HELPING STUDENTS DEVELOP A CHRIST-CENTERED WORLDVIEW

by Michael Essenburg

Ask questions about creation-fall-redemption-restoration.

Everyone has a worldview. Do you want your students to develop a Christ-centered worldview. Do you want your students to connect what they study and the Biblical motif of creation-fall-redemption-restoration. That is truly worthwhile and is what Christian schooling is all about.

Question: How can you do this?
Answer: By asking questions. Here are 4 key questions, each of them complete with other related questions:

(1) Creation: What is God’s purpose for this part of creation? (This river, this mountain, this forest, this ocean, this group of people, etc.)

* When God created this what might have been God’s intention?
* What was ___ like when God created it?
* What is true, good, or beautiful about this aspect of creation?
* What does ___ show you about God?
* How does ___ help you appreciate God?

(2) Fall: What has gone wrong? How can we see that this aspect of creation is broken as a result of sin?

* What is the impact of sin on ___?
* What is the impact of sin on my understanding of ___?
* What is false, wrong, or ugly?
* How is ___ misused?
* How is God misunderstood because of ___?

(3) Redemption: Because Jesus Christ came to redeem the world there is now a difference in every aspect of creation. We can now work to make this aspect of creation more closely in keeping with the way God intended for it to be. What difference does Jesus make in this area?

* What is the impact of Jesus’ life? death? resurrection?
* Why do we have hope about this aspect of creation?

(4) Restoration: What will you do?

* What does the Bible say?
* How can you join God in restoring ___?
* How can you use ___ to serve God and others?
* How can you show God’s truth using ___?
* How can you impact the world for Christ using ___?

For more information like this go to Michael Essenburg’s (Christian Academy in Japan) website: http://www.closethegapnow.org/

From a teacher in India

Dearest Gloria,

...You dont know how happy I was..infact, many many of us to see an African American take over the presidentship ..in such a Christian way.....indeed we are all praying for President Obama Barack ,may God guide him in taking every decision after seeking His blessings.

You know my school students say the Lords prayer everyday so the next day after the swearing in ..they very excitedly told me, "Madam...we knew the prayer thet the priest in the US was saying!"

I will wite in detail in a day or two with some snaps also ..I did receive the ENCOURAGEr by land post.

Take care and God bless you,

Esther.

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.

From Dan Beeren’s blog: http://nurturingfaith.wordpress.com/2009/01/16/a-principals-joy/

From the World Future Society

Nanotechnology — the manipulation of materials and machines at the nano-scale — one billionth of a meter — promises exciting new developments. Interviews with a group of nanotechnology experts yielded this list of likely developments:

Two to five years from now:

1. Car tires that need air only once a year.
2. Complete medical diagnostics on a single computer chip.
3. Go-anywhere concentrators that produce drinkable water from air.

Five to 10 years

4. Powerful computers you can wear or fold into your wallet.
5. Drugs that turn AIDS and cancer into manageable conditions.
6. Smart buildings that self-stabilize during earthquakes or bombings.

10 to 15 years

7. Artificial intelligence so sophisticated you can't tell if you're talking on the phone with a human or a machine.
8. Paint-on computer and entertainment video displays.
9. Elimination of invasive surgery, since bodies can be monitored and repaired almost totally from within.

A new poem by sierra shae gibbs

Canine Syndrome
January 8, 2009, 5:25 am


I nuzzle my face into my dog’s belly
Her fur is soft and soothes my bruised cheek
I wrap my arms around her head
Stoking her ears and massaging her temples
I think she enjoys it; she moans
And leans closer to me

I inhale, and her dog-scent sails through my chest
Smelling faintly of raindrops and dead leaves,
A woodsy perfume that bathes my lungs,
Releasing all of the day’s tensions
From my sore muscles; her warmth
Alleviates my aching heart.

I gaze at her marble eyes,
Clear as a starry summer night sky in the country.
Reality disappears for a moment
And all I see are two midnight globes staring back
They’re about the same color, too;
A dark violet-blue that makes me swoon

My dog pulls the knives out of my chest, one by one.
Gently so the blade doesn’t strike a vital organ
She can’t pull them all out; some I’m still holding onto
But that’s ok, she did what she could.
Then she licks my ripped up torso thoroughly,
Cleaning my wounds and scars

copyright 2009 sierra shae gibbs