Programme Info

Asia Religious Educators Forum

Upon the initiative of the Ecumenical Formation, Gender Justice and Youth Empowerment Desk of the CCA, 30 religious educators from 13 countries in Asia and the Pacific met in Chiang Mai in October 2001 to reflect on the theme Religious Education in Asia: Challenges, Perspectives, and Visions for the 21st Century. It was a historic meeting. For the first time, religious educators had come to talk about common concerns and about how to move forward as they face the challenges of a changing Asia. Thus, AREF was born.

AREF now serves as a venue for religious educators - those trained in and are practitioners of Christian Education or Religious Education in churches, seminaries, schools and institutions to

• share experiences and perspectives in ecumenical work,

• reflect on issues and challenges confronting religious educators in Asia,

• affirm and strengthen one another,

• shape and give life to a common vision, and together

• promote unity, ecumenical understanding and commitment

The results of the first meeting are being put together as resource materials for ecumenical learning in Asia. There are two resources:

1) The first, entitled At the Gate of a New Beginning, provides insights into the trends, issues and challenges that religious educators confront in varying contexts in Asia.

• What is the understanding and practice of religious education in a multi-faith, multi-cultural, highly pluralistic Asia?

• What contributions do religious educators make in the setting, shaping and putting into life the ecumenical agenda in Asia?

• What are the issues and challenges that religious educators face in the context of new realities in Asia?

• What ecumenical insights and perspectives help sharpen the understanding and practice of religious education in Asia?

• What is the vision? What elements constitute this vision?

It makes use of learning approaches and methodologies that are distinctly ecumenical. It contains stories, poems, songs, prayers, insights and reflections of participants on the broad dimensions of religious education.

2) The second serves as a resource book on the various aspects of religious education, from the point of view of participants and as practiced in the different countries in Asia. It includes as well the papers submitted by resource persons on different themes.

Education for the 21st Century
Prof. Kim Yong Bock
Talks about wisdom for life. Describes education as a cultural action for the sharing of life-wisdom in community. Makes the assumption that people live with wisdom and knowledge, and respond creatively to life situations. Presents a critique of globalization, and discusses at length the major problems and alternative signposts as a paradigm for life and education.

Ecumenical Perspectives in Religious Education: Looking Back, Looking Forward
Rev. Simon Oxley
Traces the place of education in the modern ecumenical movement, the Biblical roots of religious education, and attempts to clarify what ecumenical education is. Anchors education on the human community, which contributes to fullness of life for all of humanity. Draws insights from the Exodus experience, focusing on the learnings gained from the sojourn in the wilderness. Gives emphasis on experience and praxis, and of education being more of transformation rather than transmission of knowledge, and more about being map makers rather than map readers.

An Invitation to the Table Community
Dr. Hope S. Antone
Provides a framework for the work in religious education, which includes an understanding of the context, articulation of the goals and purpose of religious education, assumptions from various disciplines, and suggested approaches. Draws from the image of a table, which is relevant to many cultures in Asia, and represents values and principles that are fundamentally ecumenical.

Singing a New Song
Moeawa Callaghan and Jenny Harrison, Aotearoa New Zealand
Speaks about bicultural theological education in a racially diverse Aotearoa New Zealand and Oceania. What does bicultural partnership mean for theological education? Speaks of harmony at different levels - at the levels of culture and gender, the academic and practical, history and hope, and in church and society.

Educational and Theological Basis for Curriculum Construction
Cathy Thomson, Australia
Outlines the rationale for the shaping of curricular programme for the Anglican College in Adelaide. Uses a five-strand approach to curriculum development in religious education - philosophy, ethics, Bible and tradition, comparative religion and the value of stillness.

Adult Learning in Christian Communities
Ted Endacott, Australia
Provides concrete problem situations, experiences in the field, insights into an emerging paradigm in the practice of adult education in communities in Australia. Integrates questions of culture and authority in dealing with issues.

Historical and Liturgical
K.U. Abraham, India
Focuses on the historical and sacramental nature of the educational task. Particularly deals with the cultural tradition of storytelling, the use of signs and symbols. Talks about the challenges related to learning from children and conscientizing parents in the south of India.

Contextualizing Education
Limatula Lungkumar, India
Presented from the tribal perspective, the paper provides a glimpse into educational processes in tribal societies in India, against the backdrop of geo-political isolation, ethnic, racial, and socio-cultural differences. Outlines the challenges confronting Christian education in the church and the vision for a holistic, liberative, transformative, eco-centered education.

Reality and Challenge for Reconciliation
J. F. Simanjuntak, Indonesia
Written from a context of intensifying violence in the forests of Kalimantan, the paper challenges the Church to deal responsibly with the issue of violence, which involves tribal groups that also belong to the Church.

Religious Education in the Home
Albert O. Supit, Indonesia
Presents possibilities for a creative, liberative process of education within the home. Draws from Biblical experience and teachings, to guide parents in the fulfillment of the educational task in the home.

Christian Education: Education for Human Rights, Education for Peace
Oshima Kaori, Japan
Asserts that education for human rights and education for peace are essentially Christian Education. Talks about initiatives and processes being undertaken in NCCC Japan in the area of peace and human rights, which include concerns of migrant workers, rights of children, the concept of freedom and the educational system, distortion of history textbooks, Japan-Korea relations, and alternative education in present day Japan.

The Task of Christian Education
Sachiko Sakamoto, Japan/Thailand
Speaks about perspectives in doing Christian Education in a different context as a teacher in a Baptist seminary in Bangkok. Lays the theological basis for doing Christian education and outlines some contemporary approaches as key elements in the process.

Ecumenical Storytelling
Chun-Sun Lee, Korea
Presents Bible storytelling as a form of ecumenical learning. Insights are drawn from the writer's doctoral studies in Germany. Asserts that in the context of new realities in Korea, Bible storytelling could help, even in efforts to eliminate violence and improve the human rights situation in the country.

In Search of an Ecumenical Spirituality
Chi Sun Kim, Korea
Speaks about the dilemma of working and living within a context of radicalism on one hand and conservatism on the other. Recognizes the difficulty of finding ecumenical spirituality in existing education processes, which tend to be more denominational than ecumenical. The search continues.

Education for Transformation
Angela Pun, Myanmar
Expounds on the fundamental values, philosophy and principles of Christian education. Provides theological basis and examples from the teaching ministry of Jesus. Identifies contemporary challenges to the churches.

Indigenizing Christian Education
Noel M. Abiog, Philippines
Provides insights into the practice of Christian education in the IEMELIF Church in the Philippines, including the development of indigenous materials for the use of teachers in local churches.

Christian Education is about People
Bart O. Espartero, Philippines
Draws from learnings from personal engagement in education processes, from the local church to the broader ecumenical movement in the Philippines. Asserts that ultimately, Christian education is really about educating, mobilizing and empowering people about their basic rights, towards the fulfillment of their hopes and aspirations.

Christian Education should be Fun
Sunee Lorgunpai, Thailand
Introduces ways of making Christian education fun. Recounts experiences with children and young people. Asserts that if lessons are presented creatively, in a fun way, learning can take place naturally, and will be more productive.

Issues in Religious Education
Prasartporn Tariyo, Thailand
Traces the beginning of Protestantism in Thailand. Identifies issues of religious education that have emerged from the past, what issues linger and need to be resolved. Includes a reflection on reforming Christian education in Thailand and transforming the practice of Christian educators.

Christian Education is about the Whole Person
Sasitorn Saetang, Thailand
Talks about reform in Christian education processes in Thailand. Insists that Christian education must be more Thai than western both in theory and in practice.