Age Appropriate Education Material

Couple weeks ago I attended a one-day lecture series at Faith UCC here in Clearwater. The featured speaker was Dr. Hal Taussig, Professor of New Testament at Union Theological Seminary in New York. During one of the question and answer periods the subject of education material came up. A discussion ensued regarding levels of material for various age groups. Dr. Taussig made the comment, “Once upon a time stories are appropriate for six year olds.”…

In that moment it struck me… This is the crux of the ‘intellectual honesty’ gap that plagues the Church today. The only thing the Church ever preaches or teaches is – ‘Once upon a time stories - no matter what the age group. We begin and end our Church life hearing nothing but ‘Once upon a time’ stories.

Age appropriate education material seems like such a simple answer to this problem…Write it, introduce it, teach it, problem solved… but its not that simple, is it?

The Church hierarchy is not likely to promote such an agenda. Although they have known for decades of the great differences between what is preached and taught to ‘the-people-in-the-pews’ vs. what is taught in the seminaries and universities, I have little hope that the current practice will change in my lifetime. And yet that’s all it would take to overcome today’s bane of superstition and folklore… Age appropriate Christian education material, to bridge the gap between ‘Once upon a time’… and… Reality… From pre-adolescent, to teen, to young adult, to mature adult.

Think about it....................... barry e