JED Program Council Meets
Diocesan Press Service. October 24, 1973 [73234]
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- In spite of denominational funding cutbacks in the past few years, Christian education is "alive and well," and there is cause for "firm optimism" among six Protestant denominations cooperating in this field, including the Episcopal Church.
This was the consensus of a couple of dozen national denominational Christian educators participating in the program council fall meeting here September 12-14 of a loosely organized group known as Joint Educational Development (JED), described by JED Planning Coordinator Bettie Currie as "an ecumenical means of getting denominational work done."
The purpose of the meeting, held at the College of Preachers in the shadow of the Washington (Episcopal) Cathedral, was chiefly to review in depth the goals and objectives the six participating denominations had previously set for themselves in this joint enterprise in the light of developments since then and the current situation.
An example of 11 goals for 1973-76 the denominational Christian education leaders are working on in their partnership arrangement is Goal 1: "To develop services and resources which enable persons, churches and church agencies to deal responsibly with sexuality and familial situations."
Under that goal are four objectives, the first being: "By the end of 1975, a network of designated leaders representative of partner denominations in each state (including pastors, professional local and judicatory Christian educators, and lay specialists) will be regularly receiving information to keep them aware of the existence and nature of available human resources, models, and media resources relevant to the concerns of familial situations and sexuality. "
A great portion of the meeting was spent in small groups examining and discussing each of these goals and objectives in considerable detail -- and with candor and frankness which bespoke evidence of a healthy, realistic working relationship among the representatives of the various participating denominations.
With respect to the soundness of JED despite cuts in denominational staff and budget, the Rev. Arthur Van Eck of New York, chairman of the JED Executive Committee and national coordinator for church education of the Reformed Church in America, said:
" This really reflects that JED is a constant process, not a highly institutionalized thing which would be broken and shattered by change that goes on in the denominations. Because it is a process, it is constantly readjusting, looking at goals, finding new ways to work. While that sometimes preoccupies a lot of our time, it's not a destructive kind of thing when a major staff cutback happens in a particular denomination. "
The Rev. Robert Glover of Indianapolis, director of the Department of Church Education for the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), said after this meeting that he was " much more confident now that JED is an essential kind of opportunity for me. It is a place where I can get the things done that I need to get done. And in a partnership (such as JED), what affects one partner affects the other five."
Asked how he could be optimistic when the future of funding national agencies in the participating denominations was not bright at the moment, Mr. Glover said: "My optimism is not necessarily related to the amount of things we can get done, because that is relative in all of our individual denominations. We don't know how much we're going to be given in the way of resources by our denominations and what they're going to expect us to do with them.
"But my optimism is associated," he continued, "with the assurance I have that it is an effective partnership in which to do my work, and that I'm going to be able to deliver more to my denomination for its money than I could by myself. "
Added Ms. Currie: " I'm sure that a significant part of our optimism is the sense of mutual support among the staffs of these denominations who are facing some difficult days."
Among the more significant JED-generated projects has been one on Black Church Education, which has been supported not only by the six participating denominations but in addition by the Moravian Church.
" It consists of guidelines," Ms. Currie explained, "for how to raise this question in a congregation of blacks : What should our education be like because we're black and Christian? A first run of those guidelines is now out. It attempts to equip professional and lay leaders in black churches to deal with that question in local congregations. The project anticipates some educational designs to implement those guidelines and a national black educational resourcing center. It also anticipates affecting white churches with some of these perspectives," she said.
Mr. Van Eck calls the Black Church Education project "probably the most effective to date in the Reformed Church of America . .. We have a number of congregations, " he explained, "which are either totally black or a majority of the members are black in the metropolitan areas, especially around New York City.
" They're a relatively small group, but as they've been working together, the other JED denominations have been doing some leadership development and looking forward to some resourcing of each other. They've found a new strength and a new sense of belonging, of being with others, being able to identify some of their directions and go in those directions," he asserted. "The recent conference at Stony Point, N.Y. among the black people of the six (JED) denominations proved especially hopeful for doing things together instead of in isolation in the metropolitan New York area."
In all, there are currently 16 projects in various stages of development related to specific JED goals and objectives. Other project titles include "Cadre of New Generation Ministers," "Youth Empowerment Teams," "Designs for Ministry with Children," "Leadership Development System for Church Education in Appalachia" (involving also the Cumberland Presbyterian, Roman Catholic, United Methodist, Church of the Brethren, Church of God (Anderson, Ind.) and Southern Baptist churches), and "Shalom."
Asked how extensive the impact of JED projects has been, Ms. Currie said a "couple thousand congregations have been directly touched, although that's a modest estimate." JED denominations have sponsored two national conferences for some 875 local church educators. The next national event for Christian Educators will be in February, 1976 and at the request of the JED denominations will be handled through the National Council of Churches.
The Joint Educational Development cooperative venture began with three denominations in 1969 and now comprises the following: Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), The Episcopal Church, Presbyterian Church in the United States, Reformed Church in America, United Church of Christ, and United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Associated with it are several other denominations : The Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, the Evangelical Covenant Church, and the Moravian Church. The JED Planning Coordinator's Office is at 110 Maryland Avenue, NE, Washington, D.C. 20002.