John Dewey has established the foundations of education using experience as a starting point. According to Dewey, education reflects
life experience. In line with Dewey, Banks also appreciates life experience of the pupil as a starting point in education. As a
consequence, Banks beliefs that knowledge is not neutral, objective, and universal, but constructed under assumptions, frame of thoughts, and
particular perspectives. This is where the proses of knowledge construction supports racism, gender discrimination, colonialism, and
interreligious conflict. It can be said positively that connected knowing beliefs personal experience to be the basis of knowledge Brelsford,
1999:65. The question is whether this knowledge which is connected to experience is valid. It is, in fact, this subjective knowledge which is
more meaningful in man’s life experience. Orlando Fals-Borda and Mohammad Rahman 1991:14 said, “People cannot be liberated by a
consciousness and knowledge other than their own.” There are Christians who associate multiculturalism to an attitude of
anti-religious purity, or an attitude of eliminating uniqueness of religions by rendering them all to be identical, so that truth becomes relative in
nature. This concern is actually unnecessary since it is through a true dialog that the uniqueness of each religion is venerated and they acquire
equally levelled positions. The concern of Christians is actually rooted in an attitude intending to conquer followers of other religions so that
they convert to Christianity. This narrow understanding of the mission causes a lot of Christians to feel uncomfortable with multicultural
Christian education.
5.4 Implementation of Multicultural Christian
Education
In order to carry out multicultural Christian education, I utilize the “wall” metaphor, which is behind the wall, at the wall, and beyond the
wall. Christian education behind the wall is a contextual reading and
study of the Bible which directly relates to the reality of life, and it utilizes new eyes, namely the eyes of those who are not afforded equal
rights in the social construct: women, children, the poor, and victims of violence. Thus, this reading of the Bible is able to support the birth of a
contextual theology. Christian education at the wall refers to studying other religions and conducting dialog with followers of other religions.
In other words, in Christian education participants not only study the Christian faith but other religions through dialog. This dialog could
enrich their understanding of Christian faith as well as their appreciation towards other religions. As an example, a dialog of texts from the Bible
and al-Qur’an of the same figures can be carried out: AbrahamIbrahim; JacobYaqub; MosesMusa; JesusIsa van Overbeeke-Rippen, 2006.
Meanwhile, Christian education beyond the wall is conducted by real acts in realizing peace and justice in the community, which is continued
by reflection on its undertaking. The real actsefforts carried out to assist and alleviate those in need in the Indonesian community, which
struggles with issues of poverty and injustice as well as being in an environment that is prone to disaster and ecological degradation, are
mutual efforts of everyone from various religious and cultural backgrounds. Diaconia done by the church should be followed by
reflection of the social work that was undertaken in order to enrich and ripen the faith.
In order to support Christian education which includes the three models, a social transformation approach is the most appropriate. This
approach aims to sponsor human emergence in the light of the reign of God Seymour, 1997:26. Sponsoring here means strengthening,
enabling, and guiding not authoritarian, paternalistic, and manipulative. Human emergence is the process of becoming more
humane which includes the formation gradual development and transformation radical change, social atonement, preferential option for
the poor. The reign of God is an alternative term to the Kingdom of
God which is considered more authoritarian and paternalistic. The reign of God has been realized on earth but it is not complete. The church
education service strives for the vision of the reign of God ethically, politically, and escatologically. Therefore, education for social
transformation promotes independence, justice, and peace amidst a situation of injustice and oppression.
5.5 Christian Education in Indonesia
Christian Education in Indonesia is conducted in church, family, and school. It must be admitted that up till today Christian education remains
behind the wall, in which it only provides Christian teachings. If non- Christians or other religions were mentioned, it is limited merely to a
little knowledge or a suggestion to be respectful. The church conducts various Christian education activities aside from prayers: Sunday School
for children 0-12 years old; teenage service 13-18 years old; young adult service 19-25 years old; adult 26-55 years old and elderly 56
years old and over service. There are churches which have an open attitude to respect and study other religions, for example by visiting
Islamic Boarding schools, inviting ustad to explain about Islam, saying happy fasting and Idul Fitri. However, these venerations are limited to
level 1 in Banks theory, which is the contributions model; or level 2, additive model adding knowledge of other religions in the curriculum.
Christian education in the family is the same as Christian education in church. There are families that teach their children to respect people
of other religions, but there are also those that do not. There are even families that turn the television off when the Islamic call to prayer is
aired. There are families that allow their children to make friends of different religions, and even marry with a person of different religion,
but there are also families that prohibit their children to be acquainted to others, let alone marry one of different religion. Actually, families that
live with various neighbours have a lot of opportunities to engage in
inter religionfaith dialog. However, what usually happens is mere chit- chat or not discuss about religion at all. So it seems or feels like people
know other religions because they are living together with people of different religions, but in reality they do not know what others believe
in. Christian school is one of the forms of church service and testimony
which has been existent since the initial establishment and development of church in Indonesia. Initially, Christian schools and hospitals were
means to spread the Word so that many people belief in Jesus. As an example, in the early beginning of the spread of the Word in the Central
Java regions, which was around 1920-1930, Bible preaching institutions from the Netherlands Zending established Christian schools HCS met
de Bijbel primary school, MCS as one of the means to spread the word of the Bible. These Christian schools generally are of high quality so
that many people want to send their children there. However, subsequently there was a shift of the church understanding
on the role of Christian schools which is in line with the independence of our country, the Republic of Indonesia, which demanded the active
participation of the entire nation in development. Christian schools were no longer facilities to merely preach the Bible, but they have now
become a means of testimony and service to show Christian care and participation in the effort of developing the field of education. There
was also a shift in the understanding of the preaching of the Biblechurch mission, which do not only put emphasis on spiritual
aspects, but encompasses the entire aspects of human life. Henceforth, testimony is no longer separable from service, and Christian school was
no longer seen as a means of preaching the Bible, but it’s regarded as testimony and service. Soetjitpto Wirowidjojo 1978:72-73 portrayed
the role of Christian school as follows: 1 as a means of church testimony, Christian school witnesses the Bible Glorifying the Kingdom
of God; 2 Christian school as a means of service in the field of
