Holistic Christian Education Towards Transforming Indian Congregations

Christian education is a general practice for spiritual formation in any given church context. Holistic Christian Education is something that not only includes spiritual nurture but also fosters social, psychological, cultural, political, and other allied instructions. The author in this book has emphasized the wholeness of Christian education through which an educator can work towards holistic transformation of the members of the congregations. This book will be equally helpful for theological students, church leaders, and religious educators in Indian churches.

Moses Boosa is presently serving as a faculty in Christian Ministry Department at Union Biblical Seminary, Pune, India. The author graduated in Bachelor of Theology, Bachelor of Divinity, and Master of Theology in Christian Ministry from Senate of Serampore College. He also completed Master of Arts in Sociology from Osmania University, Hyderabad. Prior to joining UBS, he served as an ordained minister of the Methodist Church in India under the jurisdiction of Hyderabad Regional Conference and later started a church planting mission Word India which is an approved mission agency of Southern Methodist Church, USA.

I am delighted to pen a few words to this significant contribution in the area of Christian education in terms of its attempt to place the holistic Christian education in the context of transforming Indian congregations. The challenges encountered by the Indian congregations within and from 'outside' call for a multidimensional response and I strongly believe the holistic education has a vital role in it.

Holistic education is favoured in a pluralistic society such as India, by educationists and academicians, for, it could be differentiated from the education that gives importance to intellectual development alone. The holistic nurturing of individual productivity and quality Christian life are crucial components for church growth. Holistic Christian education has a great impact on the total transformation of an individual's understanding such as social, spiritual, psychological, cultural, economic, and political aspects. The author has specifically worked on the concept of holistic Christian education and contributed a good foundational understanding of how this concept helps the congregations towards holistic development.

The task for Christian educators is not just to identify ways to implement change, but to create/educate congregations that are continuously adaptive to change. Few questions are to be asked 1) Can Christian educators help congregations develop a new holistic model? 2) Can the strategies that are the core abilities become an obstacle for changes in congregations? 3) In addition to this, whether these strategies help the congregations to become global, digitally, ethnically relevant in an ever-changing and diverse cultures?

The content and the methods of imparting Christian education may not be adequate for the holistic transformation of the congregations. There is an emphasis on transmission of Christian beliefs, traditions, and norms rather than holistic transformation of an individual. As a result, an individual is not enabled to be relevant in the face of contextual realities like competition in the academic levels (cognitive development), social relationships, dehumanizing situation from large sections of society, political view, cultural diversities, and ecological issues that threaten the very existence of life. The findings prove and validate the hypothesis of this research that the education ministry of SMCI is not adequately impacting the life and ministry of congregational members toward holistic transformation.