Gathered in Kuala Lumpur
Six days of fellowship, Table Talks and prayer – and an honest conversation about how GCSN is called to serve Christian educators in the years ahead.
The gathering also marked 20 years of GCSN, which we celebrated together on Monday.
Table Talks
Focused, interactive conversations in small groups – the heart of the programme on Friday and Saturday. Each topic ran twice so that everyone could take part in two of them.
| Topic | Facilitator(s) |
|---|---|
| The Christian Educator in the Age of AI: Essential, Enhanced, or Endangered? | Simon Lau |
| Ancient Wisdom, Present Faithfulness: Recovering the Vision of Christian Classical Education | Denise Strickland |
| Global perspectives on Mission and Service: an inclusive approach | Kathryn Button |
| Approaches to Biblical Christian Curriculum – can AI help? | Christian Baldauf |
| Encouraging Deep Learning in 7,000 Indonesian Christian Schools and beyond | Dave Michel, Oh Yen Nie, Fini Chen |
| Supporting Christian Educators everywhere | Stephen Fyson |
From GCSN to GRACE
After 20 years of gathering, the Planning Team invited all participants to ask honestly where the network should go next. A background paper proposed exploring a transition from GCSN to GRACE – Global Relationships Advancing Christian Education: a broader fellowship for Christian educators wherever they serve. Continuing GCSN, with or without changes, and concluding with gratitude were named as equally legitimate paths.
In mixed groups we worked through ten questions, from “What has GCSN done well?” to “What happens now?”. Some of what we heard:
What we want to keep
- Deep, trusting relationships – a gathering, not a conference
- Generosity of spirit: giving and receiving, without burden
- Listening to one another’s challenges and victories, with time to reflect
- Mission and service as a shared emphasis
- A global perspective and a sense of equality
- Partnerships between schools that grow out of the gatherings
Where the groups leaned
- Most groups favoured a gradual transition – transforming into more practical action, with quality over quantity.
- Reaching from homeschool parents to professors was seen mostly as a strength, provided we stay small enough that nobody can attend without being known.
- Between gatherings: virtual meetings, regional gatherings, more visits and smaller Table Talk groups.
- Ideas for the next step included surveying teacher-training needs and a Table Talk focus on Christian education for teachers.
“Being comes before doing.”
– from the group discussions
Several groups were already asking: where and when will the next GCSN take place?
Together in Malaysia
Between sessions there was time for what GCSN has always been about: meeting people. A shared bus ride, conversations over coffee, a visit to a local church and to a school, and the sights of Kuala Lumpur.
