From Generation to Generation
The Adaptive Challenge of Mainline Protestant Education in Forming Faith
- Discipleship & Christian Education
- Publisher: Cascade Books (Wipf and Stock)
- Published: 2012
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Publisher's Description
Mainline Protestant congregations face a profound adaptive challenge. In the midst of significant social, cultural, and technological change, the denominations they represent generally abandoned a view of education capable of maintaining and renewing their faith traditions through their children and youth. New curriculum resources and innovative pedagogical strategies appropriated from the marketplace of religious education options have not met the challenge. A transformation of consciousness is required in congregations seeking a future through their children. It involves the exercise of an ecclesial imagination to reclaim a view of education rooted in the revitalization of their religious traditions in the past and re-envisioning the congregation as a catechetical culture of faith formation.
Endorsements (6)
“From Generation to Generation begins in lament for all that has been lost in education and spiritual formation . . . and ends by reimagining those tasks and laying out the practices that will form the faith of the next generation. . . . From Generation to Generation makes an important, creative, and practical contribution to that conversation.”
“No one has more wisdom about congregational education than Charles Foster, and in this challenging book he turns to one of the most urgent questions of all: how can we enable our children to be formed in the Christian faith? He is aware of the obstacles--the shifting religious and cultural landscape, troubled denominational structures, theological amnesia, the decline in intergenerational mentoring--but fortunately, he is also able to describe a wise and hopeful path ahead toward equipping children with vital, imaginative, and courageous faith.”
“Charles Foster makes a compelling argument for the development of catechetical cultures in congregations capable of helping their members to anticipate, prepare for, rehearse, participate in, and analyze the heart of the Christian story. His masterful analysis of mainline Protestant churches suggests that unless we can retrieve and re-member the developmental, practical, and discovery elements of such a culture, our congregations will fade even further into irrelevance.”
“Charles Foster's ecclesial imagination, cultural insight, strategic savvy, and experience as an educator make him the best possible guide for congregational leaders committed to revitalizing Christian belief and practice in the twenty-first century. Congregations face no challenge more crucial than this one. This book will allow them to face the challenge with practical wisdom and well-founded hope.”
“Foster invites all of us invested in the life of faith to look forward. He calls on those concerned about Christian formation and education to cultivate capacities of collective 'ecclesial imagination' in churches that can envision the future of congregations through the faith of our children and youth. . . . From Generation to Generation is an insightful resource for the church today and its future, and it is an invaluable gift to religious educators.”
“''The educator, pastor, or congregational leader looking to wrestle in a substantive way with the purpose and challenge of education ministry in the 21st century will find this text an excellent conversation starter.'”
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