An Interview with Dr. Richard R. Osmer
By Janine C. Hagan and Rick Osmer
Rick was born in Larchmont, New York and six months later was carried in a picnic basket on a train to Greensboro, North Carolina. He spent his childhood and adolescence in Greensboro, except for four years when his family lived in St. Louis. Rick attended the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, where he met his wife Sally. They married a month after graduation and moved to Boston where they studied at Harvard Divinity School and had the good fortune to take classes from James Fowler. They also began serving churches as student pastors. Sally and Rick received their Masters of Divinity degrees from Yale and then co-pastored churches in the mountains of North Carolina.

After several years, Rick entered the Theology and Personality doctoral program at Emory University, where Fowler now taught and was the advisor of Rick’s dissertation. Rick taught at Union Theological Seminary in Richmond for four years and has been at Princeton Theological Seminary since 1990. He and Sally have two children, Richard and Sarah. Sarah now works for Interfaith Action, associated with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers in Immokalee, Florida.

Janine: Rick, we first met years ago at a Christian Education Conference in Montreat, NC. and met again when I attended several Forums for Youth Ministry at Princeton Theological Seminary. I know that your specialty is Christian education, but I would like to hear the story of how that came to be and where that has taken you. Will you tell us about that?

Please tell us about your position at Princeton Theological Seminary.

What experience did you have that lead you into this particular direction?

How did you "recognize this special interest?

What kind of guidance or advice did you receive that led and/or mentored you in this type of ministry?

Rick: At PTS, I teach in the department of practical theology with special focus on Christian education. I teach a variety of courses in the M.A., M.Div. and Ph.D. programs, ranging from Moral Education and Children’s Fantasy Literature to Teaching the Bible in Small Groups to Introduction to Christian Education.

I’ll say a bit more about the childhood experiences that led me to CE below. An experience during adulthood was particularly formative and came during my first years as a minister. Sally and I were co-pastoring churches just outside of Waynesville, N.C. This gave us the opportunity to participate in programs at Lake Junaluska, a conference center of the United Methodist Church.

I participated in a lab school program there for two summers, which opened my eyes to the possibilities of Christian education. This was a very important experience because it allowed me to discover the way CE can help people grow as individuals and in community, as well as the evangelistic possibilities of Christian education. I started a Sunday school in one of the congregations (the first in fifteen years) and, sure enough, the congregation began to attract young couples with children and began to grow spiritually. Ever since then Christian education has been at the center of my career.

When I decided to enter the doctoral program at Emory, this experience led me to focus on Christian education. I was fortunate that James Fowler had begun teaching at Emory and worked closely with Jim in the Center for Faith Development during my doctoral years. This has remained an important and special relationship. After our second child was born, Sally stopped working for a while, and I served a church in North Atlanta as the minister of education, while completing my studies at Emory. The lay leaders of the CE area were incredibly strong, and mentored me every bit as much as I guided them. I have continued to believe that academics have a great deal to learn from laity and pastors in congregations.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention my father’s influence. For many years, he was the superintendent of the Sunday school, especially when we lived in St. Louis. His enthusiasm for the educational ministry of the church was contagious. I also had wonderful teachers throughout childhood and adolescence at First Presbyterian Church. I can still remember particular teachers who made a lasting impression. This was a church that supported a thinking faith.

Janine: Tell us a little about the books you have written. What inspired you to write these? Which one of these has made the greatest impact on shaping the direction of your ministry?

Rick: I’ve written or edited seven books now and will only speak of two. A Teachable Spirit was written while I was at Union. It reflects my commitment to a connectional vision of the church in which congregations are pivotal in the teaching ministry but do their job best when interacting with agencies and offices that represent the church universal. The overwhelming shift in recent decades toward the congregation and away from denominational identity creates certain problems. It can too easily lead to parochialism and homogeneity. Interacting with other congregations and with representative bodies and agencies on a regular basis in a connectional system can have the salutary effect of expanding the vision of the congregation.

While I continue to get a lot of positive feedback about my book, Confirmation, which is widely used in seminaries, I will say a few words about the book that just came out in July, The Teaching Ministry of Congregations.

This book grew out of research on three congregations, one in the U.S., South Africa, and Korea. I developed a framework of the core tasks of the teaching ministry by examining closely Paul’s letters and then used this to explore the teaching ministry of each congregation. It was incredibly interesting to learn from these communities as I wrote this book, and I remain friends with the pastors of each church.

Janine: What enables you to continue your work in Christian education? What is it that has brought (or presently brings) you the greatest energy? What have been or are your greatest struggles?

Rick: Research, writing, and teaching give me the greatest energy at present. About a decade ago, I was very involved in leadership of organizations of various sorts, including serving as the chair of the committee writing new catechisms for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A) and as secretary of the International Academy of Practical Theology. At this point in my life, I am more interested in contributing to CE through my writing and teaching. My greatest struggles are not professional, but personal. Our son developed a major mental illness during his college years and lives at home with us. In spite the wonderful advances through new research on the brain and psychotropic drugs, this remains a challenge for us day by day.

Janine: Please share something with us about your family. What are the experiences that bring you the greatest joy from your time with them?

Rick: My daughter may well be on her way to sainthood. A straight-A student at Emory, she has very intentionally chosen not to pursue a career that advances her own material prosperity but serves God and the vulnerable of society. After an intern-year as a Congressional Hunger Fellow, she took a job with Interfaith Action, associated with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, which focuses on improving the living conditions and wages of migrant workers. I am proud and challenged by what she is doing.

Janine: Our topic for this fall issue of ecumininet™ online! is “Gathering and Gifts.” What images or particular thoughts come to your mind when I mention these?

Rick: What a great theme! The image that immediately comes to mind is Paul’s image of the congregation as like a body with many parts, each of which contributes to the common good. Paul is borrowing an image from political discourse in the Greco-Roman world and putting it to pastoral use. The Corinthian community was being torn apart by factionalism and spiritual pride, and Paul uses this image to remind them that as Christ’s body, they are ruled by the head (Christ) and that all people in the church are called to contribute to the up-building or edification of the congregation. As the body gathers week-by-week, the gifts of its various part interact and, thereby, are strengthened.

Janine: What do you think are the greatest “gifts” for those of us who share the Christian faith? What do you think are our greatest challenges as a community?

Rick: Our challenge is to allow God’s Spirit to take our natural endowments and place them in the service of the task we are given to do. When we do so, we are often surprised by the energy and creativity that emerges—a sign of new creation by the Spirit. The challenge before mainline Protestantism is to open itself to the guidance of the Spirit and to form communities with practices that support discernment of the Spirit’s presence in their lives. This is the challenge of spiritual renewal, badly needed in an era when many forms of Pharisaic religion prosper.

Janine: What thoughts do you have to share with those wanting to (a) learn about the Christian faith and (b) serve by teaching about the Christian faith?

Rick: To those involved in the teaching ministry I would say two things. First, remember that the foundation of your ministry is the gospel, and the most important thing you can communicate is the love of God in Jesus Christ. Let this take priority in your teaching. Second, the most important way we communicate the love of God in Christ is through the ways we relate to the children, youth, or adults in our class. When they experience God’s love through our relationship with them, our words will be more meaningful.

Janine: What is your greatest dream for the future of Christian education?

Rick: That Christian education will play an important role in the spiritual renewal of the church. For a long time, CE rode the wave of progressive education in the U.S., which was misleading in many ways. Education in general is undervalued today. But I believe it was always a mistake to view Christian education solely in terms of educational models. This brackets out God’s role in the process and the relationship of CE to building up God’s people. Today, we face the challenge of reclaiming teaching as a form of ministry—not merely education. One of the most interesting ways this renewal might take place is through greater interaction between the fields of spiritual formation/direction and teaching.

Janine: I would like for you to leave us with a Rick-wisdom. From your experience in faith and life, what brings you the greatest sense of connecting with your calling, your particular gift?

Rick: All the things that you might expect come to mind: prayer, a small group of men with whom I meet every Friday afternoon to study scripture, and good colleagues. Kenda Dean and Gordon Mikoski, my colleagues in Christian education at Princeton are the best anyone could have. While all these supports of the spiritual life are important, I have been brought closer to God through the suffering of my son. This has strengthened my belief and hope in God’s promised future when all will be healed and God will be “all in all.”

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