Reflections on Biblical Hospitality

Concerning the idea of hospitality

While I'm aware that the notion of hospitality is in the bible for a long time, it is only through this module that I realise hospitality is so central to the Christian faith. Through the discussions on hospitality, I have learned that it is way more than the common concept of the term which we use in present day. Through examining the context of the New Testament, I've learned that hospitality is a vital expression of love at that time. Furthermore, hospitality involves more than just the expression of providing food, shelter and meeting the needs of a person, but is rooted in active love and respect for him. Understanding the motivation behind biblical hospitality enables me to see how it can be applied in the contemporary context - rather than providing a place to stay in and beyond giving a treat to a meal, I can practise hospitality through expressing acceptance in relationship, and watching out for the needs of a person and meeting them to the extent which I am able to. The idea of hospitality certainly enlarges my perspective on what it means to love another in practical ways, and gives me new motivation to be proactive in building relationships with strangers.

Concerning hospitality in my role as a teacher

As a teacher, I have known that I play a major role in determining the learning environment of my class. The idea of hospitality further challenges me that I am responsible to be a host to my students in the learning process, and I have the opportunity to empower them in their learning. By examining how I teach through the lens of hospitality, I realise that I have done right in certain certain, but need to improve in others.

For the right things, I have sought to build relationships with my students in the classroom, so that it establishes a conducive environment for them to ask questions. While initially this was awkward, I find that I am getting better at this as I continue to make effort in this area. The idea of hospitality encourages me to continue to work in this area as one aspect to improve learning for my students. Another area which I think I have done right is to regularly ask questions to probe my students to think deeper, and to respond to questions with questions instead of giving them answers straight away. This enables them to arrive at the solutions on their own instead of me telling them the correct answers. After learning about creating learning space, I see the possibility of trying new ideas to enable the students to arrive at the solutions on their own instead of being spoon fed by me.

For the wrong things, I realised that sometimes when students kept asking questions, I grow impatient and just give them the answers directly. On the same idea of learning space, I should stop them from expecting the answers from me, and instead try to work out the solution on their own or discuss with each other to check their reasoning and answers. Another thing I realise is that I tend to marginalise those who misbehave in class in the way I reprimand them. While discipline in class is necessary, I should have been more balanced in both reprimand and encouragement, so that I help to redirect their energy towards learning.

Concerning my inclination towards hospitality

As I reflect on the discussions on hospitality, I realise that I am not really a hospitable person. This is partly due to my family environment - my mother tends to be quite private and do not welcome guests often. Moreover, it is customary among relatives that we gather at the elder uncle or aunt's place, so relative visitation to my home is rare. My house is also quite small (3-room flat), and is not very conducive to host visitors. Furthermore, I find it a hassle to invite friends to my house, when I need to clean up and prepare the place for them - I would rather meet them outside at a restaurant with a nice ambience, and enjoy our time there!

Perhaps when I get a place of my own, I can made deliberate effort to invite friends over, or to have an available room to host oversea visitors - both my friends and missionaries.

Reflections on Philippians Class

The Philippians block class lasts two weeks, and now it is ending soon. Philippians is a short book, but quite a unique one in that Paul displays a close relationship with the members of the Philippi church, and urges them to follow His example as a fellow worker in the gospel – more than in other letters he has written. His impressive life of striving for the gospel is shown forth in his perspective during his imprisonment – his constant encouragement for his listeners to rejoice, his desire to see the gospel continue to be preached, and his concern over the affairs of the church he has planted despite being away from them.  He must have thought through the possible outcome of his imprisonment, as his letter suggested it (Phil 1:21-26), but he is single-mindedly focused on furthering the gospel, and not really concerned about his fate at the hands of the Roman authorities.

            Having been a Christian for over 17 years, I do see myself being more mature than when I first started (and I believe we all grow the same way as we know Christ more) – in terms of my priorities in what I dedicate my time to, in how I spend my money, etc; in terms of how I relate, being more willing to give up my rights and less concerned about having my say, being less critical of people, etc.; in my perspective, in seeing the experience I go through, the skills I learn at work and the lessons I learn in life as being beneficial for my own growth, so that I could serve God better, etc. However, Paul’s example shows to me there is still a lot of areas of my life I hold on to, my comfort zones which God has not touched, and a relatively lack of passion for the gospel (compared with Paul!). If Paul then considers himself as not having yet attained what he pursue, then how much more room there is for me to grow in God.

It seems that Paul is addressing arguments among the believers in Philippi in his letter, and his perspective is clear in how the church as a whole should deal with it – with regard to those who jeopardise the gospel, the church is be wary and avoid them (Phil 3:18-19), but for matters which are disputable, Paul sees the unity of the believers as much more important than the individual rights and ambitions each of them has. God is the one who unites us, and Christ is the example to follow, and we are all transformed by the Holy Spirit towards the gospel.

            Having been in church for a number of years, I am often encouraged by my brothers and sisters in church through the fellowship we share, and there is a lot of ways which fellowship can spur ourselves on in character transformation and diligence in ministry which we cannot learn on our own. At the same time, disagreements and quarrels can also be very damaging in a Christian community, sometimes even leading to divisions and people leaving the community. It is perhaps very much due to the tension between the expectation of an ideal community transformed by Christ, and the very human selfishness and pride that still exists within imperfect human beings like us. The closer we are in our fellowship, the easier it is for us to be hurt on occasions when we see out individual rights and ambitions as being more important than the other person. The emphasis of Paul on unity in the church is thus sometimes we all ought to keep in mind always – that the unity of the community of believers takes priority over our disagreements. Of course, beyond the exhortation towards unity, Paul still needs to deal with the specific issue in the Philippian church, and I believe that in the heart of every disagreement there is a way of deal with the issue without leading to quarrels, and it is often pride in us, not the issue at the heart of the disagreement, that will divide the community.

In Paul letter to the Philippians, Paul emphasises following examples in his appeal to right Christian conduct, first by appealing to the ultimate example of Christ, then by elaborating on his own example. Paul is deeply convicted in what he preaches and has lived it for over twenty years since he believed in the gospel, and his passion and conviction comes forth from his letter of appeal to the Philippian believers. Paul’s success in ministry is not just due to God’s calling and anointing in his ministry, but more his giving of and living out his life for the gospel, as a powerful example for us to follow.

            I remember that I my early years as a believer, many of the attitudes and spirit I learned are not just from the teaching of the Word, but very often by the unspoken examples of my leaders and mentors in the church (I am not sure which had a greater impact on me, but I believe both have shaped my faith as a young believer). Even now, I look out for other believers and mentors whom I can emulate in my faith. At the same time, Paul’s letter is a good reminder I ought to live out what I preach, especially when I often have much opportunities to “preach”, so that I live up to what I say, and I only say what I truly live up to.

The sharing of our faith journey on Monday’s lesson is both a deeply encouraging time and a stirring time (to reflect) for me. It is really encouraging to see how God is present in the lives of every one of us and led us in our walk in Him, and God’s faithfulness to every believer gives me the assurance that He is involved in my life, and I can trust in Him in every step – if I would follow His leading. At the same time, it is deeply stirring for me to reflect on my own spiritual journey – how much have I trusted in Him, and how much have I truly sought Him out in my decisions and priorities? My church brought-up emphases on the Word of God, diligence and making plans to further the gospel – which are all good. However, it also inevitably leads to a suspicion of “God speaking” with regard to disputable matters sometimes as being impractical and not Word-centred. I believe they are not mutually exclusive, and my years of studies in the college and applying them in my walk with God shows me that we can trust in God’s voice together with being obedient to the Word of God. Hence, I believe as I continue to grow in my relationship with God, I will see God in much more of my life as He has been before – as I grow in know Him better and allow Him into more of my life. 

Reflections on Teaching

It has been a pretty quick two weeks, starting with a short presentation on educational topics and (almost) ending with microteaching. As someone who is vocationally engaged in education, though many of the concepts and theories are not new to me, it is good to be refreshed in them and rethink my teaching routines and practices through the lessons and class discussions.

Self-Regulation

From the start, the concept of self-regulation, which my team was assigned to present, is a concept relevant to both my vocation and personal life. Many of my considerations on my teaching approaches as a teacher (which need to be continuously evolving due to the unique context of each classroom) can be reduced to choosing between a teacher-directed, transmission-based method which efficiently deliver the subject content, and a facilitation of self-regulated learning practices on the part of the students. Much of my struggle with the students is between letting students indulge in a teacher-dependent learning environment where I am the one initiating learning, and expecting more self-regulation in the students (for their own benefit). Having a clearer conceptualisation of self-regulation – especially the three phases of pre-, during and post-learning – is certainly useful in my planning for future lessons. This is definitely relevant for Christian education, where we encourage believers to regulate their own biblical and practical learning.

            On a personal level, the concept of self-regulation is certainly good reflection and evaluation for my own life. Regulating my own motivation to learn used to be something I readily do in my younger days – by framing my reasons for attending training, taking up courses, or even self-learning; but in recent years (or decade!), I have become lazy (despite still maintaining an eagerness to learn), and had let myself be readily satisfied by following a routine workflow in both ministry and work, and by letting the structured programme in AGBC (more recently ACTS College J) carry me along. Furthermore, there is much room which I could work on concerning monitoring and evaluating my own learning progress. Though not all personal learning processes need to be passed through a stringent monitoring and evaluation (that would be real’ tiring!), but certain major personal goals could do with more deliberate supervision.

Models of Teaching

            Without delving into the nature vs nurture debate, I believe we all agree that we are very much influenced by our nurture. Of this, one very significant element is the educational process we went through. The contrast between “violent” and redemptive models of teaching lends to me a clearer perspective on the connection between education and my Christian faith. While I had previously been conscious of the effect of the fallenness of man in the structures and processes of education, the lesson on the models of teaching highlight specifics in our educational practices which reinforce our alienation from each other. Grading students through ranking necessarily dictates a competitive view on education, and on a macro level this promotes an inequality in knowledge and success. I believe this plays a role by extension in contributing to the competitive culture in work culture. Of course, all alienation is ultimately rooted in our human fallenness and not any external structure, but societal structures serve to reinforce on a macro level what already exist at an individual level.

            Alienation does not occur just between students as fostered by a competitive attitude, but also between the students and the world they live in as education is viewed mainly as a tool to better life for oneself instead of understanding one’s relationship to the environment of the world (as pointed out and extensively elaborated by Palmer in his To Know as We Are Known).

Considering the significance of education in impacting students’ thinking and orientation to life, a clear view of the effects of educational practices would be highly beneficial for selecting those who inclines towards a redemptive model. This is especially true of Christian education, which is supposed to be transformative in nature.

Contextual Challenges to Teaching

The lesson on contextual challenges to teaching is a practical reflection on approaches to education. The world has certainly changed tremendously in the past century, and it will definitely continue to do so, perhaps even at a faster pace. One challenge for educators is to engage younger generations through the culture and language native to them. As much as I try to speak in the language of my students, I need to guard myself against inner resistance to certain changes which might hinder connection with young students. In the church, experienced believers are often guides and mentors to the younger church members, but they could only exert impactful influence to the extent which they could connect relevantly with them.

            The use of technology is certainly a challenge, especially with the fast pace of development. This challenge is particularly acute for the older generation where information technology is a recent phenomenon which they have not engaged with for a large part of their student and work life.  I could certainly expect similar development in my life time, and the challenge is for me to continuously keep in touch with new innovations which are relevant to educational approaches.

Reflections on Romans

It has been an intensive two weeks for me (and I believe for everyone attending the class!), with lessons occurring almost everyday and with other commitments also crying for my attention. The course has definitely been fruitful, especially learning about the profound theology (2 Pet 3:16) embedded in Paul’s argument for the salvation of grace for both Jews and Gentiles in his letter to the Romans.

Coming to God on His terms

For me, one thing is clear throughout the convoluted and brisk-paced argument of the first eleven chapters – we come to God on His own terms, not according to ours. At first glance, God’s terms are not difficult to follow – He desires to reconcile us back to a right relationship with Him, and we need to believe in His faithfulness towards us and trust in Him to lead us into His righteousness. Of course, this entails a willingness to walk according to His Word and obey it. To me, what complicate matters are two things, both of which are related to sin in us (frustratingly, Paul states the source but does not elaborate on the nature of this sin!). Firstly, we resist surrendering our will to God and trust in Him, preferring instead to earn our own righteousness – on whom we trust (ie. ourselves!) – and so along with it decide to set our own terms on how to attain a right standing with God (mistakenly). This self-deception is conceived out of a self-sufficiency rooted in pride. The second complication is that by nature we are resistant to obeying God wholeheartedly, so we resort to obeying God in outward form only (which is so like the Pharisees, whom Jesus denounced as whitewashed tombs in Mat 23:27). This contrasts strongly with the “genuine love” exhortation which Paul gives in Romans 12:9. To carry this one step further, we pervert obedience, which is supposed to be our relational response to God’s love, into a performance and badge of honour (especially the outward, form-based kind).

Even though it takes some time and deliberate effort to change from my old mind set of obedience as performance, this perspective is liberating in that my way to God is not based on how much I managed to obey God – this is still important as an outflow of my relationship with Him, but not as a way to open my access to Him.

The Need to Scrutinise the Word

It is good that Brother Casey prompted us with questions of our interpretation of various words and phrases used by Paul in Romans. One area he kept reminding us is to note the function of words and phrases. For words in the genitive case, whether they are subjectively or objectively related to the modified noun will indicate different meanings, and often makes significant difference in our interpretation of the Word. Regarding “love of God” in Romans 8:39, for example, understanding God as subjective enables us to trust in the Lord even in the most difficult times, while interpreting God as objective will cause us to rely on our own limited strength during times when we are already challenged in our faith. Another example is the “righteousness of God” in Romans 1:17, where righteousness can be understood to be distributive, attributive or salvific (or perhaps a combination?).

Knowing the different nuances that affect the same words when interpreted differently, I see especially the importance to read the Word of God carefully and to take more time to reflect on what it means and how it affects my own life during devotion. It is a refreshing view of the richness of God’s Word, and an inspiration to delve deeper into it with the enablement of the Holy Spirit.

Love as a Principle, and Serving God as an Expression of Love

The Romans 12:9-13 passage which we were supposed to base our team project on looks straightforward at first sight, but a more in depth analysis shows that there is a richer meaning hidden under the grammatical structures and in the original Greek. The connection of love with seeking what is good and hating what is evil exposes the perspective of love as a principle which we live by instead of just emotional sentimentalism which characterise contemporary understanding. Hence, it is not capricious and unpredictable, but consistently expressed through principles based on God’s Word – though of course there is an affective dimension to it too.

Serving God, subsumed under the theme of genuine love, reveals ministry as an expression of love being acted out. Having been used to a culture of busyness both within the church and in secular Singapore, this understanding certainly injects a deeper significance into my perception of ministry in the midst of the many activities that we tend to be involved in, and gives me a meaningful anchor to persevere onwards in the midst of challenges I would face at times when serving God.

Serving Together… and Spurring Each Other Onwards

We all agree with each other that the team that we have is wonderfully self-initiated. Certainly, technology helped in our communication – eduencounter, email, and whatsapp group-chat, but more important is how each person tried to contribute to the group project without the need for clear assignment of roles and responsibilities. We might not have a perfect report and presentation, but the team ministry in action shows what it can be like when everyone does his or her best to support each other in completing our common goal, and is a good example what ministry can look like too. Although I am supposed to be the leader of the team, I find that I did not need to do much to encourage everyone to work together. Learning from this experience, I can help to spur my teammates on when I am part of a team, and I can learn to rally the team towards the common goal if I am leading the team.

The course is coming to an end, and it is time for celebration for a well-spent two weeks! May we keep in mind the lessons that we have learned and put them into practice, and may be continue to take opportunity to encourage one another in the different areas we serve in whenever there is need.

Reflection on Pastoral Epistles

Once again, another course is nearing an end, and this exercise of reflecting on what we have learned is a good practice, lest we miss out valuable lessons that we could have learned from the course. Personally, I think it is important to not just think through the lessons, discussions and experiences, but to personalise them in our hearts – something that I am well aware of, but sometimes fail to put in enough effort to practise. Ultimately, the goal of reflection should not just be mental knowledge but a transformed life, and often the chasm between the head and the heart is often what makes biblical study ineffective.

            A major theme which can be seen in all the three epistles is perhaps the importance of living up the faith which we believe in, both for the ordinary Christian so that prebelievers will see the attractiveness of the gospel (the gospel IS attractive, just that prebelievers will not see it if Christians do not live up to it), and for the Christian leader to set an example for those they lead and influence. This is, of course, obvious to most, but the question is how much we often practise this in our own lives? After all, it is the most obvious things which we often pay the least attention to. I, for one, must confess that I frequently discover in myself how I have missed out practising seemingly fundamental principles like love (instead of self-centredness), patience (instead of impatience), humility (instead of affirming myself for every little thing which I do well), perseverance (instead of giving up easily), faith (intead of living by sight), reliance on God (instead of trusting in my own problem-solving)... I could go on and on. Furthermore, the pragmatic and efficiency/effectiveness-driven culture of Singapore could skew the idea of setting an example towards the hard values of discipline and diligence (which are good principles) to the neglect of more fundamental values of faith, hope and love. The former, I contend, could also be a mask for self-sufficiency and pride instead of a desire towards godliness.

            A related thought is the damage which wrong teachings and values could wreck on a community. In the highly educated society of Singapore (and in correlation the church too), overtly false teachings are unlikely to be embraced. However, the danger lies in erroneous teachings which bear resemblance to what the Bible teaches, but either quote it in the wrong context or emphasise minor doctrines at the expense of major principles. One well-known example is the prosperity gospel, which is often taught with substantiating verses from the Bible but shows signs of specious reasoning on closer scrutiny.

            The implication for myself is that I need to examine where in the Bible the teachings and doctrines which I  believe in comes from, and to make sure I comprehend the contexts from where they are quoted, so that I can understand and apply them correctly in my own life and in what I teach. At the same time, it is important for me to know the Word of God well generally, and to be sensitive to the values which come out in normal conversation, in the hope that I might help to correct wrong values and teachings that are being shared over fellowship.

            Timothy is often understood to be relatively young and of a less assertive personality in view of the regular encouragement from Paul to stand firm, especially in 2 Timothy. However, a possible reason for Paul’s encourage could be the degree of opposition which Timothy faced at Ephesus. In spite of the prevalence of false teachings and opposition, Timothy was encouraged to stand against it not only through teaching but also through living out the faith he taught. However, to change opinion by example is often a long-drawn process, since values are not immediately obvious, but confirmed in the life of a person only through time. In our “instant” society, we have less patience for nagging issues that persist in our midst, and the temptation might be to solve problems with the fastest ways possible. However, since we are dealing with people, a lack of patience and wisdom could lead to hurts and divisions which could be irreparable in the community. I personally have much room to grow in patience and perseverance, both in my personal life and in ministry settings. Perhaps the greatest value of standing against opposition through life example is the strong foundation established in the character of the leader.

            One problem which the church at Ephesus seems to be dealing with is legalistic adherence to forms instead of pursuing godliness and love in response to the grace of God. Legalism is perhaps a common trap for young believers and new leaders to fall into, since it is always easier to have a fixed, observable set of rules to follow and to define what spirituality is. However, such legalistic religiosity contributes little to genuine spiritual growth, and serves mainly to feed the pride and self-righteousness of the person practising it. After being a Christian for over a decade, I can still see signs of this in how I evaluate myself and compare myself with others (the fact that I even evaluate and compare myself with others shows how deceitful and pretentious my heart can be, since in trying to evaluate others in spirituality I show myself to be unspiritual and prideful!).

            One last thing I have to comment about the experience in this module is the sharing of lives while working with my teammates. Though it is tough to plan meet-ups and discuss through our assignment, it is perhaps the most memorable time of the module. We met in Jenny’s home, and she exercised her hospitality by brewing tea for us and preparing food for us. We had our differences of opinions, but learned to deal with it without getting into quarrels. We also had a great time in our presentation! My general mindset is that as a working adult I have little time for such group work, but I am glad that this is still a valuable part of learning process.

Reflection on Corinthians Adventure

It has been a fruitful course, and both the course content on the book of 1 Corinthians (presently, we have not reached 2 Corinthians yet) and the discussions in the class have been an enriching experience. Bro Casey is a knowledgeable teacher and helps us understand the background of the book well, and also facilitates application of what we learn to our contemporary context.

                The first and most immediate learning point I learned from the course is the importance of understanding the socio-cultural and historical context of each book when we study it. This, of course, has been learned in a previous course on biblical interpretation, but studying about the background of the Corinthian church and seeing its link to the content of the epistle really gives me a deepened sense of the relevance of the background in understanding the book.  The influence of the Hellenistic philosophy explains why the topic of wisdom was raised in 1 Cor 1, and why the topic of not marrying was being discussed in 1 Cor 7. In fact for the latter, it is new to me that not getting married is more the argument of the Corinthians than Paul’s exhortation (though Paul preferred singlehood for practical reasons, he did not prescribe it as something superior).  The pagan practice of idolatry clarifies Paul’s reasoning in 1 Cor 8-10, and the unfavourable regard of some Corinthians towards Paul explains Paul’s strong language in his self-defence in 1 Cor 9. At the same time, there are always certain passages that we could not easily explain, like the covering of women (1 Cor 11) and why women were forbidden to minister (1 Cor 14:34-35). This sense of allowing for uncertainty in our understanding of the Bible can be seen in both our class discussions and the commentators’ writings in commentaries (in this case Gordon Fee in his NICNT on 1 Corinthians).

                A second idea I have learned is related to the first point above, in how our socio-cultural context affects how we see things. The Corinthians asked the questions in their letter to Paul according to the social practices and lifestyles of their times. We certainly have our own ideological leaning according to the times that we live in. Personally, I have recently realised how my personal focus on experiencing and a subtle aversion against rules has a postmodern ring to it. Furthermore, a reading of the different perspectives on atonement in my current Christology class makes me realise how underemphasised the holiness of God and the gravity of sin is in my personal outlook, which could also in part be due to the culture I live in. Of course, biblical perspectives need to be applied to contemporary times, but it would be good to have a more balanced perspective on biblical fundamentals.

                A third learning point I gained from the content of the course is the meaning of true spirituality in 1 Cor 13, which is love, and not the exercise of some spiritual gift and great sacrifice. The term “true spirituality” is not specifically coined by Paul, but this indication is inherent in Paul’s emphasis of love in the midst of his discussion of spiritual gifts in his letter to the Corinthians. It might seemed obvious to a third party reading about Paul’s discourse that love is superior to exercising spiritual gifts, especially as it aligns with our understanding of God as love (1 Jn 4:8). However, this will not be clear to one who is personally involved in searching for spirituality, especially when pride is a motivating factor. I can remember more than once when I “affirmed” myself in my heart whenever I explained the Bible well, or when I sacrificed when ministering to others. When I have personal issues with someone, there is a strong temptation in my heart to compare myself favourably with that person in an area of gift/talent to “proof” to myself that I am more “spiritually mature”. However, all these carnal motivations are undercut by Paul’s discourse on love as the only thing (and he means ONLY, if I understood the passage correctly) that gives value to everything we do, be it exercising spiritual gifts, exercising faith, or sacrificing for God or someone else.

                A fourth idea I gained from the class is the participation of the audience in worship, which was discussed in more than one lesson. This reminded me of the beginnings of the Pentecostal movement in Kenneth Archer’s Pentecostal Hermeneutic for the Twenty First Century: Spirit, Scripture and Community. The worship gatherings were often marked by mass participation of the audience who were gathered, and the profound experience of the Holy Spirit in the gatherings drew in more people who sought God. The focus is on how the Holy Spirit moved during each gathering, though there is a minister in each meeting to moderate the session. This is very different from most of our present day gatherings where worship is directed from the stage. I believe the involvement of the audience does create a greater sense of expectation of the Holy Spirit to move in the gathering. However, it is easy to say some practice we read of is good, but it is another matter to apply it in our present day context. To implement a whole new practice in a congregation is not easy, especially if the congregation is of considerable size, and most likely will lead to confusion and adjustment problems for the congregation. A change of practice will not always lead to the outcome we expect, because the heart of the matter is our inner desire to seek God and faith to expect Him to move. But I believe that practices do facilitate inner change, and if it is beneficial, perhaps we can work towards something which could lead our groups toward greater participation in worship gatherings.

                A fifth idea I got from the lessons is the benefits of learning in a team. We all know theoretically that there is a wealth of learning opportunities in learning in a team, though I suspect there is more than a few who would prefer to learn on their own. I for one do not enjoy working in a team, mainly because of the hassle of meeting up for discussions, needing to discuss through and agree on common ideas from the different perspectives of the team, and trying to get things done through the different working styles of the team members. Much as I hate to acknowledge, learning in teams does have its benefits. The most immediate reward is not related to the content of the subject, but the building of relationship from the interactions. Also, learning to navigate through the different learning styles in the team is sometimes as challenging as the cognitive training of theology – especially when we have different priorities and schedules on top of our classes. Finally, learning in a team always reminds me how there are other, equally valid perspectives on issues different from my own.

Reflection on Education in the Christian Community 2

This is a further reflection on ideas and concepts covered in the ECC course.

I agree fully with Bro Casey that we often teach in the way we learn the best – it is something I have realised in my own experiences in small-group teaching in my pastoral ministry in the church. I had realised that I tended to teach by reasoning, as I myself is inclined toward understanding the reasons behind things. However, it did not take long for me to realise that sheer reasoning without narratives and illustrations tend to be dry and lose the attention of many people I shared to, and I realised many others are interested and captivated by different types of content. Also, as I usually enjoy listening to a teacher without much interaction, I tended to teaching through a teacher-centred method, with little interaction with the audience. Later I realised that I needed to add activities and other ways to engage the audience more. After I started working in RP, my style of instruction changed towards a more interactive and discussive approach, and now I have another problem – I do not feel comfortable when the audience does not respond! This is true for some types of audiences, perhaps especially those of the older generation. It is still a good learning experience for me, as I can learn to balance the two and improve the overall way which I teach.

The idea of multiple intelligences is not new to me, as I have learned it while I was studying in NIE. I can appreciate the emphasis that different people study differently and learn in different ways, and this contributed to my realisation that the way I learn may not necessarily be the way others learn, hence prompting me to be more aware to vary my method of teaching. More recently, I came across other studies which criticise Howard Gardner’s theory (Theory of Multiple Intelligences, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_multiple_intelligences; Perry D. Klein, “Multiplying the Problems of Intelligence by Eight: A Critique of Gardner’s Theory”, Canadian Journal of Education 22 no. 4 (1997), 377-394). The qualm is that the theory has no definitive way of defining the various intelligences, and broadens the concept of intelligence and fuses it into the more general category of abilities and talents, thus making it hard to study and difficult to implement practically. I think I can also see the point the critics is making, since it is practically difficult to cover all the different intelligences in any educational programme. My personal thoughts about why multiple intelligence is still widely acknowledged is perhaps, on preliminary reflection, because it has generally inspired more varied methodologies and programming in educational programmes, which is a good development. Practically, the VAK model (visual, auditory, kinaesthetic) is an easy-to-use framework for actual teaching purposes. Personally, I am more conscious of including visual elements in my teaching, in addition to just verbally conveying instructions. To add the kinaesthetic element in teaching is still a challenge for me at this point, because it is less often practised and ideas for implementing this method are less easy to find.

Regarding the processes in learning that were being shared in class, the relational part was something new for me and  worth reflecting on in relation with how to plan the educational activities for my group in the church. The idea of looking at fraternal relationships and partnerships in our educational programmes might open up interesting ideas on how we can plan our activities. I believe we already have this in non-formal settings, like our life groups and mentoring structures. Perhaps we can be more deliberate in planning learning through these structures? My thoughts on how this can be done are still rather vague, and I hope to sit on it more and see what ideas will arise for me on this.