TEACHERS, MINISTRY OF

Teaching within the framework of the Church has for many centuries been termed an apostolate or a vocation. In recent years, however, and with increasing frequency, teaching has been described as a ministry. This article considers whether teaching is indeed a genuine ministry or whether the term has been misapplied in an attempt to add dignity and support to today's teachers. The term's meaning and implications are also considered.

Basis in Scripture. The actions of Jesus Christ strongly support the concept of teaching as ministry, for Christ began his own ministry by teaching, trained his followers as they accompanied him on his trips of teaching and other service, then sent them out as ministers with the command to "teach" (Mt 28.20). Christ's major task, as that of most of the founders of the world's great religions, was teaching. This would seem to indicate that teaching is one of the most basic forms of religious ministry.

Bearing in mind that the root meaning of "minister" is "servant" or "one who serves or cares for another," the words of Jesus support the basic concept of ministry: "Anyone among you who aspires to greatness must serve the rest; whoever wants to rank first among you must serve the needs of all. The Son of Man has not come to be served but to serve…" (Mk 10.43–45).

St. Paul refers to teaching as a specific form of service or ministry within the Church: "It is he [Christ] who gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers in roles of service for the faithful to build up the body of Christ…" (Eph 4.11–12); "God has set up in the Church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers…" (1 Cor 12.28). Although these passages basically confirm the concept of teaching as ministry, one other text should be noted. In his letter to the Romans, Paul seems to indicate some distinction between ministry and teaching: "One's gift may be prophecy; its use should be in proportion to his faith. It may be the gift of ministry; it should be used for service. One who is a teacher should use his gift for teaching…" (Rom 12.6–7).

The Concept through Church History. Teaching in the early Church usually occurred during informal gatherings, especially at the breaking of the bread. The teaching function belonged originally to disciples, then passed to those taught by the disciples. The role of teacher was not a formal office, but rather emerged from the practical needs of the community, much as the role of elder. In his extensive work, Ministry to Word and Sacrament, Bernard Cooke traces the concept: "Early Christianity had possessed a somewhat distinct ministry of teaching, but this was very rapidly absorbed (along with prophecy) into the episcopal function. At the time of Nicaea there is certainly no explicit prohibition of teaching by others than the bishops. But it seems to be increasingly taken for granted that teaching of the faith should be done within episcopally directed circumstances, which practically means that it is to be done by clerics" (Cooke 260). Through the years, views differed about whether the ministry of teaching belonged only to the clergy (e.g., Origen wanted to be ordained a presbyter so that he could teach, yet Clement taught with no apparent role in the official ecclesiastical structure).

Nevertheless, by the Middle Ages, the clerical role in education was dominant and the teaching ministry was identified with the priestly ministry. Although the humanist influence around 1500 secularized education, the Reformers in the following century returned the trend to a religious one. The end of the 18th century witnessed another movement away from church control, followed again by a reversal, a demand for education under religious auspices. The number of students to be taught at that time necessitated increasing the number of nonclerical teachers, usually through the service of religious orders. This movement to religious, coupled with the gradual increase of lay teachers since the 1950s, has reestablished a distinct ministry of teaching.

One of the most positive assessments of the teaching ministry appears in Henri Nouwen's Creative Ministry : "The most universal and most appreciated role of the Christian ministry through the ages has been teaching. Wherever Christians went to be of service, they always considered teaching as one of the primary tasks because of their conviction that increasing insight in man and his world is the way to new freedom and new ways of life" (Nouwen 3).

Teaching in Recent Church Documents. Just as the emphasis on a distinct ministry of teaching appears and disappears during the history of the Church, so too the use of the term in Church documents is somewhat irregular.

Documents of Vatican Council II. These clearly identify the formal teaching service with the clergy alone: "As successors of the apostles, bishops receive from him the mission to teach all nations and to preach the gospel to every creature, so that all men may attain to salvation…. Now, that duty, which the Lord committed to theshepherds of his people, is a true service, and in sacred literature is significantly called diakonia or ministry" (Lumen gentium 24).

The tone becomes a bit more open in the Declaration on Christian Education. First the Council stresses that teaching is a vocation as well as an occupation: "Beautiful, therefore, and truly solemn is the vocation of all those who assist parents in fulfilling their task, and who represent human society as well, by undertaking the role of school teacher" (Gravissimum educationis 5). Nevertheless, the document is very sparing with the concept of teaching as ministry. Only once, in a section on the Catholic school, is the phrase clearly stated: "This holy Synod asserts that the ministry of such teachers is a true apostolate which our times make extremely serviceable and necessary, and which simultaneously renders an authentic service to society" (ibid. 8).

U.S. Bishops' Statements. In 1972 the United States bishops issued To Teach as Jesus Did, a pastoral replete with references to teaching as ministry. The preface alone refers to education as ministry four times, and the pastoral itself habitually makes such statements as: "…Catholic elementary and secondary schools are the best expression of the educational ministry to youth" (To Teach 84); and "religious education programs for Catholic students who do not attend Catholic schools are an essential part of the Church's total educational ministry…" (ibid. 93).

The succeeding statement of the U.S. bishops in 1976, Teach Them, again freely uses the ministry concept: "we affirm our debt to these dedicated ministers of education, sisters, brothers, priests and lay people, who teach by what they are" (Teach Them 3). Moreover, the bishops in Teach Them clarify and broaden the list of participants in the ministry: "There has been increased recognition that all share in the educational ministry, not just those specifically assigned to 'teach religion"' (ibid. 4). In fact, the document refers to other specific groups involved in the educational ministry: parents, teachers, administrators, pastors, and the community. (ibid. 6–8).

With this increasing use of the term in church documents, one could look for frequent references to the educational ministry in the 1977 statement from the Congregation for Catholic Education, The Catholic School. On the contrary, the document consistently avoids the term.

Recent church documents do not show a simple chronological development. The only pattern that seems to emerge is that Vatican sources tend to avoid references to teaching as ministry while the United States bishops freely use the term ministry to describe teaching and education.

Meaning and Implications. In the Church there is common agreement that whatever form ministry takes, it exists for the sake of the community as a whole (see minis try [ecclesiology]). For the teacher, this requires that the ministry be focused on others—the students, the school, and the broader community. For the educational minister, there can be no consideration of teaching as "only a job." As Jean Vanier phrases it, the teaching minister finds that formal teaching is only the beginning, an entry point, "a commitment to people, whatever may happen" (Vanier 67).

Focus on the person is the reason that the ministry of teaching has never limited itself to the teaching of religion. Henri Nouwen explains: "Education is not primarily ministry because of what is taught but because of the nature of the educational process itself. Perhaps we have paid too much attention to the content of teaching without realizing that the teaching relationship is the most important factor in the ministry of teaching" (Nouwen 3–4).

Recent documents point out the necessity of the teachers' witnessing to their own faith in Christ, not only in word, but by their lives. For the educational minister three elements are essential: message, fellowship, and service (see, To Teach 14–32). The message cannot remain only verbal, but must overflow to one of Christian living and liturgy (cf. Gravissimum educationis 2, 4). Community, which is central to Christian education, is not only a concept to be taught, but also a reality to be lived—among faculty as well as students (ibid. 12). With so many unique resources, educational ministers in the Church must offer service to others and to each other by ways imitative of Jesus Christ: concern for the weak and poor; use of some time for reassuring and being available—rather than only for direct teaching; extended hours of service; ability to see talents and to build on them; respect for the right of others to make choices.

The distinct ministry of teaching—evident in the early Church and in recent documents of the United States bishops—does seem to be a genuine ministry with a scriptural basis. To emphasize this fact—for teachers themselves as well as for the broader community—a variety of commissioning ceremonies and recommitment services has been initiated on local as well as diocesan levels. Such recognition and supporrt can strengthen a continuin ministry of teaching in the Church.

Bibliography: congregation for catholic education, The Catholic School (Washington, DC 1977). b. cooke, Ministry to Word and Sacrament (Philadelphia 1976). NCCB, To Teach as Jesus Did (Washington, DC 1972); Teach Them (Washington, DC 1976). h. j. m. nouwen, Creative Ministry (New York 1971). j. vanier, Be Not Afraid (New York 1975).

[c. j. reck]