The Anglican Church of Kenya raised a red flag on the demise of the “influence” of the Church in the education sector. The provosts’ desk noted, “Christian churches have played a pivotal role in providing primary, secondary, and higher education in Kenya. In the 18th century, the Church managed education in Kenya. In every mission center, the missionaries established three institutions: a church, a school, and a health center to cater to the holistic human need.” Due to the inability of most churches impoverished with personnel and finances to run the schools efficiently, “…The government has slowly but intentionally removed the Church from school ownership to school ‘sponsorship.’” [1] The shift of support has also led to a change in Christian authority in the management and curricular development of the schools. The more government influence the school has, the more likely its Christian ethos will be endangered.
The basic understanding of “Christian Education,” as taught in most bible school curricula, is the ability to inculcate “Christian ethos” into every area of study, be it humanities, social sciences, or art. Intentionally weaving into “all fields of study” the essence of godliness. Unfortunately, where applicable, the understanding of this has been limited to Christian teachers beginning the class with “Prayer” use of “God” vocabulary scantly. The challenge with this methodology is that most teachers lack the understanding and embodiment of education that is “Christian” in themselves.
To reclaim the Church’s lost birthright to influence matters of education demands a clear understanding of “Christian Education.” Beyond education incorporating “God language,” James’s Relay articulates that which informs the Christians’ ethos, including a “…conceptualization …informed by Scripture, living the Christian tradition, and articulating theology in the content subjects and teaching process.” [2] In essence, there is no way of teaching the “evolution theory” in a Christian way when the truth is that “God created” the world. In pursuing the desire to entrench the Christian ethos, Christian education must correct the ideology first and inform the people what is “theologically” unsound. Incorporating the content and teaching process demands an intentional shift from “disintegration to wholistic integration.”[3]
The result is education that bears “integrity, conspicuously distinctive, gives clear direction, bears biblical content, contains set parameters, filled with divine conviction, able to nurture souls, engaging an intentional process, and utilizes lenses to filter the knowledge being transmitted.[4] Africa Gospel Church, Kenya, my home denomination, has over five hundred schools that offer basic and higher education. Including mid-level tertiary institutions, a bible college, and a university. While the biases of my training may lead me to value theological training as a discipline, I am deeply concerned about the hundreds of teachers who interact with the students in these “church-sponsored schools” in teaching “social sciences.”
On a scale of one to five, I would give myself a four on the emphasis of theology to prepare for pastoral ministry and a two on the interest in social sciences. Yet, the discipleship mandate demands that I shift my missiological focus to the hundreds of social science teachers who interact daily with the souls of the youth in the Church-sponsored schools. What improvements should the denominational leaders make to reclaim the Church’s birthright in providing Christian education? The mandate lies with the discipleship department in the following areas:
- Denominational leaders have a “holistic” understanding of what it takes to get an “education that is Christian.”
- Discipleship leaders analyze its institutions and institutional leaders to know what levels of “disintegration” exist in the church system.
- In partnership with its institutional leaders, the Church will develop a holistic integration curriculum.
- Intentional discipleship of all stakeholders to embrace the content, context, and processes that make “Christian education.”
I realize that the dichotomy of theology and social sciences is an injustice to our formation as gospel ministers. Robing “education” off “theology” is taking away the “perfect lenses” that inform the social sciences from shifting to post-modern ideologies that tend to idolatry, all manner of deceptive social evils, that eventually lead to the disintegration of our societal fabric, which is the concern of the global village today. The church must take its place in impacting the spheres of society, be it family, religion, media, education, government, business, and entertainment.
[1] “All Saints’ Cathedral – Nairobi, Kenya.” n.d. https://www.allsaintsnairobi.org/514-2/.
[2] Estep, J. R., Anthony, M. J., & Allison, G. R. (2008). A theology for christian education, (ch2 p1). Nashville, TN: B & H Academic.
[3] Ibid, (ch2 p6). Nashville, TN: B & H Academic.
[4] Ibid, (ch2 p13). Nashville, TN: B & H Academic.