Timeless truth, different delivery #3 – What?

(This post is part of a series – let me encourage you to read the previous posts that precede this post for helpful context – scroll down to view #1 & #2.)

What most influences the Christian school when constructing a curriculum? Is it state or provincial standards? The recommendations of national discipline area groups or cross-continental professional groups such as ASCD or NSDC? Is it what is readily available from Christian textbook publishers? Or do schools start from their mission, consider what they know about the learners of today, and reflect on how to instill the characteristics described in the Through Lines in the previous post and a wisdom about the purpose of life that is “foolish” by this world’s standards?

I would submit that most times Christian schools are pressed with many other needs and that due to lack of knowledge, will, expertise, or simply time, there is not sufficient energy given to the construction of Christian curriculum that leads students toward wisdom.  Schools who choose the secular curriculum/standards route run the risk of not defining the intent of the information for the learner and refining down the amount of material expected to be taught. I have worked with many schools to help them consider and determine what are the most significant student learning outcomes and then to incorporate Essential Questions that deal with those concepts and lead students toward Biblical wisdom.  Much work needs to be done as this approach requires deep understanding by teachers of the mission of the school, and time to work on curriculum refinement and assessment building.  Schools that choose the Christian textbook route run the risk of not developing a deep understanding by teachers of the outcomes and in some cases the Christian learning outcomes are tacked on and superficial.

One of the problems we face in Christian schools is that we have inherited or co-opted a public school approach to curriculum that separates knowledge into boxes. In a new and thought-provoking book entitled Beauty for Truth’s Sake: On the Re-enchantment of Education, Stratford Caldecott points out that we have accepted a dualistic way of thinking and living: “The divisions between arts and sciences, between faith and reason, nature and grace, have a common root. In particular, our struggle to reconcile religious faith with modern science is symptomatic of a failure to understand the full scope of human reason and its true grandeur…the fragmentation of education into disciplines teaches us that the world is made of bits we can use and consume as we choose. This fragmentation is a denial of ultimate meaning.” (pages 12, 17) He suggests that the key to meaning is the re-enchantment of education through which we see the beauty, purpose and design of the cosmos, indeed a search for the Logos  – the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ, in whom all things cohere. (Colossians 1:16,17). Knowledge for its own sake or to glorify man is misdirected and God-denying. True education toward wisdom starts with the Creator and is incomplete if it does not have a spiritual foundation that reveals who is to be praised and honored for this beauty. Thus we must continually bring the unity of Christ back to a discipline based structure in many of our schools. How are we training youth to approach all learning in ways that reveal the unity of all things through Christ?  How should we go about this task? Are there better ways than others?

Timeless truth, different delivery #4 – How?

(This post is part of a series – let me encourage you to read the previous posts that precede this post for helpful context – scroll down to view #1 & #2, then #3 above.)

One of the ways that we can help students experience the connectedness and meaning and beauty of the cosmos is through connecting learning, loving, and doing.  A full-fledged Christian education is an experience that connects head, heart, and hands, weaving together love, discernment, and virtue. What follows is an article by Jane Hilbrands describing service learning and a resources project that was described in the Nurturing Faith blog post of May 18, 2009 and what promises to be a great support for Christian teachers. Thanks, Jane, for your leadership and hard work to make this project a reality! Attention principals: Hopefully you always pass Nurturing Faith posts on to your teachers, but be sure to pass on this post and the link within it to your staff!

You may have heard some buzz in the education world about service-learning.  Perhaps you feel that your school has that angle covered; after all, there is the Thanksgiving food drive, the Angel Tree at Christmas and a few other projects.  Perhaps you feel that service projects really should be the domain of church youth groups and families, not sucking precious minutes away from the curricular crunch of the classroom.  Perhaps you think service-learning is the “Hands” part of CSI’s learning paradigm “Heads, Hearts, Hands.”  Perhaps, when finished with this article, you will have a whole new view of service-learning’s place in your school curriculum.

Unlike many service experiences, service-learning should always incorporate three distinct stages: preparation, action, and reflection.  Many students give money, accumulate service hours, earn project points or volunteer without preparation. Students zip in and out of a service experience without intellectually grappling with the underlying issues involved.  Without preparation students’ personal understanding and ownership of social justice issues may be minimized.  Students then may misinterpret their experiences and actually increase their prejudices or stereotypes.  Preparation is crucial in a service-learning experience, giving students a historical, cultural, and Biblical context for the situations they encounter.

This is the “Head” of CSI’s “Heads, Hearts, Hands” at its best, introducing students to the complex and interrelated issues within immigration, poverty, war, disease prevention, hunger, economic justice, racism and others both in the U.S. and globally.  These social justice issues can dove-tail with the traditional subjects of science, math, language arts, Bible, and social studies.  Although this may sound like a lot of research for teachers, wonderful resources are just a few clicks away online.  A conglomerate of resources has been compiled through a CRC Office of Social Justice/Kuyers Institute of Faith and Learning grant, organizing CRC-based background readings, statistics, videos, activities, resource pages, projects and more according to school level (elementary, middle, high) and by subject and issue. These resource summaries and curricular suggestions can be found at www.crcna.org/pages/osj_kuyers.cfm

Justice Resources page screen shot

The second stage, action, is the one usually envisioned when folks think of service-learning.  Students step beyond “Head” knowledge and move to “Hands” participation: helping younger students or the elderly, collecting food items, raising money, cleaning up areas, visiting hospitals, scooping soup, planting, etc.  Some educators resist hands-on actions because they feel there simply aren’t enough minutes in the semester to cover the curriculum they already face, let alone add-on more things.  Research supplies a different perspective however.

Students who participated in service-learning activities in high school were 22 percentage points more likely to graduate from college than those who did not participate, and students who participated in service-learning scored 6.7 percent higher in reading achievement and 5.9 percent higher in science achievement than those who did not participate in service-learning (National Educational Longitudinal Study, reviewed by Dávila & Mora, 2007).   Ritchie and Walters (2003) showed that both middle and high school students involved in service-learning had statistically significant increases in their motivation to learn.  Furco (2007) writes that a review of research indicates that high quality service-learning, because of its utilization of effective, experiential learning strategies, can enhance academic outcomes in such content areas as reading, writing, mathematics, and science.  Given our God-created multi-sensory bodies, hands-on actions are an effective and essential tool in deeply assimilating “head” knowledge. Simply, the more we involve ourselves, the more we comprehend and retain information.

The important concept to remember in the action stage is connectivity. Service actions should not be disconnected from curriculum learning, but instead should be a natural progression from classroom lessons to active responses.  For example, PE or science students studying nutrition should participate in a hunger service project; science students studying the properties of water could act to clean-up a local creek or improve a third world community’s access to safe drinking water; language art students can read literature of minority cultural or economic groups and participate in advocacy writing or campaigns for improving literacy. These are only a few ideas – many of the online links given in the CRC/Kuyers grant also head towards opportunities for taking action. The local and global possibilities are varied and many.  Once students’ eyes are opened during preparation, actions follow naturally and Christian responsibility and stewardship begin to grow.

The final stage, reflection, is where the wonder happens.  As details from preparation and action are individually and corporately revisited and reviewed, horizons are broadened, questions are posed, worldviews are adjusted, empathy becomes possible, and God’s Spirit has space to cultivate current and future fruitfulness in an informed and engaged Christian student. It’s a time for reflection, for internal reckoning of responsibility and calling.  This is the “Heart” where life-long growth and learning happen.  Although it is often listed in the middle, it is most prosperous as a final step, with both Heads and Hands before.

Each step in service-learning’s “preparation, action, reflection” or CSI’s “Heads, Hands, Hearts” is essential.  Without the head preparation of historical, cultural and Biblical context, the action of hands can lead to misguided conclusions. Without service actions, head knowledge becomes impotent, lacking participatory ownership of God’s restorative work.  Without heart reflection, personal positions and identity may not be solidly forged. Together these three stages form a solid educational paradigm, enabling students to be informed, engaged and deeply convicted of their role in God’s world.

Did You Know 4.0 – fall 2009 version

Some of you may have enjoyed the previous Did You Know videos . . . well enjoyed is probably not the correct word – let’s see – jolted by them might be more appropriate. They are a helpful visual compilation of the kinds of rapid change happening in our world that has relevance to educators and others.

Here is the latest in the Did You Know series, highlighting media convergence.

In case you missed the first video and remixed versions of that video, the most recent version of the original video is the 3.0 version below.

Timeless truth, different delivery #1

Photos by http://www.flickr.com/photos/melissambwilkins and www.flickr.com/photos/joshb/

I would like to share some thoughts in the next several blog posts under this title: Timeless Truth, Different Delivery. In my work of writing and staff development with schools, it has been my opportunity to encourage Christian schools to be distinctively Christian in order to better meet their missions and to focus on nurturing student faith. I have attempted to bring a common language and specific methods to this dialogue. I believe this is critical work in a time when Christian schools seem in danger of slipping away due to continuing enrollment problems, lack of clarity around philosophy and mission, or just plain lack of resources or will to do pro-active school improvement work.  How will our schools improve and be faithful to their missions – their reasons for existence?

What is encouraging is that the kind of skills that our students need are the very skills that I believe can be delivered best in the context of a Christian school. This is true because ultimately all truth is God’s truth and all things cohere in Christ. For example, when Howard Gardner from Harvard identifies the kinds of minds our students need in his book Five Minds For the Future and then is asked what kind of mind is ultimately most important, he identifies the “respectful” and “ethical” mind as most important. Isn’t that exactly the kind of mind we are seeking to develop in Christian schools? And, I would add, we are providing the foundation for this kind of mind – we are teaching kids that God’s Word is the basis of truth for having a “respectful” mind and that an “ethical” mind is not based on whatever you and I agree upon, but on the Ten Commandments given by God and interpreted by Jesus Christ in his summary of the law – to love God and love neighbor.

My point is that what our kids need is a firm understanding of timeless truth – that has not changed. We have made strides in our ability to articulate the what – what truths are most important for our students to grasp in order to help make sense of the world? How we move them to an understanding of that truth is what we need to consider given today’s world and today’s kids. We also know more than we used to about why we need to use different delivery methods. Let’s explore what, how and why further.

Timeless truth, different delivery #2 – What?

Photos by http://www.flickr.com/photos/melissambwilkins and www.flickr.com/photos/joshb/

How do we arrive at the concepts that we want to deeply embed in the habits of mind, heart, and hands of a Christian school student? Are there some common Biblical understandings that should be points of emphasis? How do we educate students for discipleship?

In recent years, some excellent wrestling and work around these questions has gone on at Edmonton Christian School and in the Prairie Association of Christian Schools. The PACS team has identified several discipleship characteristics that they are seeking to instill in their students. They call these concepts “Through Lines” which become an integral part of the daily classroom experience.

They have identified “Through Lines” (desired discipleship characteristics of students) as follows:

• God-worshippers- involved in regular and meaningful worship experiences.
• Idolatry-discerners – adept at identifying and understanding the idols of our time.
• Earth-keepers – respond to God’s call to be stewards of all of creation.
• Beauty-creators – praise God by creating beautiful things.
• Justice-seekers – act as agents of change by identifying and responding to injustices.
• Creation-enjoyers – celebrate God’s beautiful creation.
• Servant-workers – work actively to heal brokenness and bring joy.
• Community-builders – active pursuers and builders of communal shalom.
• Image reflectors – demonstrate their response to Christ’s call to be co-workers.

I believe that these “Through Lines” are helpful descriptors whether used in curriculum design work (we will discuss this more in the next post), classroom faith nurture, or community activities related to worship and service.

Top 10 best practices in Bible teaching

A friend recently posed the question to me of best practices in Bible teaching and we had a great discussion about what we believed were the most effective pedagogical strategies.  We were not aware of any empirical research in this area, and so I submit a partial list to you drawn mostly from experience, and invite you to suggest other practices or disagree with one I have listed! The only criteria is that your suggested practice must be applicable across the grades and must be something that could be done (for example, a trip to the Holy Land would be wonderful, but not possible for all!)

Category 1 – The Basics

1. Storytelling

2. Scripture memorization

Category 2 – Application

3. Questions

4. Dilemmas/case studies

Category 3 – Personal Response

5.  Journaling

6. Worship

7. Service

What else would you add?

Difficult decisions, critical choices

Principles or pragmatism? Is there a right answer? How do we decide? Is there a decision-making grid for Christians around dilemmas, one that we could teach to our students?

Let me give an example from a recent movie, Flash of Genius. An engineer, who is a part-time inventor at nights, comes up with the very first intermittent windshield wiper mechanism. This feat has not been accomplished before by any of the auto companies and when the inventor shows the lead engineer at Ford Motor Company, the engineer is naturally keenly interested. Over the course of several months while waiting to hear from Ford about them purchasing his invention, the inventor comes to believe that his creation has been stolen and reproduced. He spends the next many years of his life attempting to right this injustice and prove that he is the original creator of this invention. In the process of his preoccupation and concerted effort around his legal efforts, he is divorced by his wife and loses contact with his young and large family. In typical Hollywood fashion he regains some of his family relationships back as his children assist him in his legal efforts and in the end he wins his case. Justice has been served – but at what human cost? Did our character gain the world, but lose his life in the process? What was the opportunity cost to his family of his decision? Does family need/nurture trump justice? What was the right decision for the main character in this movie?

Here is a rubber hits the road example as applied to Christian schools. In western Michigan, some Christian schools have entered into shared time relationships with public schools. On the face it seems like a win-win – the Christian school gets teachers paid for by the public school and thereby gaining budget relief, while the public school gets to count the Christian school students as their own for state funding purposes. However, teachers in the Christian school, who are now public school employees, have to give up teaching in a distinctively Christian manner since they are now public school employees. Is this a retreat from mission and principles (distinctively Christian instruction in all subject areas – “every square inch”) or a pragmatic solution so that tuition does not need to be raised, thereby forcing more families to leave Christian education? Do we agree with the state definition of subjects such as art, music, P.E., technology, world languages as being “non-core”? (“Core” subjects are not eligible for shared time designation.) Of course if we went back to the days of teachers teaching their own art, P.E, and music we could save the same amount of money. But would we be sacrificing quality instruction in the process? Is not offering these subjects at all a better choice than having them taught by public school teachers?

What is your opinion and why?

Whether you come down on the side of principles or pragmatism, I would encourage schools in these circumstances to have school society dialogues about these kinds of decisions because they speak to the core of our missions and our reasons for existence. Our kids are watching not only what decisions we make, but how we make them.

An end of the year check-up – looking back, looking forward

Image by Vitualis from Flickr

For most of us it’s time to put things back in the cupboards and close the book on this school year. As a school leader, it is good to reflect back on the school year, and worthwhile to ask yourself some reflective questions:

1. Did I move my school closer to meeting our mission this year? What evidence do I have? How do I know?

2. How did I as a leader improve the school this year? Did my words and actions encourage faith and motivation to learn in my staff and students?

3. Did I settle for only visible improvements of bricks and bucks or did I also improve the less visible aspects such as the quality of instruction, the distinctiveness of the curriculum, the quality of instruction, and the bondedness of the staff and parent community?

4. Was my focus on how successful my school was or how much students and staff understood how to be bringers of shalom?

5. What must I commit to in the next school year?

Recently McKinsey & Company put out an interesting report “How the World’s Best-Performing School Systems Come Out on Top.” In the report they make this summative statement: “The available evidence suggests that the main driver of the variation in student learning at school is the quality of the teachers.” They go on to say that high-performing schools consistently do three things well:

• Hire the right teachers – “The quality of an education system cannot exceed the quality of its teachers.”

• Develop teachers into effective instructors.

• Put in place systems and targeted support to make sure that each child benefits from excellent instruction.

According to their synthesis of research, each principal’s time in effective schools is focused on instructional leadership. In our schools spiritual leadership is even more important. What implications does this have as you make plans to foster spiritual and instructional leadership growth in your school next year?

TTFN – As Tigger of Winnie the Pooh fame always said – Ta, Ta For Now! This set of four postings will be the last postings until next fall when I will resume posting on this site. This gives both of us, dear reader, a chance to catch up on our reading . . . . and reflection. Hope to see some of you at convention this summer. Have a terrific end of the year and summer!

Help wanted: Teacher feedback for social justice project

How can I find specific global projects that relate social justice issues to my elementary science curriculum? Are there resources to help me incorporate advocacy writing in my persuasion unit in high school English? Where can I find hunger or AIDS statistics to use in middle school algebra problems, and better yet even some first-hand stories to personalize the issues? In other words, how does my current school curriculum relate to global social justice issues?

A collaborative grant between the Kuyers Institute for Christian Teaching and Learning and the Christian Reformed Church Office of Social Justice is exploring social justice connections embedded in K-12 school curriculum and is organizing the CRC resources to assist teachers in opening these connections with students. Informational readings, statistics, activities, first-hand accounts, videos, and global projects are being evaluated for their classroom potential, covering topics such as fair trade, environmental stewardship, hunger, disease control, disaster relief, immigration, disability concerns and many others.

Currently the grant team is seeking feedback from K-12 teachers who are interested in reviewing the resource summaries applicable to their teaching levels and subjects. A small stipend will be awarded for teacher feedback; however, the number of feedback positions is limited. To receive more information and to reserve your teacher feedback position, please email Jane Hilbrands at jhilbran@grcs.org. Feedback forms may be completed until July 13. Principals, if this grant project sounds interesting, please promote the feedback opportunity among your teaching staff. Thank you!

What 3 student learning needs will you meet?

(Thanks to Michael Essenburg, Christian Academy in Japan, for sharing this post and to Wordle.net for the image.)

You know that when you meet your students’ learning needs, they do better. Since you want your students to do better on connecting what they study and Biblical principles, you decide to meet specific learning needs.

Question: What 3 learning needs will you meet?

Here are sample student learning needs:

1. Understanding the importance of connecting what they study and Biblical principles.
2. Knowing what it looks like to connect what they study and Biblical principles.
3. Understanding how you (or their other teachers) teach from a Biblical perspective.
4. Understanding the vocabulary.
5. Experiencing engaging instructional strategies.
6. Having time to think through the answers for themselves.
7. Having time to reflect.
8. Connecting their lives, Biblical principles, and what they study.
9. Practicing connecting Biblical principles and what they study.

Here’s what one high school teacher is doing:

I’m passionate about my students loving God with their minds. I really want them to develop a Christ-centered worldview. One way I help them do this is by helping them apply a Biblical perspective to what they study. This year I’ve been working to meet 3 of my students’ learning needs:

(#5) Experiencing engaging instructional strategies: When my students are engaged, they learn better. A key instructional strategy I’m using is asking questions. Just this past week, I asked my students “What’s the difference between infatuation and love?” They became quickly engaged, and their discussion resulted in them talking about the biblical concept of love.

(#6) Time to think through the answers for themselves: When kids have time to think, they are more likely to make connections. Since I want my students to connect learning and faith, I’ve been providing time for my students to think. For example, in my “Who Am I?” unit, I gave my students time to think about who they are spiritually, culturally, and personally.

(#8) Connecting their lives, Biblical principles, and what they study: My students do a better job of understanding and applying a biblical perspective when I incorporate their life experience. For example, my students all know that what the Nazis did to the Jews was horrible and that it violated the biblical teaching of respecting others as God’s image bearers. But then they leave class and gossip.

To help my students really get the implications of respecting others, I asked them to do a 2-part journal entry: (1) to list examples of respect and contempt for human dignity from a holocaust memoir and (2) to list examples of respect and contempt for human dignity that they see at school. Then I had them discuss their entries in small groups. It worked!

A helpful resource for parents: what’s normal in adolescence

Parents, dealing with the ups and downs of their adolescent child, may ask themselves: “What should I be expecting as normal with my child in adolescence?” In his latest book, The Space Between: A Parent’s Guide to Teenage Development, Walt Mueller approaches the topic with realistic and spiritually grounded optimism, the heart of an experienced parent, and the mind of someone who has dedicated himself to the topic over a 30 plus year career. He starts with some fundamental perspectives/truths and then moves through teenage changes physically, socially, intellectually, emotionally, and morally/spiritually. I especially appreciated his concise summaries of teens using Tim Keller’s categories related to identity formation – sexual partners, academic or athletic achievement, money and possessions, pleasure/gratification/comfort, relationships and approval, noble causes, and religion and morality. Packed with helpful quotes and up to date information on areas such as brain research, I found the book to be very accessible and at 120 pages a reasonable length for the intended parent audience. I bring it to your attention because I think it is a helpful tool for both parents and staff members at Christian middle and high schools.

Edging toward amortality

Aging Not So Gracefully by Cayusa on Flickr

Maybe it is the constant barrage of AARP (American Association of Retired Persons) letters in the mail, or the fact that my upcoming birthday pushes me closer to the name of a local bank (there really is a bank called 5/3 Bank!), but I can’t help but wonder if the concept of amortality is happening to me. Note that I said amortality, not amorality!  If you are not familiar with the concept of amortality, you should know that it is #5 on Time magazine’s list of 10 Ideas Changing the World Right Now, and is described by its inventor, writer Catherine Mayer as:  “. . . the intersection of that trend (resisting the onset of age) with a massive increase in life expectancy and a deep decline in the influence of organized religion.” Yes, the Boomer generation seems to be both re-inventing age and walking away (or running or “spinning” away) from the concept of organized religion (see Barna’s book Revolutionaries and my 12.18.06 post.)

As I write this, my body is recovering from a spring break filled with painting, yard work, sod moving, and closet cleaning. I want to function at the same pace as I did in earlier years, and am disappointed if I can’t. As Mayer states: “The defining characteristic of amortality is to live in the same way, at the same pitch, doing and consuming much the same things, from late teens right up until death.” We somehow expect to live forever on this earth and expect/hope that medical science will have the answer by the time we need it, to allow us to live indefinitely. These attitudes fly in the face of “Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” Psalm 90:12. We are in essence saying we are not interested in learning another pace, to develop character and understanding toward wisdom, but instead are saying “just give us our Botox and Viagra and let us go on our paths of consumption.”

My sister’s recent struggles with long-term cancer have again inspired me to number my days and do things that really matter, as I have seen her do. Her grace and ministry to all around bear witness to a heart that holds no illusions about the power of amortality. I only hope that I can live however many days that are numbered for me with half the grace and focus that she has demonstrated. Perhaps our personal mantra should be something like, “Modeling what matters so that the wisdom of Christ is seen through me.”

The Code Talkers Project

In the time of war, accurate and confidential information can be the difference between life and death for soldiers. During World War II, Navajos played a key role for the Allies, creating a secret military code for communication purposes. In a new DVD called The Code Talkers Project: Keeping the Code Alive, Rehoboth Christian School shares the stories of the Navajo Code Talkers and celebrates how the Navajo language helped to win the war. Rehoboth middle school students interviewed the Navajo war heroes and were involved in the production of the DVD under the guidance of director Theo Bremer-Bennett. The documentary is about 30 minutes in length and would be a wonderful addition to your social studies curriculum or for inspirational use, such as a chapel.

What I like so much about this project is that it involves students in understanding their roots and appreciating their culture, connecting cross-generationally with their elders, and working collaboratively to produce the final product. It is a great example of students in Christian schools getting involved in creating culture (see blog post of January 16, 2009 – Creating Culture.)

If you are interested in purchasing a copy of the video for $15 please contact Sue Eddy at seddy@rcsnm.org. Proceeds from the sale of this DVD will go towards Rehoboth’s Navajo Code Talkers Communication Center & their Navajo Language program.

Encouraging faith through beauty

As I walked by the bookstore flower box, the beauty and color astounded me. The brilliance of the colorful pansies that were blooming in this warmer climate seemed to shout to my eyes to wake up, to jump for joy, to drink it in deeply. You see, my eyes had grown accustomed to only the white of snow and the gray cloud cover.  How could such simple flowers in such a pedestrian area, bring so much joy to my soul? I felt a bit self-conscious gazing on the flowers. After all, there didn’t seem to be similar appreciation from those around. Yet I decided to run the risk as they lifted my soul to consider the God who would put so much detail and brilliant color into something so common, which led me to say a prayer of thanks.

Our opportunity to connect creativity and beauty to its source is one we should not take lightly as Christian educators. We must teach the youth in our care to respond to beauty, and consider the ultimate Creator of all things. Creativity is now acknowledged to be the highest skill on the revised Bloom’s taxonomy – how appropriate that humans’ highest aspiration is to image God through creativity. Yet, in our modern society we grow alienated from creation and fail to even connect every day things back to their source.  This has an impact on our soul – we conveniently buy products, not considering what has gone into them and what choices were made along the way.

Helping us to step back and to see the beauty contained in the natural resources around us is the intention of the 100 Mile Art Project by Christopher Van Donkelaar. Christopher is an iconographer and also works in technology for the Ontario Alliance of Christian Schools. He created a painting by collecting all materials from local sources, painstakingly making everything needed to paint the picture from a 100 mile radius around Cambridge, Ontario. Christopher explains what he was trying to accomplish through the project:

Six months of work in creating colours which could have been bought at an art store for less than $200!  But, this project was not about the finish; rather it was about a journey.  Ultimately, the answer to this question is found in the iconic prototype I chose to paint as the culmination of the exhibition: Adam naming the Animals.  Let me summarize:

Adam Naming the Animals by Christopher VanDonkelaar. This painting is the culmination of the 100 mile ART Project.

God creates everything.  Then, He calls Adam to come and appreciate the especially beautiful animals.  Adam’s appreciation is more than just a hands off, nod-of-the-head; his appreciation is participation.  God asks Adam to add something beautiful to His work by giving it a name (as anyone who has had children will attest to, naming is a very special work and I am never sure if such naming is a response to what I see, or newly shaping/changing of what I see by circumscribing it; I suspect both are true).  There seems to be an unconscious shift in our thinking today, in response to the abuses of the industrial model, which nature is at her best when left alone.  But with this scriptural example as proof, we know that our calling, even before the fall, is to interact with our environment and shape it through appreciation.

Beyond this original premise, I really learned a lot from doing this project: The place of convenience in our culture has reached a level that is very problematic and seems to be the root of many of our current issues.  I learned that working hard to achieve something makes it impossible to waste the achievement.  My family and I have many old-order Mennonites where we live, and I think their quilts point to the same truth.  When creating a shirt requires you to grow a crop of flax, process it into linen (a very arduous process), and dying it using herbs, the worth of such cloth is guaranteed.  And, when the shirt can no longer be worn, it will inevitably be reused and cut into smaller strips to create a beautiful quilt.  Likewise, each colour I created during this project became unthinkable to waste.  Lastly, it was a lot of fun giving worth to something considered worthless.  There are many other thoughts and reactions that have come from a broad range of people, from scientists, teachers, environmentalists, etc., and each has brought with them a little revelation of their own.

The project isn’t finished, either!  I am continuing to explore different regions and reporting what I find through my website.  These self-collected coloured pigments are also becoming increasingly the backbone of my commissioned art works.

You can view how Christopher made each color as well as his beautiful icon paintings at his website.  (Please pass this information on to your art teacher!) Christopher is prophetically teaching us and our students to understand creation more deeply and appreciate it more fully – helping us to praise our Creator in the process!

Is the picture in balance?

Do your teachers know Piaget, Kohlberg, and Erikson better than Cavaletti, Stonehouse, Fowler, and Dean? Are your teachers as equipped to nurture student faith as they are to help students reach academic success? Do your teachers possess a common foundation in distinctively Christian philosophy and classroom practices that nurture faith? Do you believe that a high quality faith-integrated, truth-revealing curriculum is the highest need in schools that bear the name Christian?

Do you have a plan to equip your teachers to nurture faith? Perhaps a start is take 5 minutes at your next faculty meeting, ask them how they have been equipped in the two ways shown below, and then discuss the results.

Equipping for Academic Instruction -List the top 5 ways your teachers have been equipped to help students reach academic success. 

Equipping for Faith Nurture  – List the top 5 ways your teachers have been equipped to encourage student faith development.

Rethinking “integration of faith and learning”

Language matters. For years I have used the language of “integrating faith and learning” to describe what happens in Christian schools and colleges within subject area discipline curriculum development.  I have come to the conclusion recently that it is inaccurate to continue to use this term and that it gives the hearer the wrong impression. By using such language, we may have fallen prey to Greek thinking – dividing ourselves and our world into soul and body, science and spirituality, and left-brain and right-brain, instead of seeing ourselves as unified and whole beings. If I think about day to day living I think about making decisions that reflect my Christian worldview based on my understanding of truth and obedience to God rather than thinking: “Well now how do I integrate my faith and my living?” It is not as if I need to constantly bring things together that are apart – I respond from my faith perspective – my view of how the world works.

If we believe that God rules over all things and that all creation coheres in Christ (Colossians 1:15-20) then all that is true in creation belongs already to God. “All truth is God’s truth” (Gabelein in The Pattern of God’s Truth, 1968) and Jesus is the truth of God (“I am the way, the truth, and the life.” John 14:6). Therefore as we think about working with students, our task is to help them uncover God’s truth that already exists in creation. It is not a matter of marrying or bringing together our faith with what is true in the world – it is already united through Christ. What is true cannot exist apart from the sovereignty of God – it is his truth. As we uncover truth with students, we help them to see that God is the source of this truth and that all truth is brought together through Christ, who redeems and plans to restore all creation. We help students to understand the Master Story, the Big Story of God’s I Love You Plan, delivered through his son Jesus Christ, and how we are to understand truth in creation. We pray and work toward our student’s growth in faith through the learning process.

I have taken to using the words “truth revealing learning” instead of faith-integrated learning.  I think it is a much better descriptor. I encourage us to develop minds that ask: “Where is God’s truth revealed in this aspect of learning? What does this teach me about him? What has happened from a human standpoint to obscure the truth? How has man subverted the truth? What must be done to restore truth from a Biblical perspective to this situation?”

If I am going to be an effective “truth-revealing” teacher, it is critical that I am deeply acquainted with God’s revealed truth, his Word, the Bible. Unless I am able to understand and apply God’s revealed truth to the truth in creation, I will not be able to teach a Biblical perspective to students.  The teacher’s Biblical worldview is critical, as noted by Gabelein:

The fact is inescapable: the worldview of the teacher, insofar as he is effective, gradually conditions the worldview of the pupil.  No man teaches out of a philosophical vacuum.  In one way or another, every teacher expresses the convictions he lives by, whether they be spiritually positive or negative (The Pattern of God’s Truth, 1968).

It is also important that teachers work to understand deeply what biblical truth is revealed through particular disciplines, and what questions may be raised to provoke critical thinking by students around a biblical perspective on the topic at hand. This is intellectually challenging work, but very rewarding to help students develop toward wisdom.

Do you believe? A review of the movie: Henry Poole is Here

Here is an interesting movie for you to watch over your upcoming spring break! Our family watched it and enjoyed it – it has the potential to lead to some very good discussion around faith, hope, miracles, and belief. Below is the trailer:

(Review contributed by Mark Eckel, educational consultant and director of the Mahseh Center.  Thanks, Mark for sharing!)

Hope does not always come in forms we expect or can explain.  Sometimes the face of Jesus must appear in a stain on a stucco house.  Other times, the house literally has to fall on a person to wake them up.  It is no mistake that words for hope, trust, and faith are so closely aligned with each other in religious frameworks: each is dependent on a world beyond our own.  It is this outside world that we cannot see, that we cannot explain, that invades inside our world.

Hope can come in many forms, but always from outside ourselves.  Luke Wilson stars in a movie to ponder just such an idea: Henry Poole Is Here.  The inexplicable occurs to give hope to the hopeless.  Full of Christian imagery and truly caring believers, Henry is altered when he is forced to confront that which he cannot explain.  Coke-bottle glasses worn by the grocery store check out girl are unnecessary after touching the stained house wall.  Mute no more, a child next door speaks; a result of the same.  Church-goers line up around the house because they believe what they cannot describe may transform what they cannot change.  Henry himself has been diagnosed with an undivulged illness.  Believing his own death to be imminent, “It doesn’t matter” and “I won’t be here very long” are phrases Henry uses to deflect attention away from commitments, away from people, away from life.

Characters enliven the tale.  The won’t-take-no-for-an-answer next door neighbor (Adriana Barraza), the Catholic priest (George Lopez), Millie whose eyes mesmerize (Morgan Lilly), Dawn (Rahda Mitchell) the romantic seeing inside Henry’s shell, and the cashier (Rachel Seiferth) all add flavor to a sweet story.

Albert Torres wrote the original screenplay for Henry Poole.  After failed attempts at penning scripts in Hollywood, Torres quit trying.  He changed course.  Two years later he realized his “undefined sadness” was because he was not writing.  “Rather than write a movie I thought I could sell or one I thought others would like, I wrote a movie I wanted to see. I emerged from a desperate time, looking for a little hope and Henry Poole was born” (source).  After suffering the devastating death of his wife, Mark Pellington created a film to reflect upon the realities of life lived after loss (source).  Henry Poole Lives Here is an example of reflection leading to hope.

Both Pellington and Torres maintain that the movie is not “pushy” about faith.  References to Jesus’ face, miracles, and Catholicism are simply to move the story along.  Henry Poole indeed succeeds without preaching.  But there is no mistaking a movie which depends on its most prominent character, who is invisible, other-worldly, unexplained but always there.

Rated PG for a few uses of profane language and adult situations.

My top ten list for hiring new teachers

When it comes to hiring a new faculty member for next year, what qualities are you seeking? Allow me to encourage you to consider some recent research done by Dr. Laurie Matthias, assistant professor of education at Trinity International University. She wondered what themes and qualities would emerge from studying professors considered exemplary by their peers in the integration of faith and learning at Wheaton College. She discovered a common core virtue of integrity/wholeness in these individuals. This sense of integrity and wholeness resulted from these characteristics: genuine faith, an attitude of humility, passion for their academic discipline, and openness to change.

I certainly agree with her assessment and submit this attempt as a “Top Ten” list of qualities needed in a Christian teacher:

1. Passion for God, kids, subject – in that order
2. Desire for, and skill in, nurturing faith in kids
3. Integrity – wholeness as a person (see above!)
4. Strong emotional intelligence (what we sense about others and what we do with that awareness)
5. Curiosity/creativity
6. Team player – working well with others
7. Commitment to personal learning and flexibility with change
8. Strong understanding of biblical perspective and skill in revealing God’s truth in the curriculum
9. Desire to build community within classroom and school
10. Sense of humor

What would you add or subtract?

Student reflections on biblical perspective

Thanks to Kim Essenburg, English 10 teacher at Christian Academy in Japan, for sharing student reflections related to seeing God’s truth in the material they studied.

Here are sample student answers to the final question on my English 10 short story test: What else did you learn in this unit that you did not have a chance to show on the test?

• I think understanding that everyone has a perspective and that it’s important to connect literature and the Bible.
• All of the authors, it seems, either were born or ended up in situations where they didn’t really belong, or they were missing something, or something went wrong. It’s interesting to note the different responses each author had in their situation. Tolstoy had a primarily Christian perspective, Kafka was nihilist, and Camus was existentialist—each one giving their own reasons for why things were the way they were.
• I learned from Leo Tolstoy’s “How Much Land Does a Man Need?” that if we are selfish and greedy, it might seem like you’re “living the life” at the moment, but in the end you’ll lose everything (the important things) you have.
• Both Christianity and existentialism believe that people have the desire to find meaning. In Christianity, we find the true meaning in God and find joy, but in existentialism, people find their own meaning and find joy in that process. I thought it was sad that not all the people have hope and that not all people can feel true joy.
• I learned a lot about decision-making and finding my place here. We all get left out and feel like an outsider, but I know that I still belong to God.
• Every piece of literature has a worldview. It may be difficult to find, but if the author has any voice at all, you should be able to find it.
• I learned that just like “The Guest” we all have to make decisions between two things. I learned that I have to pray to God before choosing the decision by myself because without God’s power, we are all weak and cannot make a decision we won’t regret.
• From reading “The Bucket Rider” I learned how people who feel like they don’t belong anywhere are suffering because of emotional needs that may be as extreme as the Bucket Rider…. I want to be able to choose to act with empathy towards these people, unlike the coal dealer’s wife who ignored the Bucket Rider.

Is it well with your soul?

If we do not possess an interior spiritual life with God that is rich and meaningful, can we effectively nurture the faith of others? Do we have a balance between “doing” and “being” in our lives – are we balancing activity and contemplation? If we are emotionally unhealthy and are in a state of partial attention, if we are on auto pilot spiritually, if we are constantly exhausted and frazzled, can we expect to be able to present an authentic and attractive faith?

This past weekend I had the opportunity to hear Peter Scazzero, pastor of New Life Fellowship in Queens, New York speak to a group of pastors at a retreat. Peter strongly believes that it is impossible to be spiritually mature while remaining emotionally immature.  He suggests that we need to go back into our negative generational family patterns and deal with who we are, before we can go forward spiritually and become emotionally healthy Christians. Additionally, he suggests that in order to deal with our current culture of narcissism, speed, and fragmentation, we need a greater emphasis on contemplative spirituality. In his book, Emotionally Healthy Spirituality he lists the following characteristics of living contemplatively:

• awakening and surrendering to God’s love in any and every situation;
• positioning ourselves to hear God and remember his presence in all we do;
• communing with God, allowing him to fully indwell the depth of our being;
• practicing silence, solitude, and a life of unceasing prayer;
• understanding our earthly life as a journey of transformation toward ever increasing union with God;
• finding the true essence of who we are in God;
• loving others out of a life of love for God;
• developing a balanced, harmonious rhythm of life that enables us to be aware of the sacred in all of life;
• adapting historic practices of spirituality that are applicable today;
• allowing our Christian lives to be shaped by the rhythms of the Christian calendar rather than the culture; and
• living in committed community that passionately loves Jesus above all else.

Through uniting emotional health and contemplative spirituality, Scazzero suggests that we can be given three gifts that allow us to better participate in the redemptive and transformative power of Jesus Christ in today’s world. These gifts are:

1. Slowing down (paying attention to God, being with him, loving God and others well)
2. Anchoring in God’s love (moving our understanding of God’s unconditional love from head to heart and hands, increasing our awareness of his love who heals us, anchoring our self-esteem in Christ, rather than self)
3. Breaking free from illusions (such as acknowledging our brokenness, recognizing idols in our lives, acknowledging how we attach ourselves to accomplishments, things, or people’s approval, changing generational family patterns)

The story of Daniel is an instructive one for us as adults, and for the youth whom we nurture in faith. Daniel was encouraged by those around him to assimilate into the dominant, God-denying culture of Babylon and had no support system to help him resist. Scazzero points out that Daniel knew he needed a plan to orient his life around loving God and follow that plan each day so that he could worship and draw close to God. Are we doing the same for ourselves and helping kids to learn this way of life also? It is clear that we cannot give what we do not live. Is it well with your soul?

High School Worship Team/Calvin Worship Institute Symposium reflections

Photo credit: www.hhcreatives.com

(Recently you received the February Christian School Teacher that referenced the opportunity that worship teams from CSI high schools had to attend the recent Calvin Institute of Worship Symposium. Thanks to Gale Tien, from our CSI office, who shares this report of the day’s activities.)

On January 23, 2009, I had the privilege to participate in the Calvin College Symposium on Worship.  My role was to be an observer at the day-long gathering of nearly 25 Christian High School Worship/Chapel Committees.  This group of nearly 150 students, teachers, and administrators from across North America, was brought together to discuss the role of worship in Christian high schools and to explore best practices in this area.  It was inspiring to see more than one hundred high school students gathered to discuss and explore the role of worship in Christian high schools.  It was a blessing to hear so many of these students express their love for Jesus and their desire for their classmates to come to love Jesus more dearly.

The day began in corporate worship with the larger group of symposium attendees.  The Fine Arts Center on the Campus was nearly filled with people from around the globe.  The multi-age, multi-denominational, multi-ethnic, multi-race, multi-worship style group and the worship that occurred set a beautiful tone for the remainder of the day.  My prayer is that the high school students, some of whom were at times critical of their church worship experiences, gained a sense of how wonderful multi-generational worship can be.  A consistent “thread” of their criticism related to worship with older people who don’t share the same taste in music or worship style.  I pray that an added blessing for the high school students was the multi-cultural element of the opening worship.

(I feel I should add a bit of confession, lest it seem that the high school students were the only ones who learned and grew from the time of corporate worship.  When the main speaker, Craig Barnes began talking, I noticed someone “talking” in a low voice in the row behind me.  I began to feel my blood pressure rise as I anticipated having to deal with this distraction during Barnes’ comments.  When I turned to give a disapproving “look” at the person who was talking, I realized it was an interpreter who was translating for a number of non-English speaking attendees.  A wave of guilt caused me to sheepishly turn back around when I realized that what was taking place was a wonderful situation similar to what is described in Acts 2.  I offered a “bullet prayer” asking God to forgive me for my myopia.  I felt God’s forgiveness immediately and returned to experiencing a wonderful day.)

Following the corporate worship, the high school students, teachers, and administrators moved into a separate time to consider the role of worship in a Christian high school.

Ron Rienstra set an excellent context for the remainder of the day.  He did a remarkable job of presenting substantive and theoretical ideas in a way that the group could digest and process these ideas.  Ron provided so many wonderful ideas and thoughts.  (I felt like I was being asked to “take a sip out of fire hydrant”.)  I thought one of Ron’s greatest contributions to the day was the challenge to “find the fine line” between acknowledging the need for passion and emotion in worship, but not allowing worship to only be passion and emotion.  I loved the quote that Ron referenced that “God does not always ‘move’ us . . . and all that ‘moves’ us is not always from God.”  I also appreciated exploring the concept that worship includes three aspects; all of life, what happens on Sunday morning, and the intimate sense of God’s presence.  I strongly agreed with his comment/quote about how people who report that Sunday worship is uninspiring often come to realize that the problem is not with their Sunday worship.  Rather, there is no connection between their “Sunday worship” and their “all of life” worship.  It was great to hear and see that the young people at my table understood and embraced Ron’s presentation on the Complexity of Worship.

Following Ron Rienstra’s presentation, Jack Postma and Sharon Veltema of Unity Christian High School in Hudsonville, Michigan, presented the role and implementation of chapel/worship at Unity Christian High School.  Chapel/worship plays a large and frequent role at the school.  Jack and Sharon described the history and progression of the plan, the philosophical foundation for worship at Unity, as well as practical advice for the other schools.

Following a “networking” lunch, which afforded attendees the opportunity to discuss and dialogue with other participants, the group moved into the afternoon session.  The teachers and administrators gathered to discuss topics pertinent to high school leaders.  The students participated in a rotation of three workshops.  The topics were: Music and High School Worship, The Spoken Word (Prayers and Scripture Reading) and High School Worship, and The Visual Arts (Dance, Drama, and Use of Media) and High School Worship.  The workshops were led by Calvin College students who are Worship Apprentices.  Each sectional included a discussion of the philosophy and role of each area, as well as practical advice about implementing each of the areas.  I was very impressed with the sincerity and maturity of the Calvin College Worship Apprentices.

Following this rotation of worships, the entire group; students, teachers, and administrators, gathered for a closing session, led by Bob Keeley.  This closing session served the dual purpose of putting “closure” on some of the topics of the day but also allowed for some new thoughts and “next time” topics to be introduced.  The most significant “next time” topic in my opinion (and a consensus expressed in the group discussion also) is to explore the role and interaction between the church and school regarding worship.

I left the symposium inspired and thankful.  I was inspired to see the passion and fervor of the high school students and the adults that accompanied the students.  It was so wonderful to see the students’ love for the Lord and desire to include expanded worship in their school.  I was thankful for the work of John Witvliet, Bob Keeley, and the Worship Institute staff among others, who organized the gathering. I strongly commend the organizers of the day and would urge that there be a “next meeting”.  I would suggest if at all possible it be a “cohort” type gathering and bring back as many of the young people who were at this first meeting to hear how the day impacted them and influenced worship at their school.  Along with these returning students, new students should also be encouraged to join.

Redemptive Leadership: Nurturing Faith in Community

(Thanks to Dr. Bruce Hekman, Adjunct Professor of Education at Calvin College for contributing this post.)

At a workshop I attended a couple of years ago a speaker asked, “What was Jesus’ main message?” Lots of answers come to mind: the good news that Jesus has come to provide forgiveness for our sin, enabling a renewed relationship with God. While that’s true, that actually isn’t the most common message in the gospels. Jesus most often spoke of the new kingdom he was bringing into existence. “The kingdom of God has come near; repent and believe the good news.” (Mark 1:15) “…strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness.” (Matt. 6:33) “Jesus went through Galilee…preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness.” (Matt. 4:23) In the first three gospels there are at least 114 references to the “kingdom of God,” including the Lord’s Prayer, in which we corporately pray that “…your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matt. 6: 9, 10).

This kingdom prayer is a call to redemptive leadership, to making things down here the way they are up there. Donovan Graham says, “Redemption through Christ restores our relationship with God and empowers us to once again fulfill our calling in creation as he intended. The distortions of the fall still plague us, but we are no longer bound or ruled by them. We are called to live according to the truth, and living redemptively means living by that truth.” (Teaching Redemptively, p. xiv.”)

Redemptive leadership holds up a biblically-based vision of what schools ought to be. That vision is most visible in the relationships among all members of a school community. School leaders play a major role in establishing the culture of a school, that set of often unarticulated “rules” about the way things are done. The culture of a school, its context, is a deeply influential dimension of the content of schooling for all those who participate in it. When asked what we remember most vividly about our own school experience, we most often call to mind a relationship—usually positive, but not always—that has influenced us long after we’ve forgotten what we were studying. School culture is our corporate witness of the new life we have in Jesus as a faith community.

Redemptive leadership is intentional about creating a school culture that is a community of grace.

Teaching kids to transform the world: possible?

Can culture be transformed? Or does more evidence point to our being transformed by the culture?

One of the legacies of the Dutch theologian and statesman, Abraham Kuyper, has been the concept that we are to claim all of life and culture for God – to be transformers of the culture.  This thinking has permeated churches in the Reformed (the theological approach, not just the denomination) tradition and those Christian day schools that have originated from the Christian Reformed Church in particular. We are proud of the fact that we do not simply advocate condemning and retreating from culture, but that we attempt to be counter-cultural, to be “in and not yet of” the culture we experience. If you were to survey Christian school mission statements you would find many phrases that reflect the belief that we are training children to be cultural transformers. Yet, how effective is this strategy? Is it working?

In his recent book, Culture Making: Recovering our Creative Calling, Andy Crouch calls into question our ability to transform culture by simply condemning, critiquing, copying or consuming culture (for greater description of these areas, read the book or this review. If we were to look at the area of media alone, we would have to admit that, despite our condemnation or critique of cultural slippage, we have not been very successful in changing the cultural landscape. There is simply too much media to critique and too little time for us to engage in advocating for long term, effective change. The premise of Crouch’s book is that, as Christians, we are called as image-bearers to create culture that reflects Christ.

This message would seem to resonate with the upcoming Millennial generation. They desire the real, the authentic, the hands-on, direct experiences of ministry, while the Boomers seem to have been more concerned about their own worship/church needs via an entertainment model and large church infrastructure. Despite the disconcerting aspects of large scale change and turmoil, my friend Rex Miller sees the focus of Millennial’s to be a very positive development as we move through these times of death and rebirth in our culture. See his recent article here.

While I agree with Crouch’s encouragement to individual Christians to make culture wherever they are planted, I also agree with John Seel’s concern with Crouch’s book that culture is not simply about individuals, it is also about the cultural gatekeepers within institutions who really control culture, a “super class” of perhaps 6,000 people within institutions who dramatically influence world culture. Seel emphasizes the need for student preparation and training in obedience – we don’t know if and when and how the students in our schools may be called into as an “influencer” or “cultural gatekeeper”, but need to practice with diligence in preparation for whatever work God calls them to do. Whether we focus on culture making from an individual or institutional standpoint, there is no substitute for Christian schools that help students develop discernment and Godly wisdom, all the while teaching them to work within and through community.

I really appreciated Crouch’s discussion of what he calls the two most compelling events of God’s intervention in culture in the Bible. He views these as instructive to our response to life in this present age. He points to the exodus of Israel and the resurrection of Christ as events that came to those who were powerless against, and crushed by, the dominant Egyptian and Roman cultures of the time. In that context, God reveals his power by working in the lives of the powerless. In an age where we have been seduced and then disenchanted by our “Christian” influence on the political process, where we feel increasingly powerless to make change, and in a time where we realize again the futility of depending on our own financial means, we are encouraged to call on God and to look carefully at what he is doing in our midst to see “where the impossible is becoming possible.”

We need to consider whether we, as evangelical Christians, have been seduced by cultural power and influence. Have we unconsciously encouraged our students to become celebrities through accomplishments more than we have encouraged them to become saints? (Crouch holds up Princess Diana and Mother Theresa as contrasting models.) He reminds us that the growth of the church came through Christians engaging in cultural creativity – loving neighbors through the worst of times, being open and accessible with their faith, living very different lives – believing, behaving, and demonstrating belonging to a different kingdom – and thus changing their culture and world. How can we encourage our kids to be culture makers and culture influencers so that they become, in Crouch’s words, artists and gardeners who through their God-given creativity help to bring forward Christ’s kingdom?

Walk on

(Post contributed by Mark Eckel, educational consultant and director of the Mahseh Center.  Thanks, Mark for sharing this encouraging article!)

Putting one foot in front of the other is difficult some days.  Robert Robinson was the 18th century Cambridge pastor who penned the famous hymn “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing.”  The positive nature of the song seemed not to reflect his hard, later life.  The story is told of his encounter one day with a woman who was studying a hymnal.  She asked how he liked the hymn she was humming. In tears, Robinson replied, “Madam, I am the poor unhappy man who penned that tune many years ago, and I would give a thousand worlds, if I had them, to enjoy the feelings I had then.”

When I hear that story I think of the phrase in Robinson’s song “Prone to wander, Lord I feel it / prone to leave the God I love.”  Another hymn writer, William Cowper, seems to have been cut from the same cloth.  Depression dogged Cowper all his days.  “God Moves in a Mysterious Way” is one of Cowper’s songs.  The phrase “Behind a frowning providence / he hides a smiling face” reflects, perhaps, the two-sided perspective of a man battling his own inner turmoil yet trusting the “fountain filled with blood, flowing from Emmanuel’s veins”-the hymn for which Cowper is best known. (See John Piper, The Hidden Smile of God.)

Response to suffering and agony take many forms.  We feel what we feel intensely.  We cry out with the Psalmist as he did four times in a row “How long, O Lord?!”( Psalm 13:1-2.)  The writer does not question God’s intervention but His delay–why are you taking so long?!  We suspect the loss of God’s nearness.  God has not left but we do not sense the shine of His face on us any longer.( Numbers 6:24-26.)

“I have suffered much.”(Psalm 119:107.)  Let that statement hang in the air for a moment.  There are those of us who feel that suffering every day: fingernails scraping across the blackboard of life.  Screeching matches our latch on to the Psalms in our cries toward heaven.  “I have suffered much” comes from Psalm 119:105-113 capturing some of Robinson and Cowper’s sentiment.  While the source of suffering comes from without, this verse indicates an inner unrest: an affliction eating at us which was caused by others.

Note the context.  The previous verses suggest there are “evil” and “wrong paths.”  (Psalm 119:101, 104.)  Indeed, the wicked set snares on them. Fighting internal turmoil because of external havoc, the writer says he takes his life in his own hands.  Earlier he declared “I am laid low in the dust” after “they almost wiped me from the earth.” (Psalm 119:25, 87.) We face opposition, hatred, suppression, or oppression from others.  Walking this life is hard.

So how do we make it down the road?  The “lamp” which is our light from the famed Psalm 119:105 is not a general comment about Scripture’s illumination.  In my study, I have a set of lamp reproductions based on finds from various archaeological digs.  All these lamps would fit in the palm of a normal human hand.  The single wick gave off scant light; perhaps enough to see the next step or two on a moonless night.  Sitting on a lamp stand, the candle-like quality could function as a nightlight for us, at best.  In contrast, our 21st century mindset thinks “lamp” equals a halogen headlight, casting a beam hundreds of feet into the murky darkness.  The Psalmist celebrates no such thing.  All we have is a lamp which gives enough light for us to know the next step we take.

Our life’s walk is based on Scriptural trust in things we cannot see. (Hebrews 11:1-16.) If we are serious about walking down the path set by God, we must have no illusions about understanding why our present circumstances may be so hard.  This section of the Psalm (119) concludes with the writer saying he will follow God’s Word “to the end.”  Until our mission on earth is complete, we continue walking with the light of Scripture that tells us only what we need to know.  In theological terms “the perseverance of the saints” teaches in part that we bear the responsibility of obedience without expectation of certain outcomes.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is a Burmese activist who protested her government’s treatment of its people.  While marching with some of her supporters one day, soldiers blocked their path, leveling automatic weapons at the group.  Suu Kyi kept walking, despite orders to stop.  John Boorman made the woman’s suffrage a focal point of his 1995 film Beyond Rangoon.  The famed Irish rock band U2 created a title commemorating Suu Kyi’s simple action: “Walk On.”  No phrase better represents Robinson’s, Cowper’s, Suu Kyi’s or my passage on earth in the midst of suffering than that we walk on.

Image: Photo by Chasqui

A principal’s joy

As a Christian school principal what is the most valuable thing for me to do in my day? I believe that principals have one of the toughest jobs going, balancing many needs, wearing many hats, and if really effective, doing the tough things of leadership as opposed to avoiding conflict and just reacting to daily fires. Given the fact that there are limited hours in the day, what is the most effective way for principals to allocate their time? This was a question I pondered each day of my eleven years as a building principal and over my 28 years in education.

I will admit that I have changed my mind on the answer to this question over the course of my career. One certainly could argue that the answer might be dealing with students, keeping parents or boards happy, raising money, or doing teacher observations. Yet, I believe that if I had to sum it up I would say it this way: The best use of time and the greatest joy of a Christian school principal is . . .

Encouraging the encouragers to nurture faith in students.

In a Christian school it is all about nurturing faith – it is why a Christian school exists.  If the education delivered in a Christian school is not challenging students to see God in all things then it may as well close its doors and give up on its mission.

How is faith nurtured in students? A principal must encourage his/her teachers to pay close attention to, and assist them in, three areas:

Curriculum – how am I helping my students see God through the study of this subject? How do we see brokenness and redemption in this discipline? What is God’s intention for this aspect of his created order? How might we be a part of his plan to restore it?

Classroom – how am I modeling faith and how do my pedagogical practices encourage faith in students?

Community – is my classroom modeling Christ’s law of loving God and loving neighbors? How am I contributing to the professional community in my school? How is our school impacting our community?

The job of the principal is to be the chief carrier of the mission and vision of the school, and if he/she focuses on the three areas listed above they will be on the path to greater distinctiveness in meeting the mission and vision of their Christian school.

Now to unpack the first part of that statement “encouraging the encouragers.” The primary task of the principal is to encourage the teachers who are encouraging the students in faith encouraging learning.  Teaching is a complex endeavor, one that leads to much second-guessing on the part of conscientious and sensitive teachers – likely those on your staff who are doing the best jobs already with kids. The more complex the work, the more room there is for discouragement by the teacher and the more need there is for encouragement by the principal. The effects of encouragement have been well documented in business literature by authors such as DePree and Welch. Goleman in his book, Working with Emotional Intelligence, reminds us through his citation of multiple studies that the leaders who are most effective are those who are warm, encouraging, and genuinely care for their followers.  Management consultant Kevin Cashman suggests a ratio of 5 “praises” to 1 “criticism ” in our interactions with those we supervise. Throughout Jesus’ ministry, his words of grace allowed others to be liberated to try again and created the ultimate environments of grace in which people could flourish. It is the Christian school principal’s special joy to be an agent of encouragement to those who encourage and nurture faith in students.

Show your students what using a Biblical perspective looks like

(Thanks to Michael Essenburg, Christian Academy in Japan, for sharing this post.)

It’s the end of your English class, and you assign a 750-word essay in which your students are to evaluate a theme from Hamlet from a Biblical perspective.

Then the bell rings. One of your students, Ian, approaches you and says, “I don’t know what it looks like. I know what telling others about Jesus looks like—we read missionary biographies at school and I go on mission trips with my church. What does doing a good job on using a Biblical perspective look like in an essay?”

Question: How can you help Ian? (How can you help Ian understand what using a Biblical perspective in an essay looks like?)

Answer: Kim Essenburg, English 10 teacher at Christian Academy in Japan, responds:

I want my students to connect the Bible and what they study in English 10. As a starting point, I have to get my students to see that this is possible. I have to get my students to see that the Bible can be applied, for example, to the literature and grammar that they study.

Two strategies I use are:
1.    Having my students read and discuss an article that evaluates the subject from a Biblical perspective. When my students read Elie Wiesel’s Night, a Holocaust memoir, I have them also read “Justice in an Unjust World” by Gary Haugen.
2.    Showing my students sample essays in which students apply a Biblical perspective, for example:

There are many ways to define the word “peace”, but the Biblical concept of peace or shalom has a round meaning, relating all beings in the universe and outside the cosmos. Genesis 1 describes the perfect creation God had made in the beginning as He said, “It was very good” (New International Version). However, as man marred his image of God through sin, the relationship between God and man, God and creation, man and creation was broken. Fear and sorrow entered the universe, and every human being needed to go through such pain in the world. Henceforth, humans needed to pray for redemption and the restoration of the intimate association with God, so that this may someday lead to the restoration of creation. Romans 8:21 expresses the hope for this restoration when “creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.” This is a place where all living creatures and humans live in harmony without pain and suffering, which is referred to as the New Jerusalem mentioned in Revelation 21. This concept of Biblical shalom in elucidated by Alan Paton’s book Cry, The Beloved Country as the “ideal justice.” Beginning with Stephen Kumalo, one finds the broken relationship between God and man and creation in the tribe, and through much adversity and sorrow, Kumalo attempts to build shalom by restoring the broken relationships.

Show your students what using a Biblical perspective looks like. Today.

By any measure – unattractive (A Christmas poem)

Emptying self?
Forsaking family?
Losing our life to gain it?
Why do you ask such hard things, Lord?

How do we figure out needs and wants in a Wal-Mart world?
What sort of foolishness is loving enemies and forgiving 70 times 7?
How do we market teaching this in our schools?

How can we see what you want us to see?
Both delighting in ecstasy and bearing brokenness as you modeled for us,
We are simultaneously overloaded and underfed,
Trading the moments of our days for time on screens,
Avoiding the times of loneliness, searching and longing,
Opting instead for hours of mind-numbing activity.

Are we ready to give up our control in a glutted and indulgent society?
Are we lamenting the brokenness we see?
Are we hungry for you, Lord?

Your “good news” asks too much,
It is not attractive or popular,
It makes us a peculiar people, definitely “not cool”
“Be not afraid” you have told us again and again,
Yet as much as we run into dead ends of our own making,
We are reluctant to give up much of our imaginary control of our lives,
Teach us Lord to “cry from the heart and laugh from the belly”* with our world.

We are truly awed at your incarnation – your birth was most unattractive,
Creator of all encapsulated in an uninitiated virgin delivering a bloody birth in a barn.
You have turned our world upside down,
Give us hearts and minds to truly see you,
To reflect on your beauty,
To live and teach your unattractive ways.

You are “the good news to all who would believe. . .”
The foolishness that must be gained by all who would truly live.

*Phrase borrowed from Richard Rohr in Everything Belongs.

Graphic created via Wordle.

Truth, grace, and teenagers

(Post contributed by Nathan Siebenga, Vice Principal of Student Life at Hamilton District High School, Hamilton, Ontario – thanks Nathan for sharing!)

Three grade 10 boys leave campus property to go and get some treats at the “Hasty Market”. Running a little late on their way back to school, they come across two garbage bags of leaves. One boy thinks nothing of the bags as he is more worried about the trouble for being late. Another wonders where the leaves came from originally. The last boy has an idea. “Hey, let’s take these to school and fill the downstairs bathroom with them!”

“Huh?” says the one boy. “What … ah, okay, whatever?” says the other.

Now motivated and marching faster, the boys take the bags of leaves back to school. Being late for the first afternoon class meant there were very few people in the hallway, so they slipped in the side door avoiding the main-office. Once in the bathroom, they emptied the bags everywhere leaving it with a different smell. With hearts pounding, the boys got rid of the garbage bags above the ceiling tiles and prepared their get away. They peer down both hallways to see that the coast is clear and then proceed to step out into the hall. They enter the main office with their veins coursing with adrenaline. Trying to keep straight faces they ask for late slips. Warily the receptionist behind the counter asks, “What happened?” “We had to leave” one of the boys says, putting the other two into stitches. The receptionist hands out the 3 late slips and ponders the event by making a mental note.

Minutes later a distraught student comes into the office to share with reception that there are leaves all over the bathroom. “Did you hear that, Mr. VanPrincin?” the receptionist calls to the Vice Principal of Students, who was already eagerly standing with nobility in the doorway of his office. After some inquiry by the vice principal the receptionist shares the earlier interaction with the three lads who “had to leave” and their response to this. Mr. VanPrinicin assures the receptionist and the distraught young lad that he will take care of it from here.

Later that day, Mr. VanPrincin calls down the three boys to his office and we all know what happens next. Or do we?

In this time of advent we often read the Christmas story. The Gospel of John articulates how Christ is the Word and how the Word became flesh and he was full of Grace and Truth. Restorative Justice* is a philosophical approach to discipline that is a shift from traditional punitive responses to misdemeanors and discipline cases. In a world that is pushing towards “zero tolerance” for any misconduct at school, restorative justice suggests a shift in this thinking. The shift of restorative justice does not exclude individuals, but rather includes, and surrounds, the involved parties with their community in a process that looks at the harm that was caused. Its focus is on the needs of the victim and the offender as a way of making the community right again.

This philosophical shift for discipline in schools is right. It is not easy and there are obstacles, but it is right. It is right because at the heart of restorative practices is the pursuit of Truth while offering Grace.

*For more information on the Restorative Justice approach see this article or head to this website.

Needs versus wants

I sincerely hope that one of the good things that we can learn from our recent economic distress is a recommitment to stewardship and charity. There are an increasing number of articles that deal with doing more with less (and gasp!), even self-denial. Self-denial sounds heretical in the Wall Street Journal of all places, doesn’t it?  I remain convinced that one of the very best “essential questions” we can plant in our students’ minds for their lifetime is: What is the difference between needs and wants?

One of the joys of Thanksgiving and Christmas is the opportunity for reflection and thoughtful gift giving. I recently was struck by the contrasts presented in two different articles on giving. In a preview blurb about Christian Smith’s new book, Passing the Plate, I read these words: “Far from the 10 percent of one’s income that tithing requires, American Christians’ financial giving typically amounts, by some measures, to less than one percent of annual earnings. And a startling one out of five self-identified Christians gives nothing at all.”

On the other hand I heard myself saying “Oh, cool” when I opened the newspaper (Grand Rapids Press, 12.3.08) to an article about Manny Pacquaio, a boxer and leading light heavyweight contender from the Phillipines, who gives away his prize winnings by distributing food and cash all hours of the day and night outside of his home. After growing up in poverty, Pacquaio, a devout Catholic, states: “The best thing in life is what you can do for other people in this world” and goes on to say: “What I want to teach them is how to pray, to believe in God, to be with God.”

What a privilege to be in jobs where we can teach children the true difference between needs and wants, and train their hearts and minds to respond to a world in need!

The big tube to nowhere

The latest news from this past year involving our great North American pastime:

• Wondering how many more times we need to be reminded about the switch from analog to digital before February? One would think that something really important, such as Jesus’ return was happening, as often as we have been reminded! The latest in awareness building techniques: scrolling “Important Announcement” banners at the bottom of the TV screen with this earth-shaking reminder.
• Gotta’ have it all the time and in all places: free public restrooms operated by the Charmin toilet paper company in Times Square during the upcoming Christmas season will have flat screen TV’s. Charmin promises “tourists will feel like kings before making their royal flushes.” (Associated Press, GR Press, 11.28.08)
• Unhappy people watch more TV – up to an extra 5.6 hours per week compared to happier people, who spend more time socializing, reading, and participating in religious activities, according to a study of 40,000 people aged 18 to 64. Lead study author and sociologist John Robinson from the University of Maryland states: “It could be that watching television makes you unhappy, but there is also the question of whether people who are unhappy turn to television as a way to ward off their unhappiness.” (Donna St. George, Washington Post as quoted in G.R. Press, 11.28.08)
• Children who watched more than 3 hours of television per day between ages 5 and 11 had more attention problems as teenagers, as noted by a long-term study of over 1,000 children in New Zealand and published in Pediatrics journal. (Washington Post, as cited in Grand Rapids Press, 11.13.07)
• Boys’ (ages 8-18) use of time – 6.5 hours per day with media; therefore boys spend about 45.5 hours a week total – more than a full time job! (Boys Should be Boys by Meg Meeker, M.D.)
• Alarming statistic that likely hasn’t improved: the top TV show choice among kids 9-12 in 2005 was . . . Desperate Housewives -  “a “satire” in which suicide is glorified and slutty married women commit adultery with their gardeners . . . (this show) continues to be one of the current top rated shows that make a complete mockery of the sanctity of marriage.” (As quoted from: www.nykola.com)
• A three-year Rand Corporation study is the first of its kind to link sexy TV shows and teen pregnancy.
• Media use may impact sleep quantity and quality of  children – see this link.
• Our addiction to media consumption: 9.5 hours a day: TV – 3 hours, Internet – 90 minutes, radio – 30 minutes, radio – 2.5 hours, recorded music – 85 minutes, magazines – 15 minutes, reading a book – 3 minutes. (Why We Hate Us by Dick Meyer.) Obviously the book reading figure is disconcerting. To quote Mark Twain on book reading: “The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them.”
• An encouraging sign: parents are setting greater restrictions on TV watching and reading more to kids than in 1994, according to the 2004 U.S. census. For 3-5 year olds, 68% had TV watching rules, 71% of 6-11 year olds, and 47% of 12-17 year olds. (Grand Rapids Press, 11.1.07) Of course one could argue that the content of TV has also deteriorated in ten years, thus making it an easier choice. Also one could wonder why 100% of kids don’t have TV watching rules, especially at the younger ages.
• In a study released December 2, 2008 by the National Institutes of Health and Yale University, researchers found that 80% of all studies done on media since 1980 show a negative connection between health and media use. Reviewed were studies that measured media effects on obesity, tobacco, drug and alcohol use, sexual behavior, low academic achievement and ADHD.

How much more evidence do we need before we start changing our habits? There is increasing evidence that kids want to spend more time with parents, but some parents seem intent on making other choices. Do we lack the will, the spiritual discipline to limit TV? Is TV consuming our souls and contributing to sucking the life out of us?

(Feel free to copy all or part of this post to send on to parents in a newsletter – just please acknowledge the source.)