Parrett, Gary A. and Kang, S. Steve. Teaching the Faith, Forming the Faithful: A Biblical Vision for Education in the Church. InterVarsity Press Academic, 2009. ISBN: 9780830825875.
Meet the Authors
Gary A. Parrett is Professor of Educational Ministries and Worship at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Parret has over twenty years of pastoral ministry experience and has co-authored three books: Grounded in the Gospel: Building Believers the Old-Fashioned Way (with J. I. Packer), Teaching the Faith, Forming the Faithful: A Biblical Vision of Education in the Church (with S. Steve Kang), and A Many Colored Kingdom: Multicultural Dynamics for Spiritual Formation (with Elizabeth Conde-Frazier). For more information, visit his faculty page.
S. Steve Kang is Professor of Educational Ministries and Interdisciplinary Studies; Chair of the Division of Ministry at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Kang was a founding pastor of Parkwood Community Church (a Pan-Asian American church plant in the Chicago area) and has significant additional church ministry experience. He is the author of A Many Colored Kingdom: Multicultural Dynamics of Spiritual Formation and Unveiling the Socioculturally Constructed Multivoiced Self: Themes of Self Construction and Self Integration in the Narrations of Second-Generation Korean American Young Adults. For more information, visit his faculty page.
Book Basics
Teaching the Faith, Forming the Faithful: A Biblical Vision for Education in the Church is a comprehensive evangelical appraisal of the ministry of education in the setting of a local church. The book is divided into four sections: “Purpose: A Mission to Fulfill;” “Proclamation: A Message to Obey and Teach;” “People: Of Teachers and Learners;” and “Practices: Strategies for Teaching and Forming.” This book should find wide usage as a seminary text and is an excellent resource for all pastors as well as for other congregational leaders tasked with the formation and oversight of a comprehensive ministry of Christian education. While the text is written by evangelicals for evangelicals, it is an important read for those in the mainline as well (especially the people and practices sections). Notably, Parrett and Kang encourage congregations to engage in the ancient practices of the church and recommend the Apostle’s Creed, Ten Commandments and Lord’s Prayer as essential elements of introductory education.
So What?
Each chapter ends with a list of questions for planning and practice. Three examples from the section on people follow:
- This chapter argues that parents need to take a more active role in the spiritual lives of their children, instead of leaving it up to “the church.” How can the entire congregation be active in the raising of children in Christian community?
- “We are called, to say it bluntly, to die with Jesus.” This is especially true for those called to teach, lead and serve in educational ministry roles. In what ways is your own ministry an act of laying down your life in sacrifice for others? How do you seek to reflect this core of Christ’s ministry on earth?
- What issues arise when educators take the human development theories from the twentieth century and make them prescriptions instead of descriptions of the educational process? What effects do these have on formational ministry?