A PUBLICATION OF WESTERN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
Retiring from Teaching, but Never from Learning In one of life’s strange twists, the student who arrived at WTS in 1965 with a very dim view of Christian Education became the very same person who was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by Christian Educators Reformed Church in America in 2009. “I viewed Sunday school as a form of babysitting and wanted no part of it!” laughs Dr. George Brown, Jr. “Then along came Professor Hugh Koops, who made Christian education interDr. George Brown, Jr. “then and now” esting and even important.” 1988 & 2012 Providentially, George was assigned to an internship where the pastor was working on an advanced degree with a leading religious educator. George had lots of freedom to test out his newfound interest. By the time he entered his first pastorate in Pottersville, NJ, George Brown was seeing everything through educational lenses and approached ministry as a pastor-teacher. His passion for changing the stereotypical view of Sunday school led him to pursue a Ph.D. researching why adults avoid Christian education. “Unlike the movie, it is not true that if you build it, they will come,” he says. George identified several reasons for avoidance: painful childhood memories associated George Brown, Jr. with school, poor self-image as a G.W. and Eddie Haworth Professor of Christian learner, no interest in the subject Education and Associate Dean or the teacher, and very little b. Philadelphia, PA 1942 peer pressure to participate. Married Willa Schaver in 1965; He found that the pastor is Three sons, Steven, Douglas, and Jeffrey, and five grandchildren key to a strong teaching ministry. “The pastor needs to be B.A. Central College, 1965 B.D. Western Theological Seminary, 1969 the congregation’s resident Th.M. Princeton Theological Seminary, 1971 theologian and teacher, modPh.D. Michigan State University, 1989 eling lifelong learning,” Dr. 1969-73 Pastor, Pottersville Reformed Church, Brown says. “When people Pottersville, NJ
At a Glance
see their pastor learning alongside them, they realize that teaching and learning are valued in their church.” Throughout over four decades of ministry, Dr. Brown has seen several critical shifts in Christian education. No longer is it thought of as mostly for children and youth— adults need quality learning opportunities too, and not just for personal enrichment, but to be equipped for ministry and mission. Most strikingly, George has seen staff and resources allocated away from Christian education and discipleship and into church growth and renewal, with one effect being poor biblical literacy, especially noted in students entering seminary. “In the past one could depend on students having Bible stories read at home and being taught in Sunday school,” Dr. Brown explains, “but that’s no longer the case. Some didn’t learn at home or at church, and others did not come to faith until college. What they know is not what they learned over a dozen years of faith nurture in a congregation.” The seminary has adjusted its foundational Bible courses to accommodate this new reality. George helped pioneer distance learning at WTS, teaching “Curriculum
1971-73 p/t Minister of Christian Education, Peapack Reformed Church, Gladstone, NJ 1973-88 Minister of Christian Education, Central Reformed Church, Grand Rapids, MI 1975-76 & 1983-88 Adjunct Professor of Christian Education, WTS 1988-2012 WTS, teaching Christian Education and serving in administration as Dean of Faculty and then as Associate Dean
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Books: Herman J. Ridder: Contextual Preacher and President (editor), 2008 Religious Education, 1960-1993: An Annotated Bibliography (with D. Campbell Wyckoff) Honors: Association of Presbyterian Church Educators (APCE) Educator of the Year Award, 2012 Christian Educators Reformed Church in America (CERCA) Lifetime Achievement Award, 2009 Teaching Sunday School at Central Reformed Church, Grand Rapids, in 2005
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