Being informed
(pictured: Youthworks College students)
Chloe Begbie is unsure whether she wants to go into ministry or teaching, but says the Centre for Christian Education course is helpful whichever way she chooses in the long run.
Being able to apply newly learned theoretical points in a classroom is one of the advantages Chloe Begbie says exists with Youthworks’ Centre for Christian Education (CCE).
(pictured: Chloe Begbie, CCE student)
“It is so practical,” she says. “It couples theory and practice from a Biblical perspective.”
That said, being an English teacher for years 8 to 12 has been eye-opening for this Wollongong University drama student.
“That was one of the reasons for going to CCE - to suss out whether I wanted to be a teacher or go into ministry,” she says.
Either way, Chloe is sure the theology will inform her ability to teach effectively and the teaching will inform her theology.
“We’ve learned that education is an important part of ministry and ministering to children and youth,” she says. “Similarly, we see that teaching children the gospel from a perspective of knowing God, be it implicit or explicit, is also a significant part of Christian education.”
She studies Monday and Tuesdays at CCE and two other days as a temp/part-time conditional teacher. Wednesdays are a ‘middle day’ which Chloe devotes to either study or writing lesson plans.
CCE has been helpful in teaching her what Christian education looks like, and what being a teacher looks like. “From this, we develop our own viewpoints,” she says.
“It has been good to see how the Bible fits together and how different facets align with the world around us.”
If teaching isn’t exactly what Chloe expected, she believes CCE is pretty much what she imagined:
“It’s theological education and we’re in the community with God’s Word. It is wonderful to combine the theoretical and the practical within the same week…I think it will be helpful to have a theological standpoint for my practice if I choose to go into Christian education as it’s important to have a Biblical worldview to teach children. At the same time, it will be huge to have an understanding of children’s education if I go into ministry.”