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Event urges Christian education
Workshops and lectures are part of the state Christian education conference.
YOUNGSTOWN — Nearly 300 lay people and clergy, ranging from 5-year-olds to senior citizens, are converging this week on Greater Friendship Baptist Church, 646 Lakewood Ave., to attend the 50th Congress of Christian Education conference sponsored by the Eastern District of the Ohio Baptist State Convention.
The event, which began Monday and concludes Friday, attracts various numbers of participants daily to the range of workshops, lectures, study sessions and rehearsals for the Youth Explosion to take place at 7 tonight. That event, which will feature singing, dancing, praise worship and mime performances, will top more than 300 in attendance.
Guest speaker for Wednesday’s presidential banquet was Dr. Forrest E. Harris Sr., president of the American Baptist College in Nashville. In a Tuesday interview during the conference, Dr. Harris said the overall message he wanted to convey was “education is the larger truth that underlies our lives.”
He ranked church, family and school as three elements of vital importance in people’s lives. “The combination is the foundation of strength in the community,” he said. “With all three, a community will thrive.”
Harris said Youngstown faces economic issues that affect its social structure. “The real issue is the redevelopment of the community,” he said.
But having talked about the practical side, Harris said the spiritual dealt with the “larger truth that everyone is a child of God.”
Dr. Donald E. Jones of Cincinnati, congress president, said his duty was overseeing the overall event.
“I want to make it relevant for contemporary times,” he said. “It’s more balanced ... it’s not just about the importance of Christian education but education overall.”
He said for the first time, four scholarships of $2,500 and four laptop computers would be awarded to high school seniors.
Jones said the conference provides a place for pastors and church leaders “to learn how to keep children engaged in church.” He said children will “grow, learn and develop” in the church setting and maintain a “connection” when they are adults.
Jones will address the convention at 7 p.m. Friday.
In another lecture, Pastor C.M. Jenkins of the host church grabbed the audience’s attention when he announced, “Lord, I need a joint.”
No, he wasn’t referring to marijuana but talking about joints that connect body parts. He took the analogy to another level by saying, “We are all part of the body of Christ.”
“We can’t live without joints in our body ... we need those connections,” he said.
Pastor Jenkins said churches have deacons, trustees, apostles, evangelists, prophets, retreats and congresses. “But even with all that, it’s sometimes hard to find someone who connects.”
And, he noted, “There’s isolation through segregation” in that people tend to think of the body of Christ within their own church or denomination.
“We have to broaden our concept of the body of Christ,” Pastor Jenkins said. “Christ is the head of the church and is the identification for the whole body. It isn’t about what you drive, what you wear or where you live. It’s about being called a Christian and a child of God.”
Michael H. Harrison Sr., pastor of Union Baptist Church, Youngstown, is convention president.
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