NAPCE Christian Higher Education Networking Group

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Comment by Ryan McMillian on November 24, 2008 at 6:18pm

I am joining this group in hopes of being able to interact with fellow educators. I am pleased to read discussion on here about the local church. I am looking forward to getting to know more christian educators.

Comment by Rick Yount on October 26, 2008 at 6:59pm

I "amen!" Paul's observation re: ministry in the (local) church before teaching others in seminary or college. Without this experience, professors teach disembodied theory. They teach ideas more than they teach people. My teaching as an adjunct prior to full time ministry was very different from my teaching after 5 years of ministry experience. And I've seen this same thing in others over the years.

Comment by Paul Bramer on October 26, 2008 at 6:07am

Kristie--My understanding of "church" is more catholic and broader than "local congregation", so I have always framed my involvement in Christian higher education to be ministry in the church. Furthermore, since I was usually educating people who were going into congregational ministry, I have always been aware of the close connection between the two. So those ideas have helped me not experience a great divorce between the two--though of course I do understand that in some ways there is a lot of difference between ministry in a local congregation and in a college or seminary and I respect the seriousness of our question because they do involve quite different paths, lifestyles, etc.. I think people who teach educational ministries/CE in Christian higher education are more credible and confident if they have had significant experience in congregational ministry (e.g., ministry in 2 churches for about 3 years each). And many CE profs maintain significant ministry involvement in their local church or in ministries that serve the local church.