TRANSFIGURATION 2008
From the Editor...
Can We Not Give One Hour to Adult Education?
How can the Episcopal Church claim to be the
thinking people’s church when so few parishes devote sufficient time to
adult education on Sunday mornings?
It is a question worthy of much pondering. I think we
should where at all possible give one hour to adult spiritual formation
on the Lord’s day — but if you study how parishes actually function,
the number who use this standard is precious few.
In some parishes there is little or no adult education to
speak of on Sunday mornings, whereas there are such offerings for
children. But following Christ is a life long call, and this
approach won’t do.
Thankfully in the last two to three decades more and more parishes are
offering adult education on the Sabbath day. But how much time do they
give them?
I have here a parish newsletter from one of the largest parishes in the
country, and on their Sunday morning schedule they offer several
classes for 35 minutes.
You know how this works in practice. People come out of worship,
people have struggles finding a parking spot, people need to use the
rest room, and before you know it, 35 minutes becomes 25 or less in
practice. But this is much less time than a typical college
class, or an average session in a business seminar. Does this
communicate a priority on adult education?
Other parishes do better and actually give 45 minutes. But again,
one has to go beneath the surface in the parish to see how this
actually functions in a number of instances. One quite vibrant
parish comes to mind that has 45 minute classes, but in this parish the
choir members leave after 30 minutes for Sunday morning choir
practice. What does this communicate about priorities, never mind
the distraction to other class members?
I believe one hour needs to be devoted to adult education, because even
then with all the distractions on most Sunday mornings the time
actually spent on the material is less, but it at least allows
substantive engagement. Yes, parishes should use every
considerable resource. By all means we should use different
formats that taken into account the fact that adults learn in different
ways than children do.
I realize, too, that some parishes have physical space constraints that
make this amount of time impossible without unduly damaging the chance
to worship.
But if we do not give it sufficient time, we communicate in our actions that it really isn’t a priority.
It is time for the church that claims to be the thinking person’s
church to live into its own claims and devote a whole hour on the
Sunday morning schedule to adult education of real quality and variety.
Imagine that—a church that claims to be for thinking people giving
people real time to think on Sunday morning about what it means to Love
God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. If it is really
important to us can we do any less? -- The
Rev. Canon Dr.
Kendall S. Harmon
Contact Dr
Harmon by
e-mail at ksharmon@mindspring.com
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