Christian Education for the Public: Lessons from Legacy of Ewart College

This article explores Christian education practices in Canada in the early twentieth century, in search of viable Christian education practices for all people of God today. Claiming educational ministry for the public as a major legacy of Ewart College, the author imagines how deaconesses would practise Christian education in the postmodern Canadian church. Deaconesses from Ewart College taught, served, and embraced both the “in-churched” and “out-churched,” including new immigrants or “foreigners” in their teaching ministry. Their responses were timely, effective, and appropriate to the changing needs and times of Canada at that time. This article identifies “Christian Education for the Public” by addressing the Canadian context in the early twentieth century to which deaconesses responded, asking how the lessons learned from deaconesses can be applied to Christian education today, as well as the current contexts of immigrants.