Ecumenical Group to Evaluate Curriculum
Episcopal News Service. December 28, 1978 [78373]
MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- Twelve North American churches, comprising some 12.5 million members, have set in motion steps to evaluate the largest common Christian education curriculum ever undertaken by the Protestant and Anglican bodies.
The Episcopal Church is one of the founding members of the ecumenical Joint Educational Development which, last September, launched the curriculum, "Christian Education: Shared Approaches."
The executive committee of Joint Educational Development, meeting here in late November, wants to find out what congregations are using the material, how well it's working for them, and why those who aren't using it aren't.
Also, the committee wants to know whether there really are four different types of congregations, as they have assumed in developing the four Shared Approaches, each preferring to study the Bible in a particular way.
The executive committee appropriated $32,000 for a research project -- to be completed in mid-1981 -- to discover whether the curriculum is doing what it was designed to do. The Rev. William L. Roberts, a United Presbyterian minister of Sistersville, W. Va., who earned a doctorate in research from Princeton University, will direct the research and evaluation.
The Shared Approaches curriculum is built on the assumption that the Bible is at the heart of the Christian faith -- but that some Christians prefer to concentrate on knowing the Bible, others on interpreting it, others on living a life based on Biblical truths, and still others on action grounded in the Word of God.
Robert F. Glover, Indianapolis, Ind., Christian education executive of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), was elected to his second two-year term as chairman during the executive committee's business meeting. David S. Noreen, Chicago, Ill., of the Evangelical Covenant Church, was elected vice chairman, while Paul K. Koper, New York, N. Y., of the United Presbyterian Church and Mary Jean McFadyen, Atlanta, Ga., of the Presbyterian Church in the U. S., were elected treasurer and secretary respectively.
The Episcopal Church is a partner in the development of the new curriculum, having participated in the planning for one of the approaches, "Doing the Word. " Many Episcopal churches use one or more of the four Shared Approaches in their educational programs.
The Episcopal Church is involved in several other projects of Joint Educational Development. It provides major support, both in planning and funding, in the youth ministries team and in the black education ministries team.
At the present time, according to the Rev. Fred Howard of the Christian education office at the Episcopal Church Center, exploratory planning is proceeding in the areas of Asian American ministries, family ministry and education, small churches, and leader development.
The Joint Educational Development churches range in size from the 3 million member Episcopal Church to the 54,000 member Moravian Church.
In addition to the Episcopal Church, member churches are:
- United Presbyterian Church, United Church of Christ
- Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
- Presbyterian Church in U. S
- Reformed Church in America
- Church of the Brethren, Presbyterian Church of Canada
- Cumberland Presbyterian Church
- and the Evangelical Covenant Church.