Christian Education and Spiritual Formation: Recent History and Future Prospects

Abstract

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Christian education and spiritual formation existed in an uneasy tension, running on parallel tracks but also developing mutual points of intersection. This article traces the growing connections between these movements in the last two decades of the twentieth century, the changing emphases in this relationship since 2000, and the need for further cross-fertilization between the two fields as ministries face the challenges of the twenty-first century.

Voice of Vision – Crafting Christian Culture as Symbolic Stories: An Arts-based Inquiry approach to exploring how mission and vision are enacted in New Zealand Christian Schools.

“…"Spiritual education can be said to be a function of the complex interplay of school, family, congregation, and community" (Alexander & Carr, 2006, p. 82). This educational interdependence towards an ecological context (interactions within a habitat) or ecology of education (Alexander & Carr, 2006;Cremin, 1976;Setran & Wilhoit, 2020) was evident in this study. Across all the three schools participating the significance of spiritual education and spiritual development (King & Boyatzis, 2015) was salient within interpersonal relationships (especially with mentors and peers) and school-wide community support.…”

“…Utilising Christian curriculum especially noted in the pioneering phase of the schools' development (especially noted by School B), gave the curriculum continuity across the school, and acted as an anchor for the special character and growth of school culture. Mission and vision, were enacted in these three New Zealand Christian schools through intentional leadership development (Bennett, 2015) and the embedding of Christian curriculum to sustain the special character (Setran & Wilhoit, 2020) and culture (Deal & Peterson, 2016). These intentional practices ensured there was not the downgrading of vision as feared by Iselin (2009).…”

“…School-wide approaches improve the function of Christian communities. Authentic school-wide community interdependence contribute to supporting and sustaining spiritual and educational relationships (Setran & Wilhoit, 2020). An engineered ecology works to build an educational place of nurturing, discovery, and freedom through authentic relationships within an integrated community (Dykstra, 2005).…”

“…Values and character development were a pivotal focus to nurture understandings of mission and vision, and the schools' common core aspiration to invest in Christian spiritual formation and development (Estep & Kim, 2010;Setran & Wilhoit, 2020).…”

Spiritual Education for Children as A Shared Responsibility Between Parents and The Church

“…In short, Christian spiritual education requires spiritual information, formation, and transformation; Pazmino suggests that Christians should not emphasize spiritual formation without the rigors of study and transformation risks (Pazmiño, 2010). Only then can Christian education retain a holistic view of a person growing and becoming more like Christ with the principles and practices of spiritual formation (Setran & Wilhoit, 2020).…”