Is your school asking students about their faith journey on an individual basis? What is the role of the school in this regard? While most educators would rightly point to parents and church to be also significantly involved in this question, is it not also something we should be concerned about at Christian schools?
By personal faith commitment questions I am not simply suggesting the “Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior?” question, but also the “Have you determined to make Jesus Christ the Lord of your life?” Is it acceptable that quite possibly in 13 years of an educational experience we may never address either of these questions eyeball to eyeball with individual students? Where and when should this happen?
As a parent I deeply appreciated teachers who addressed this question with my children and who took time at a conference to discuss spiritual as well as academic issues. Is your school making this a priority?
*(For an explanation and definition of Faith Enhancing Practices see my post of February 3, 2007 entitled “What’s the difference between teachers?”) If you are interested in seeing all 12 Faith Enhancing Practices modules at once, you can go to the Member Community Center and access them there.
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October 23, 2007 at 1:15 pm
Stephen
The answer to your question is not simple since you are really asking what’s the schools job. What happens in a Christian school is dependent on the mission and vision of the school: What role does the school see itself fullfilling in the nurturing of God’s children? Some schools have more of a mission component while others are actually more determined on outreach to a broad community. Still others choose to make education be mostly concerned with mastering academic content.
Schools don’t exist in a vacumm in a child’s life. Church, family and other social constructs also shape a child’s life. I personally contend that my obligation is to create a God-honouring climate and community in my classroom in which the mighty acts of God are revealed for study, in which the character of God is examined, and the will of the Lord is sought. The tender job of nuturing a commitment to Lord is the (primarily) the task of the chrisitan school, but rather of the church and family.
But all of this is a match to where I happen to teach in my own community. These defined areas of “sphere sovereignty” are not the same in every place where children attend a Christian school. Mission-based Christian education and Covenant-based education have overlap, but are distinct from one another.
So, while I welcome, encourage, even prod my students daily to seek the Lord – I don’t think of that as my primary task.
Stephen