The Pedagogy of Liturgy

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The Pedagogy of Liturgy

• Teaching Ministry
• Faith Formation
• Christian Education

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Remembering our purpose

• There is a word, that is a very important word to
  the faith formation of every person
• There is a word, that is a very important word to
  the worship of every congregation
• There is a word, that is a very important word
  that will shape every teaching moment in the
  church.

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Remembering our Purpose

• The word is a Greek word,
• an am ne sis anamnesis much more than
  remembering do this in remembrance of me.
• Teaching in our liturgy is
• to make the past known in the present
• proclaim Christs death
• proclaim Christs resurrection
• proclaim Christs teaching, healing and preaching

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Remembering our Purpose

• To make known Christs presence today in
  community through
• Word
• Preaching
• Sacrament
• Teaching

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Remembering Our Purpose

• Presentation of the Word
• 1. Scripture Presentation Telling the Story
• Reading Preparing the reader voice,
  articulation, pronunciation, context Teaching
  for the reading
• Tableaux Dramatic Presentation of the Scripture
• Hymnody Theological reflection of the Word
• Prayer formulation in relationship to Scripture

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Remembering Our Purpose

• 2. Preaching
• Martin Luther First of all a good preacher must
  be able to teach correctly and in an orderly
  manner.
• C.H. Dodd, History and Gospel Preaching the
  Gospel is not the same thing as teaching,
  delivering moral instruction and exhorting the
  people. The early church did not make converts by
  teaching, even passing on the teaching of the
  Lord. It is by kerygma, not be didache.
• Thomas Groome Christian Education is a group of
  Christians sharing in dialogue their critical
  reflection on present action in light of the
  Christian Story and its vision toward the end of
  the lived Christian Faith

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Remembering Our Purpose

• Components of a Teaching Sermon
• Kerygmais that part of the Gospel proclamation
  directed toward the transmission of the sacred
  story that is foundational to Christian Faith
• Didache is that part of the Gospel teaching
  directed toward Christian Character, Christian
  identity and way of life
• Good preaching keeps them in conversation with
  each other!

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Remembering Our Purpose

• Proclamation in Faith
• Living Word is mediated through preaching.
• Clarification of Christian life, responsibilities
  and doctrines is through teaching.

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Remembering Our Purpose

• 3. Sacrament
• Teaching for Baptism
• Teaching for The Lords Supper
• And other offices
• Teaching for Marriage
• Teaching for a variety of vocations in the
  church, lay and ordained.
• Teaching for healing and reconciliation
• Teaching for dying
• Teaching for Social Justice

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In our Teaching Ministry we have learned

• In this class we have
• Developed a format for lesson planning and
  critiquing lessons
• Developed a Teacher Training Session
• Reflected on our identity as teachers and our
  individual theology of teaching
• Engaged in moral development and faith
  development theories
• Reflected on theology of children and youth and
  how we will teach them and how they teach us.
• Considered implications for different learning
  and thinking styles

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Responding

• In this class we have
• Shared Resource and curriculum ideas for faith
  formation
• Experienced a variety of pedagogical approaches
  to a gathered learning community didactic,
  learner centered, concept centered, rotation
  method, learning center, media centered, and
  discovery and pedagogy of the oppressed
• Used a variety of media.
• Asked the question is the Holy Spirit ever
  referred to in the feminine? Yes Matthew 316
• Considered some implications and need for
  anti-racism training in relationship to Christian
  Formation

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Responding

• In this class
• We experienced individual learning, small group
  learning.
• Process of Appreciative Inquiry in forming
  learning goals
• Process of Authority of Generations
• Developed components of faithful ministry with
  children, inclusion in liturgy.
• Developed components of faithful ministry with
  youth.
• Discussed characteristics of the generations.
• Learned about the Search Institute in terms of
  demographics of Christian Formation and
  Denominational experiences.

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Responding

• In this class
• Checked our learning goals
• Demonstrated integration of information in
  reflection papers.
• Learned ways of managing polarities, that is
  problems that are not solvable.

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Case Study for Teaching ministry

• Approaching faith formation through the teaching
  liturgy
• 1. Asking the questions
• a. What is the history of Christian Education in
  the congregation?
• b. Who are the teachers, what kind of
  experiences have they had to prepare them for
  teaching? What is their faith? And what is their
  theology of teaching?
• C What is the integrative vision or mission or
  purpose of the church school? And how does it
  relate to the faith formation goals of the
  congregation?

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Case Study

• Asking the question?
• Is there a related goal or objective in content
  or method for life long formation?
• What is the curriculum? How much Scripture and
  Church history will learners experience?
• Does the curriculum relate to the liturgy?
• What is the theology of worship? That is how
  would you describe the worship experience and
  does it relate to the learning experiences?

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Case Study

• How is the liturgy the work of the people?
• How are your congregation members prepared for
  worship?
• Prayers?
• Hymns?
• Ritual?
• Symbols?
• Baptism?
• Confirmation?
• Seekers?

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Case Study

• How do you develop your teaching/learning
  experiences?
• Liturgical seasons
• Issue or concept based ie soteriology,parousia,
• eschatology, ways of prayer
• AIDS, War, Poverty
• concerns of community stewardship, evangelism,
  pastoral care
• Moral and Ethical development, ways of thinking
  and decision making learning from liturgy
• Social Justice and prayer

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Case Study

• How is your building or worship space used?
• Purpose of outside groups in relationship to
  mission/worship and education
• Schedule for teaching times/worship times
• Adult life long formation
• Young Adult life long formation
• Youth life long formation
• Children/life long formation
• Intergenerational faith formation
• Retreat times for congregation/teaching through
  the liturgy

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Case Study

• Liturgy as foundational
• Communal function
• Life in the congregation should be a sign to the
  world of what life in Gods reign looks like.
• Evaluation
• How do members of the congregation respond to
  young people? Elderly? Differently abled? Poor,
  and those who are vulnerable?
• Greeting new folks, how we talk about and to each
  other, how we organize our life and make
  decisions and choose leaders reveals our faith
  development

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Ask the Question

• Are we a smaller congregation, mission or
  pastoral size, trying to be a program or
  corporate size congregation?
• Consider
• Tthe hidden teaching expectations of our Teaching
  ministry curriculum
• Many available professional teachers
• Many available leaders who have a passion for
  formation
• An hour program opportunity that is
  developmentally segmented.

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Educational Characteristics

• A model for educationOne size does not fit all
• Mission or Family usually one worship service
• UrbanTotal Baptismal ministry
  BIBLE/CREED/MINISTRY/SCAREMENTS
• Educate for independence! Call out gifts..share
  the message with neighbors..Theology of
  Abundance/social justice. Small gatherings, even
  in homes, for formation
• Flexibility in offering times/central
  vision/gathered community
• Rural Teach for the capacity of the church to
  make its witness. Break down isolation through
  clustering possibilities( coordination with other
  congregations either ecumenical/or/inter-denominat
  ional Mission Team teaching for mutual ministry
  of all ages

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Educational Characteristics

• Pastoral very relationaldynamic, new models
  (50-150)
• 1. Clergy are central leadership thus teaching
  for leadership, leadership that is collegial is
  important Pastoral care teams, teaching
  ministry teams Life long formation structure to
  include intergenerational activities/gathered
  church school for a particular lesson with
  developmentally appropriate options. Retreat
  settings work very well. Teaching for and from
  liturgy is essential. Music ministry may be the
  way.
• 2. Adaptive work engage in the beliefs, the
  attitudes and expectations of the congregation or
  the internal culture of the congregation through
  intentional adult education that includes
  reflection on worship and Ministry of daily life.
• 3. Community lies at the heart of Gospel life
  and mission
• 4. Organization of teaching around the
  vision/mission of the congregation

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Educational Characteristics

• PROGRAM (150-350)
• 1. Forming small learning communities is
  essential. Many cells of activity. Greater
  leadership capacity, ordained not central to
  mission and vision.
• 2. Bring together diverse elements with a vision
  and mission and base teaching around that vision
  or mission. Worship central, usually several
  worship opportunities that relate to strong music
  ministry. Consider the connection between music
  and teaching.
• 3. Faith formation of adults essential, usually
  developmentally segregated classrooms. Strong
  lay ministry. Usually Sunday School, Childrens
  Ministry, Youth Ministry, Elder Ministry all
  separated.
• 4. Teach for administration, pastoral care, Teach
  for communication.
• 5. Higher Budget for Formation and Youth
  activities
• 6. Mission trips/Teacher Training/Global
  dimension/commitment to Renewal of Baptismal
  ministry and equipping the saints. Ministry for
  daily life, evangelism and seeker tools

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Educational Characteristics

• Corporate (350 and more active members)
• 1. Purchased curriculum is often used. Schedule
  difficulties because of multi-use of building
• 2. Dynamic charismatic speakers, preachers, which
  generate energy, the key is to provide teaching
  that does the same.
• 3. Budget that supports many activities for adult
  formation, children, youth and young adult
• 4. Small learning communities where relational is
  developed in the context of faith formation is
  essential for stability and growth
• 5. Many leaders to choose from gift discernment
  in relationship to faith formation is essential.
• 6. Multiple staff who work collegially evidenced
  in Sunday liturgy.

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Case Study

• After asking the questions, and understanding the
  culture of the congregation.
• What do we do?

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We Could

• Run from our responsibilities

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We Could

• Take the weight of responsibility into our lives
  and shoulder it

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We Could

• Continuously multi-task and never take a break
  until we can no longer keep our teaching and
  learning lives spinning

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We could

• Become very angry at the irresponsible members
  of our congregation. After all are they really
  Christian?

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We could

• Respond out of all the love that God has given us
  and become a co-creator with God

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How?

• Pray.
• If indeed our teaching ministry supports our
  liturgy our communal life of prayer, we need to
  ask
• How is it with our prayer life? The liturgy is
  the breath of God, the incarnate body breathing
  its life as an offering to God.
• What do we learn in/from/during our prayers?
• About ourselves, those whom we serve, those who
  are our enemies?

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How?

• Consider the church to be an educational
  community rather than a program.
• Engage in
• Daily and weekly participation in liturgy
• Reflective observation of liturgy
• What are the implications of observations?
• Create new concepts

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How?

• Calling out of gifts A teaching approach from a
  theology of abundance rather than scarcity
• Teaching and leading others to name the gifts in
  the community. Taking a positive look at others
  and seeing them in the image of God
• Gift of Song
• gift of story telling
• gift of prayer
• gift of interpretation of prayers
• gift of organization

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How?

• Teach for change
• Teach for growth
• Teach for welcoming the stranger
• QUOTE
• As Tertullian, a third-century theologian
  commented Christians are made, not born

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A Model From Scripture

• Consider the Biblical Characteristics of the
  early church, which functioned in a non-Christian
  world. What did its teaching ministry look like?
• Importance of household and baptism
• Liturgy central/ consider each Gospel as an
  expression of liturgy
• Teaching for preparation of sacrament

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An educational model from present culture

• Willow Creek
• Seekers curriculum
• Providing multiple teaching and worship
  experiences that include newest technology
• Cell Group learning and mentoring emphasis
• Small group worship planning

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A model from the life of the saints

• Francis Mother Theresa
• rebuild the church serve the poor
• prayer that leads to serving prayer and serving
• Ministry of daily presence ministry of presence
• Retreat from institutional church create
  small communities
• Triune God of Creation I Thirst
• Contemplation and Love Joy and Love

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Teaching for the Sacraments and pastoral life of
the church

• Preparation for marriage as teaching ministry
• role and responsibility of community
• Preparation for death as teaching ministry
• Preparation for confirmation as teaching ministry

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Above all RememberThe Church is called

• To be a missionary church not a maintenance
  church
• Our Teaching is a call to be faithful
• Teaching to reflect critically on society
• Learn how to resist the negative influences.
• Strategize how we act in ways affect daily lives.

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Life Cycle of teaching ministry Program

• Embryonic
• Rapid change
• confusion
• innovation
• risk-taking
• mistakes are ok
• ambiguity
• experimentation
• high energy
• time frame Present

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Life Cycle of Teaching Ministry Program

• Growth
• Focused energy
• rapid growth
• increase in people involved
• more of everything
• open to feedback
• time frame future

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Life Cycle of Teaching Ministry Program

• Mature
• stability
• maintenance
• status quo
• no change
• no mistakes
• closed to feedback
• time frame blurred

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Life Cycle of Teaching Ministry Program

• Aging/decline
• hanging on
• survival
• obsession with past
• drop-off in participation and energy
• resistance to change
• time frame nostalgia past
• anxiety-future

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Note the relationship of worship and teaching

• One wonders is there a connection between
  teaching and worship?
• Upgrade your teaching ministry
• The Challenge Discovery of Teaching Ministry as
  compassionate education of the soul deeply
  reflective of liturgy, inclusive, multicultural,
  seeks justice, mission oriented with a focus on
  the whole person.