Christian education? You mean a pie and pea supper and a film?

I'm thrilled to report that in a recent project which involved visiting 26 parishes and listening to 92 people, I discovered adults learning in an amazing variety of ways, with commitment, enthusiasm and quite often a strong sense of fun. There's more going on than even many of the groups I met had themselves imagined!

One of the reasons for doing the study was to try to find out what works and what doesn't work so well when adults in our diocese set out to learn about their faith and reflect on what it means to follow Christ.

Time and again people told me that they learn most effectively when they confront 'real' questions - the things that bother or fascinate them, more often than not things to do with ordinary life. Talk of 'theology' can be off-putting, but if that theology is born out and tested by people's real experience it's life-enhancing and, and so many people, said, something that the whole Church must respect. As someone at Throckley said, "you need to listen to other people's ideas to discern the truth." This applies to Bible study too. "In a Bible study you've got to involve ordinary life," one woman at St Martin's Byker told me, and at St. Michael's Byker, working in this, through 'contextual Bible study", has become so important that folk there even describe it as "the key to our identity - it's part of what builds the church family."

Learning involves all our senses and often runs over into other things, especially music and worship. At St Hugh's Gosforth a group of women not only put their learning into action when they washed each other's feet on Maundy Thursday using nice smellies from Marks and Spencer, but they made a crown of thorns on Good Friday and (gingerly) felt what it was like to wear it.

There are lively learning groups throughout the diocese, even in the remotest rural parishes like Falstone (the group there has achieved an enormous amount), but there are also many individual learners who value sermons, Bible study notes and even articles in The Link. Many of them told me that they love to see more Christian learning resources available on the internet. One church warden said "a distance learning course based on the internet would be invaluable - and the syllabus needs to be informed by the laity as well as the clergy." His vicar agreed!

I was asked to review this work to give a strong platform for Alastair Macnaughton who starts this month as 'Education for Discipleship Officer - a post shared with Durham Diocese. As Alastair starts we all need to remember that adult Christian education is nothing to do with recreating the atmosphere of a school. As one person said, Education for Discipleship? Just call it 'A Pie and Pea Supper and a Film!'

I've written my findings up in more detail and anyone is welcome to a copy - just ask Richard Bryant at Church House.

Helen Savage discovers that adult Christian learning is not only alive and well, but that it can also be good fun!

CAPTION(S):

ALASTAIR (centre) with some of those who took part in the education for discipleship survey