Equip for Ministry
May/June 1998
Volume 4, Number 3

The Historical Overview of Christian Education and Publications

When the Presbyterian Church in America was established, Christian Education and Publications was one of the first three program committees put into place. Christian education is a God ordained covenantal process and the denomination established CEP to lead, nurture, and instruct its people. CEP’s purpose is simply stated:

To glorify God by serving the Presbyterian Church in America in its worldwide commitment to make disciples, teaching and training leaders in biblical church growth and vitalization principles, discipleship, family living, the development of a consistently biblical worldview and a holistic view of the church’s mission.

CEP is not primarily a publishing house, although it does some publishing. Our Sunday school curriculum is produced through Great Commission Publications (GCP), which is jointly owned by the PCA and the Orthodox Presbyterian Church since 1975. Today, approximately 60% of PCA churches use this curriculum in a variety of ways in their local programs. More than 40,000 pieces of literature are distributed each week to our churches. GCP also gives the PCA an opportunity to extend its ministry to other interested churches. Almost 30% of its curriculum distribution is to non-PCA and OPC churches. GCP also produces the denominational Trinity Hymnal, which used in a growing number of PCA churches.

Paul Settle, the first CEP Coordinator, served that post for three years. During that time CEP published the denominational news tabloid, Continuing; developed teacher training seminars; and Women in the Church (WIC) ministries. Under Settle’s leadership the joint venture, GCP, came to be. An annual pastor’s conference was also established at that time.

Settle was replaced by Dr. Charles Dunahoo, pastor and member of the PCA organizing committee. Dr. Dunahoo has served in that position since January of 1977. The CEP office, which was originally in Montgomery, AL relocated to the Atlanta area in the close proximity of the other program committees. During that time Continuing was replaced by The PCA Messenger. Arthur Matthews served as the first editor of that publication. The Messenger was a denominational magazine that was originally mailed without charge to individual members upon request. In 1986 the publication began to be available by subscription During the eight year period that the magazine was published, its circulation reached 60,000. Then in 1994, for various reasons, the assembly agreed to discontinue the publication. This enabled CE/P to develop its generic magazine, Equip for Ministry, designed especially for local church leaders. More than 8,000 copies are distributed bi-monthly to that select audience plus a few other interested readers.

Much emphasis was placed from the very beginning on seminar training that offered more than just educational leadership. The whole work of the church was generally the subject matter, including specific officer and general leadership seminars. Planning, management, and team operation became themes of the seminars as well as teacher training and general Christian education topics.

To help strengthen homes, seminars on marriage and family have been offered as well as training on identifying one’s gifts and their utilization in ministry. Continuing education was an early theme of CEP’s ministry. Ministers conferences have been held on a regular basis, and since 1982, when the PCA was joined by the Reformed Presbyterian Church Evangelical Synod, those annual and bi-annual conferences, Partners in Ministry, have generally included the pastor’s wife.

Annual conferences have been held under CEP’s oversight focusing on music and worship. Annual training for WIC leaders has continued to grow over the years. This past March more than 125 women from presbyteries and local churches met for 2 ½ days of training in Atlanta. In addition to producing numerous study books for women, CEP and WIC have sponsored two national conferences for women with six major regional conferences. A 1999 conference for over 4,000 PCA women is being planned for the Atlanta area.

A major conviction of CEP, following our theological emphasis on the covenant, is the responsibility of parents for teaching their children. Aware that many of today’s fathers and mothers have not been equipped to adequately train their children in the Scriptures, CE/P has heavily focused on adult education.

One of the ways that CE/P has addressed this need was to develop the Adult Biblical Education Series. This 26 volume Bible study written by Dr. Jack Scott takes the student through the entire Bible, and includes an Old and New Testament Survey. The course, though completed in the mid 80’s, is used in many churches today and forms a part of the core curriculum of CEP’s advanced training for local leaders and teachers including youth leaders.

Under the present leadership, CEP developed a bookstore for the denomination which serves the churches in many ways with resources and materials. In 1988 a video lending library was developed for member churches. Through the CE/P video lending library, churches now have access to over 600 titles.

In addition to the full-time staff, regional trainers are in place to assist local churches with their Christian education needs. They are trained by the CEP staff and serve the churches effectively and efficiently throughout their regions. A regional women’s advisory sub-committee of CEP also serves their regions in women’s training. More trainers in other areas will be added during the next two years, especially to focus on youth and children’s ministry.

CEP serves the denomination by coordinating and overseeing its education of potential PCA pastors. The committee has had a pioneering role in the field of theological education. Presbyteries and seminaries are utilizing the denomination’s minimum training curriculum, plus the required one year intern program, developed under CEP’s leadership, for training ministerial candidates. Their attempt has been to bring presbyteries into a greater involvement in the ministerial training process. The program was not designed, or approved, to supplant the work of the seminaries, but rather to enhance their work.

CEP’s staff assists local church leaders in things like: strategic faith planning, team building, educational planning, conflict management, specific officer training, Bible conferences and a variety of training seminars.

Networking and partnering are becoming more and more important in order to enable CEP to keep up with the growth of the PCA. Quality training and education for leaders—formal and informal—and teachers sums up 25 years of CEP’s attempt to serve the PCA in its life and ministry.

CEP focuses on teaching from a biblical world and life view within our covenant framework. Training adults and youth leaders to understand the need, the methods, and challenges of teaching from that perspective is essential. We must equip the church to reach the millennial generation—the 92-94 million youngsters born between 1976 and 1995. Many of them are turning away from Christianity and the church. CEP seeks to understand “the future is now.” Our children and young people are the church of the 21st century. They are being molded and largely determined by what is communicated in our homes and churches. The quality and intimacy of their spiritual relationship with Christ, the vibrancy and dynamic of their evangelism and missions effort, their impact on the culture of their day are major concerns of CEP. We are here “to serve God’s purpose to (in) this generation.”