Understanding A Holistic Approach to Christian Education

The purpose of this study is to bring some clarity to what is meant by holistic education, and explore how it is applicable to Christian ed-ucation in view of nurturing an individual towards becoming more balanced and inclusive in his or her behavior, thinking, and activities, and thereby more like Jesus. The problem of educational ministry in the modern church is not a lack of Christians, but rather that they are not growing enough to live a faithful Christian life. This problem usu-ally results from a practice of traditional Christian education that is characterized by limited education and narrow intellectualism, pro-ducing experts in biblical knowledge that are helpless to actually practice the faith in their daily lives. In this regard, Korean churches today are challenged with the dilemma of how to create and maintain dynamic educational ministries that keep learners engaged, inter-acted, and developing towards becoming a whole person in their Christian life. The holistic approach is a subject that has received am-ple attention both in general education and Christian education. It proposes that education should nurture the development of the in-tellectual, emotional, physical, social, and spiritual aspects of per-sonhood. Some applications of this approach to Christian education can help balance an individual’s faith formation in that it promotes a more participative and interactive learning community that facilitates holistic growth in a believer’s life. This study deals with three main chapters. The first chapter briefly overviews the historical roots of and the concept of holistic education. Holistic education gained popular-ity in the late 1970s and became a much more visible educational movement during the 1980s as a reaction to the mechanistic and re-ductionist concept of education in those days. The second chapter ex-plores some key features of holistic education. Interconnectedness, wholeness, and inclusion are introduced as three typical features of this educational paradigm. These features are related to the whole learning that deals with the holistic development of a learner. The fi-nal chapter deals with some possible implications of the holistic edu-cation, considering how to revitalize holistic Christian education among the faith community.