The Danger of Forming Passive Learners in Youth Ministry, and How Art Might Help.

“Spiritual formation helps us to see the face of God in the midst of a hardened world and in our own heart. This freedom helps us to use our skills and our very lives to make that face visible to all who live in bondage and fear. As Jesus told his disciples: ‘So, if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed’ (John 8:36).” (Henri Nouwen)

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“How’s it going?” is a dangerous question to ask a high school senior between the time early acceptance decisions start coming out in December, and the April 1 deadline to commit to colleges. But I’m a bold guy. Or perhaps foolish.

How’s it going?

“Man, it’s rough out there. Ivy League decisions all got sent this week. People were crying in the hallways.”

I was sitting at Chipotle with Charlie, a bright and empathetic senior, midway through the aforementioned danger window. Charlie was doing “pretty ok,” but he recognized that some of his peers were not. He continued, offering a sage reflection on the health of the education system he was navigating.

“Why do we do this to ourselves? It’s like there’s something broken in our community. There’s so much more to life than this.”

For some teenagers, the education system feels broken. For these students, learning is not what feels most important. Rather what seems most important is internalizing the right information to score well on the standardized tests that shape their future. High test scores paired with success in their schedule-filling extracurricular activities will see them through with flying colors. In such a system, students can become passive learners and succeed, without being transformed.

This is what educational researcher bell hooks refers to as the “banking system of education.”¹ In such a system “students are regarded as merely passive consumers.”² Teachers are rewarded for how many of their students pass the exams, so instruction centers on what will guide the most students to this end. In such an environment it’s easy for teachers (and parents) to incentivize passivity, and students to focus on achievement, eschewing formation. Hani Morgan adds that in such a system we can lose sight of the diversity of engagement styles in a classroom. In a model where a single knowledgeable adult shares information to be repeated back, those who engage well with logic, language, and reasoning thrive, while similarly intelligent, but differently wired, students “feel stupid.”³

The act of learning should be freeing, but in hooks’ estimation, learning in the “banking system” can be oppressive.⁴Learning that truly forms us is learning that can be applied. But, she suggests, when the system (or students themselves) places such weight on achievement, it can be hard for students (and teachers) to make the connection between the lessons and their own lived realities.⁵

It is no secret that the Church has long invited innovation from the outside to shape our ministry expressions. Visit any contemporary worship service and you will see the ways amplification, lighting, and video have made their way from the theatre to the church. Similarly, it is not a stretch to suggest children and youth ministries have long borrowed from our cousins in education. The question we must answer is: how is the system we’ve adopted impacting the formation of our young people?

The act of learning should be freeing, but in hooks’ estimation, learning in the banking system can be oppressive. Learning that truly forms us is learning that can be applied. Share on X

Circus or Garden

Susan Phillips suggests that the church must be a place that invites our congregants to step out of the circus of everyday life and take on a counter-life of cultivation. In Phillips’ circus, we are observers of a spectacle and occasional performers, but we rarely get our hands dirty. In the circus, we are consumers, rarely actors. Too much in our culture guides us (and our young people) into the circus. When our churches adopt a “banking system” approach to learning, we can be tempted to believe the untruth that our students internalizing the right information will most often lead to their formation. Orthodoxy is important, but if we aren’t helping them to apply the message of the Gospel to their own lives we risk making the church another place of passive consumption. We risk joining the circus of passive engagement.

The most meaningful formation our students will experience, Phillips suggests, is not in the circus, but in the garden. It is there that we take time to dig our roots deep, slowly growing into the people God has made us to be.⁶ In the garden, the pressure to achieve takes a backseat to the invitation to sit in the presence of God.

Circles or Rows

Lamar Hardwick helps us to see that when we adopt a “banking system” style approach to ministry we risk overlooking those in our communities with disabilities. He bemoans the tendency to centralize “row” style ministries. When churches over-emphasize learning that happens in rows, we can elevate passive learning from a single informed individual. Is there a better setup for people with disabilities and their families? He writes, “Churches that focus on getting people into circles instead of merely sitting in rows can be the type of church that has the right environment for creating a great special-needs ministry. When relationships, friendships, and discipleship are a larger focus than Sunday worship, churches tend to be more open to developing a ministry that includes special-needs families in their overall vision for creating Christ-centered community.”⁷

Learning in rows is not unhealthy. Corporate worship is incalculably important. But we should also be aware of how a “banking system” approach to ministry education leads us to over-rely on such learning models, at the potential expense of the formation of our people.

When our churches adopt a banking system approach to learning, we can be tempted to believe the untruth that our students internalizing the right information will most often lead to their formation. (1/2) Share on X

Orthodoxy is important, but if we aren’t helping them to apply the message of the Gospel to their own lives we risk making the church another place of passive consumption. We risk joining the circus of passive engagement. (2/2) Share on X

Inform or Transform

Karen Swallow Prior helpfully articulates the counter possibility to the “banking system” of education. She suggests that engaged learning, “more than informing us, forms us.”⁸

As we seek the faith formation of our young people, it’s worth naming that developmental scientists emphatically suggest that adolescents learn most effectively through practical means. Jack Balswick and his team of developmental psychologists write, “We emphatically state that the development of the brain is based on experience…Different activities (e.g. computer games, arts, meditation) activate different pathways in the brain…Consequently, the different activities a young person intentionally or unintentionally experiences or engages in affect the neural connections that get strengthened or whither.”⁹ It’s not enough for churches to be excellent at informing young people. We also need to be providing them with opportunities to experience their faith in action. We must invite them to formation.

When we place too much emphasis on information over formation we risk what Almeda Wright describes as “fragmented spirituality.”¹⁰ Fragmentation happens when we fail to see how the Jesus we are learning about intersects with our lived reality. She elaborates, using the example of preaching theodicy to African American youth:

“…a good theodicy may not be sufficient for the religious lives of youth. Instead, it may be insulting. A better response invites youth into this conversation, without the expectation that simple theological statements will be corrective. In other words, an alternative or response to fragmented spirituality among African American youth emerges not in a rigid, orthodox perspective, but in enlarging the process by which youth come to wrestle with theological complexities at the center of their lived experiences.”¹¹

When our churches are meaningfully forming the young people in our care, we move beyond any teaching structure that elevates passive learning. Rather we invite them to life in the garden where they can wrestle with the “theological complexities at the center of their lived experiences.”¹²

Andrew Root bemoans what he sees as a historic drift in the American evangelical church to place undue importance on a young person choosing to throw her lot in with the institution of religion, at the expense of true faith formation. He suggests that the least healthy edge of this trend would consider ministries to be successful when more students choose to affiliate with religious institutions, that is “the cultural space of institutional religion…over against the secular, a-religious space.”¹³ But, as Root points out, the one thing the church really has to offer is the ministry of the presence of Jesus, directly and through the community of faith. This can of course be found in the institution of the church, but church affiliation cannot be the goal, transformation must be. In the same way, when the goal of the education system is entry to the right institutions or the right scores on tests, true learning can take a backseat to doing what needs to be done to get in the door and graduate. In both spaces, we risk informing without transforming.

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When we place too much emphasis on information over formation we risk what Almeda Wright describes as 'fragmented spirituality.' Fragmentation happens when we fail to see how the Jesus we are learning about intersects with our lived… Share on X

The one thing the church really has to offer is the ministry of the presence of Jesus, directly and through the community of faith. This can of course be found in the institution of the church, but church affiliation cannot be the… Share on X

At the time of the publication of this article, high school seniors are beginning to receive their first college acceptance and rejection letters. Years of AP tests, SAT prep courses, extra-curricular activities, and sessions with their college admissions counselor have now passed, essays and references have been written, and now we wait. It is not uncommon for students to feel as though their whole life has been building to a singular moment: acceptance or rejection. Senior year is a circus year.

But then next year comes. If there was ever a counter-story to the banking system of college admissions, it’s the first year of college, or the start of apprenticeship in the trades, or basic training in the military. Overnight we realize that people don’t care all that much about how we scored on a test, or whether we made national honor society. What is important is who we are, the character we’ve developed, and the habits and practices we’ve internalized. The year after high school, your student will realize that the banking system was bankrupt the whole time. Far more important than knowing how to pass a test is knowing how to be a human.

This is true in faith development as well. Instruction in orthodoxy is important, but without spiritual practices that help our young people enact their faith, our teenagers will find the next steps on their faith journey difficult. As we teach our students about God, we must also teach them to experience him and to see how their story intersects with the bigger story of the Gospel.

Allow me to suggest a few historic practices to help students (and their loved ones) step out of the circus and into the garden.

1. Sabbath: In a world where achievement is king and everything is measured we are commanded to rest. As we sabbath, we have an opportunity to step out of the banking system and do absolutely nothing of value. Our resume will not be padded. Our portfolio will not grow. As we rest we are reminded that it is not us who ultimately determines our success. It is God who leads us forward.
2. Communal Scripture Reading: As we read the scriptures and interpret them together we have an opportunity to practice the holy posture of not being sure. In such spaces we get to wonder together about an unknowable God, letting go of the anxiety of getting everything right, and simply seeking to know God more. Take time as a family to open your bibles. The adults don’t have to have all the answers – in fact, they shouldn’t. The spirit of God is working through your teenagers too!
3. Testimony: In the “banking system” we learn the right answers so we can take the next right steps. In testimony, we are invited to pause and consider how the story of God has (and continues to) intersect with our own. As we practice testimony we are invited to listen deeply to others honoring the spirit of God working in their lives, trusting that he’s working in ours as well. Take time as a family to share how you’ve experienced God this week.
4. Confession and Forgiveness: In the banking system we have incentive to act like we have it all together. As we confess our faults to each other, we are reminded that we don’t. As we come before each other honestly and vulnerably, we have the opportunity to remind each other of the perfect forgiveness of our king. One of the most predictable crises that Christian college students face is the moment when they face some moral failure, and fear their parents and youth pastors (and God) will never accept them back. The habit of confession practiced in the teenage years helps instill in our young people that we serve a God who will always welcome them home. You don’t need to start by listing your deepest darkest secrets, start by openly confessing and apologizing when you’ve made a mistake and emphatically forgive your student when they do the same.
5. Hospitality: In the banking system we have incentive to build a name for ourselves. There is always more networking we can do, always more people we can connect with who can help us get ahead. As we practice biblical hospitality we invite people into our lives not for what they can do for us, but for what we can do for them. As we practice hospitality we have the opportunity to look outward and lift up others, practically meeting their needs, with no expectation of getting anything in return.

The year after high school, your student will realize that the banking system was bankrupt the whole time. Far more important than knowing how to pass a test is knowing how to be a human. Share on X

Postscript

In a forthcoming article, I will make a case that in the arts, churches might find a particularly helpful tool to counteract the influence of the cultural “banking system” our young people inhabit. As with the spiritual practices included above, the arts as a tool for spiritual formation is nothing new. For centuries the church has used artistic endeavor as a means of guiding the faithful into deeper relationships with the holy.

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Bibliography, Part 1

1. Balswick, Jack O., Pamela Ebstyne King, and Kevin S. Reimer. The Reciprocating Self: Human Development in Theological Perspective. Second Edition. Christian Association for Psychological Studies (CAPS). Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, an imprint of InterVarsity Press, 2016.
2. Hardwick, Lamar. Disability and the Church: A Vision for Diversity and Inclusion. Downers Grove, Illinois: IVP, an imprint of InterVarsity Press, 2021.
3. hooks, bell. Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom. New York: Routledge, 1994.
4. Morgan, Hani. “Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences Theory and His Ideas on Promoting Creativity.” In Celebrating Giants and Trailblazers: A-Z Who’s Who in Creativity Research and Related Fields, 124–41. London, UK: KIE Publications, 2021.
5. Nouwen, Henri. Spiritual Formation: Following the Movements of the Spirit. New York, NY. Harper One. 2010.
6. Phillips, Susan S. The Cultivated Life: From Ceaseless Striving to Receiving Joy. Downers Grove, Illinois: IVP Books, an imprint of InterVarsity Press, 2015.
7. Root, Andrew. Faith Formation in a Secular Age. Grand Rapids, Mich: Baker Academic, 2017.
8. Swallow Prior, Karen. On Reading Well: Finding the Good Life through Great Books. S.l.: BRAZOS BAKER, 2022.
9. Wright, Almeda M. The Spiritual Lives of Young African Americans. New York, NY, United States of America: Oxford University Press, 2017.

Footnotes   

¹ hooks, 203.

² hooks, 40.

³ Morgan, 131. Morgan here is writing about Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences.

⁴ hooks, 51.

⁵ I would like to interject here: teachers are heroes. My intention in reflecting on the “banking system of education” is not to throw stones at the creative geniuses who spend their days teaching our young people. Rather, I hope to open a conversation about how the systems of education themselves, and the systems of faith formation, are shaping our young people.

⁶ Phillips, 34.

⁷ Hardwick, 97.

⁸ Prior, 18. Prior is specifically talking about engaging well with and learning from literature.

⁹ Balswick et. al. 191.

¹⁰ Wright, 3.

¹¹ Wright, 14.

¹² Ibid., 14.

¹³ Root, 108.