Last September the Vancouver, Washington Church of Christ hosted a meeting of 17 church leaders in Adult Continuing Education. The group met with Bill Patterson, co-editor of Christian Bible Teacher and director of ACE, two of the church's elders, Ira Pirtle and Gene Cash, and the preacher, Tom Sibley. J. T. Bristow, minister of Vancouver's outreach program, gave the opening address on "Continuing to Learn."

The purpose of the meeting was to finalize plans for conducting the 23 college accredited higher level Bible and training classes for adults which were planned for the fall quarter. Five hundred or more adults are expected to enroll in the classes held in Washington, Oregon, California, Canada, Hawaii and Texas. The group recognized a serious need to help churches raise the quality of their adult Bible study.

The Adult Continuing Education program of the Vancouver Church, in cooperation with Columbia Christian College which gives academic credit for the courses, is based on the conviction that learning is a life-long pursuit and that adult Bible study and training needs to be as serious, as intense, as study and training any other field. The Vancouver Church's goal is to have an Adult Continuing Education class within reasonable driving distance of every Church of Christ in the West and Northwest. The plan is to bring every academically qualified Christian Bible teacher and every serious Bible student together for Bible study that meets college standards.

After eight years of operation -- the first seven being under Columbia Christian College-it has been proven that there are adults in almost every congregation who want to study God's Word on a level that is higher than is possible in the usual church Bible school class. Adult Continuing Education is a plan that is making that dream of higher education possible.

Patterson spoke to the group on "Needs and Benefits of Adult Continuing Education." "Churches, preachers and others are invited to work together with the Vancouver Church in the ACE program. Any faithful Christian with a Master's degree in Bible or related subject can teach through the ACE set-up. A team effort of interdependence that enhances local church autonomy is encouraged," he said. "We believe that this is better than extreme independence that tends toward isolationism and even competition. Adult Christians deserve the best possible college level accredited training and we believe that calls for a spirit of cooperation and teamwork," Patterson said.

Classes in Washington state will be taught in Seattle by Milton Jones, Bill Lawrence and Milessa Lattimore; in Tacoma, by Jones, Patterson, Sibley and Ken Wilson; in Monroe, by Nyal Royse; in Bremerton, by Nolan Horton; and in Vancouver by Patterson, Sibley and Earl Hillis. Classes in Oregon will be taught in Portland by Patterson, Sibley, Bill Hubbell, Wes Reagan and Mary Patterson (a team-taught teacher training course), and a class by Harrison Gaston; in Corvallis by John Sullivan; and in Medford by Rick Hall. Classes in California will be in Sacramento by Patterson and Bob Shaner; in Martinez by Patterson and Shaner, and in San Jose by Doug Threet, Shaner and Patterson. Tom Sibley will teach a class in Vancouver, B.C. with Jim Hawkins; Ted Ogle in Honolulu, Hawaii; and Ray Fullenwider and Sibley in Fort Worth, Texas (this class begins in December).

One study, Growing Christian Teacher, a new programed instruction course supplemented by three monthly Seminar Workshops of 81/2 hours each, will be taught in eight locations. The programed text is by myself with the aid of 12 students at the Vancouver church. The student group included an elder, Ira Pinfle, a deacon, Wes Reagan, a preacher, Tom Sibley and a retired school teacher, Bill Hubbell. The text will be tested in the eight classes, reedited and published next spring by Eugene Smith, Jr. of Gospel Teachers Publishing Company in Dallas, Texas. This course and others that are in preparation are expected to go nationwide eventually.

Of the various efforts made at offering higher level Christian training -- Christian Colleges and Universities, Bible Colleges and Institutes, Preacher Schools and Schools of Evangelism, and so on-almost no effort is being made to focus on adults in the church. Most all of those engaged in serious, intensive, Bible study and training are for young men or men training to preach and evangelize. The Vancouver church's ACE program is primarily directed to the adults in the local church-elders, deacons, teachers, church workers in any capacity, and those who want to grow to serve, to be growing Christians, better husbands, wives, parents, persons.

This approach is based on the conviction that the root of most problems in the church is with the adult Bible study. God's plan is for adults, mature Christians, to set the pattern, to be the example, to lead in quality Bible study -- not youth nor immature adults-but mature, qualified elders, deacons, evangelists and teachers.

Young adults and new Christians most usually conform or adjust to the adult patter or example as they mature. That pattern, that example, in too many instances is to be satisfied with mediocre, haphazard, second rate training and Bible study.

Most adults in the church never have and probably never will study the Bible seriously, not nearly as seriously as they study other subjects -- business, agriculture, law, engineering, salesmanship, mechanics, medicine and so on. The problem is that in spite of all the excellent education that young people receive-in Bible or other subjects-when they become adults seldom do they continue their education, especially in Bible.

Why do they not continue learning and growing? Largely, its because they "conform or adjust" to the existing adult pattern which is "mediocre, haphazard, second-rate." The solution, we believe, lies in breaking through to the adults, in getting them to change the pattern. Change, growth or education must be focused on adults, not just children, youth or those who are going to preach and evangelize.

Thus, Adult Continuing Education of some form of another is a vital necessity if Christians and churches are to grow spiritually strong. The spiritual strength of a Christian and of a church can be measured in direct proportion to the Bible knowledge present. "So belief cometh of hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ" (Romans 10:17). Hosea the prophet put his finger on the root cause of every problem of man as well as of the church when he spoke God's Word, "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, . . ." (4:6).