The Week in Review

Educating Congregations

Written 8/06 (Posted 11/09)

Educating congregations within the church requires God’s people to be prepared for the task; unfortunately, churches are not always able to keep up with this need. The church of today is faced with choices that could lead them away from being a church that educates the next generation, thus rendering it ineffective. Charles R. Foster, the author of The future of Christian Education: Educating Congregations, gives the readers some insight into what the church is facing and how to combat the negative effects.

Charles R. Foster brings to the readers attention, the state of the church in regards to educating her people. In his introduction he gives this sober statement, “The signs pointing to the diminishing effectiveness of the church’s education are everywhere. Declining enrollments in church education classrooms, diminishing influence of congregations on the moral tone of their neighborhoods, persisting racism, sexism, and classism in our churches and their larger communities, increasing evidence of biblical illiteracy and theological naïveté” (11).


The author calls for the leadership and all believers to take a sobering look at the state of our churches. When the church is not equipping people through the Word of God, they are not able to make a proper impact on their church, neighborhoods or world. This fact is largely due to the lack of understanding of the Word and the importance of getting involved with the world around them. It is through the educating of the church that individuals will begin to understand the importance of them going into the world and making disciples. There is also a lack of hope in people today and Foster states why, “Part of the responsibility for the diminishment of hope must be traced to flaws in the educational ministries of our congregations. Church education no longer provides an adequate structure for communicating hope” (120).

This dilemma is not a new one. Foster affirms, “Over thirty years ago James Smart warned us that the ‘strange silence of the Bible in our churches’ could be traced to problems in our education” (12). If this silence is not addressed, our situations will only get worse. If adults are not taught the word of God, they cannot in turn teach those coming behind. If our youth are not taught, the world will give them it’s truth and they will grow away from the church. If the teachings of the church (of the Bible) are not passed on, who will carry it?

This brings us to what the author says is his thesis for writing this book. Foster states, “the congregation is the context, and its mission – to praise God and serve neighbors – the impetus for Christian religious education” (13). The purpose of the church is to build up the community of believers to praise God and serve others to bring a change in this world. This can be done when we take a prayerful look at how we educate the body of believers.

The author tells a story of a congregation that taught its children from an early age about God’s faithfulness over and over again. The children were taught hymns until they were familiar with what they sang (17). This same congregation suffered a crisis, but because they had been taught, they survived (18). New people joined but did not know the traditions of the church (19). They again suffered a crisis, but many were so busy they did not notice (20).

He then asks the question, “Did the congregation survive? We do not know yet, because that is the situation in which most congregations now find themselves” (20). What the author wants the reader to understand is, the church has in a sense, fallen asleep regarding her state and is not aware of what is going on in her midst. She has moved away from the strong tradition of teaching and educating her members. The author mentions how adults telling them the truth over and over again taught the children. Part of this teaching may have come from the children’s home life. Some may have come from Sunday school, Vacation Bible School (VBS), children’s church and other areas. Wherever it came from, it was reinforced again and again until the children were familiar with the stories and the hymns of the church.

Work Cited

Foster, Charles R. The future of Christian education: Educating Congregations. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1994.


Thompson, Frank Charles, D.D., PH.D. The Thompson Chain-Reference Bible, 5th ed. Indianapolis, IN: B. B. Kirkbridge Bible Co., Inc., 1988.