all come from the same creator.”
[1] This rubric is discussed in Maria Harris Fashion Me A People. Curriculum in the Church. (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1989)
[2] Much of my ideas of method come from Paulo Freire. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. (Continuum: New York, 2008; 1970)