MY FORMATION AS A RELIGIOUS EDUCATOR, OR HOW I ENTERED THE HOUSEHOLD OF RELIGIOUS EDUCATION (a la Browning and Foster) Preamble re identity and context: I write as a member of that part of the Christian community known as Reformed/Protestant that employs a terminology of “Christian Education” and that asserts the centrality of the [Christian] […]
Greer Anne Wenh-In Ng Read More »
I began in Christian Education before I was 6 months old when my mother took me in a basket to teach her Sunday school class and I continued there until I became the minister of a congregation where I had to stay in church to preach the sermon each Sunday in 1996. As my sermons
As a child, when asked what I “wanted to be when I grew up,” I would usually answer, “a teacher.” I practiced by playing school with my siblings, and in real school, by developing a passion for learning every sort of subject. Spending my entire pre-college educational years in public schools in rural Pennsylvania, my
I probably owe my passion for religious education to my sister – she is nine years my senior and a religious of the Sisters of St. Joseph. In the early ‘60s she was studying at Catholic University and I can remember her telling me about the Adam and Eve story. I was in my early
Reflecting on how I have been formed as a religious educator has confirmed what the southern author Eudora Welty (1909-2001) once wrote: “Wherever you go, you meet part of your story.” Consistent with Horace Bushnell’s maxim, my upbringing in a devout Christian (Baptist) home, I never knew myself to be other than – by some
Speaking of the influence religious actors and institutions are currently playing in every region of the world and on nearly every issue central to U.S. foreign policy, John Kerry, the U.S. Secretary of State recently declared: “I often say that if I headed back to college today, I would major in comparative religions rather than political
The passion that moved me into religious education – The words “church,” “education” and “public” are at the heart of Christian religious education. These words came together for me into a vocation in the midst of seminary and graduate school, yet were born much earlier. First, an evangelical Methodist “church” was a formative in my
There are several significant sources behind my becoming a religious educator. I grew up in the church. My mother played piano and organ at a variety of congregations in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) so my brother (also an ordained minister in this denomination) and I grew up being in worship and in both
My formation initially began at home with my parents. More formal religious education was nurtured at Lutheran Church of the Epiphany in Brooklyn, New York. I can remember a number of my Sunday school teachers, although not formally trained, were dedicated to the task of passing on the faith tradition to us youngsters. While in
I became inspired to pursue Religious Education while a seminary student. Kieran Scott was the faculty person teaching my first RE course and I became inspired through his enthusiasm for the discipline. The more I studied, the more inspired I became. I had come to the seminary after having taught a couple of classes in
