Educators Tackle Global Challenges
Staff and students from Methodist-related schools in 19 different countries were urged to explore the ethical challenges of living in a globalized world, during the fourth meeting of the International Association of Methodist School, Colleges and University.
"Unless we equip young people to become more fully human and take a stand, we are not fulfilling our task as Methodist educators," said Peter Vardy, vice principal at Heythrop College, University of London.
The speakers emphasized the need to understand “what it means to be human” while living as a Christian in a complex, globalized world. One bishop, Walter Klaiber from Germany, said the issue could be tackled by understanding globalization holistically from an educator’s view.
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"To learn to see (our neighbours) or even to learn to see the world through their eyes would be one of the most important goals of a form of global learning," Klaiber said.
Jerome King Del Pino, top staff executive of the Board of Higher Education and Ministry, agreed, saying Methodist educators should be “characterized by intellectual excellence” as well as "holiness of heart and life."
"It is not an exaggeration to assert that if Methodist-related educational institutions and the church that created them would be true to their calling, they will claim the 'world as their parish' and promote learning that removes barriers - social, political, racial, economic - that divide and separate the human family of God," Del Pino said after the conference.
In other business, the association re-elected Rukudo Murapa of Zimbabwe as its president; Murapa is the chancellor of Africa University. The group also elected Almir de Souza Maya of Brazil, president of the Latin American Association of Methodist Institutions of Education, as vice president, and Wanda Bigham, the Board of Higher Education and Ministry's assistant general secretary of Schools, Colleges and Universities, as secretary/treasurer.
The International Association of Methodist Schools, Colleges and Universities represents more than 700 Methodist educational institutions around the world. It aims to develop a dynamic, worldwide network of member institutions for preparing a new generation of Christian leaders.
