2015 Symposium

2015 Symposium on the Pastor as Teacher

Date(s): 2015-09-21 to 2015-09-22

Annual Symposium takes a look at teaching

“The Lord’s servant must be able to teach.” According to Paul and the Spirit, this is one of the qualifications for a Christian and Lutheran pastor. Hearing and knowing these words, the pastor teaches in many venues and among many people, but the challenges facing today’s pastoral teacher are many and varied. Identifying the challenges and overcoming them are critical in a society which values education on the one hand and is biblically illiterate on the other. Add to this that busy pastors often struggle to gain insights into teaching methods that are practical in today’s world.
Mueller paper

Habben paper

Prange paper

The 2015 Symposium on the Pastor as Teacher promises to identify the challenges honestly and candidly and help pastors in their continuing efforts to be able to teach. Three presentations will look to educational goals and methods from the past and then also point to the future and suggest tools which may have great value for pastors who teach in the ministry today.

Jesus taught the way of life—and so do we
Pastor Aaron Mueller (WLS 2004)
Tucson, Arizona
Professor Joel Otto, reactor

Evangelize, baptize, teach: this is the process Jesus calls his people to carry out in their worldwide ministry. This essay focuses on the purpose and value of Christian education as a process that follows conversion. The author will describe Jesus, the master teacher, his qualifications and attitudes toward learners, and his methods of instruction. The essayist will move beyond Jesus to other biblical teachers and offer examples that help to establish the place, purpose, and patterns of Christian education in God’s plan of salvation and in the modern parish.

St. Augustine taught the catechumens—and so do we
Pastor Daniel Habben (WLS 1999)
St. Albert, Alberta, Canada
Professor Thomas Kock, reactor

To watch Augustine and his contemporaries in action and to read their treatises on the education of the unlearned and unconverted will gain participants excellent insights into principles of teaching adults which are underscored by modern emphases of andragogy and are often different from concepts of pedagogy. The essayist will lead participants to grapple with issues currently in play (active learning, dialogic learning, constructivism, etc.) and seek to increase the tools available to the pastor while at the same time highlighting the strengths and appropriate settings for techniques already well-known and used.

Luther taught the children—and so do we
Pastor Paul Prange (WLS 1988)
Pewaukee, Wisconsin
Professor Stephen Geiger, reactor

As much as anyone in modern history, Luther championed the cause of the education of children, not only their religious instruction by means of his catechisms, but also their secular education in strong schools. Luther has much to teach 21st century pastors as they survey the educational field for pedagogical methods including the determination to employ what is contemporary and timely, such as the role of the parents in education and the contributions of technology.