Aug 26, 2019 | TEC Connects
Biblical Christian learning Communities are to have three perspectives.
Upward: Communities are sustained by their reason for existence. Biblical Christian learning communities must recognise that they are called into being by the Triune God for the purpose of bringing glory to the Father through the Son by the power of the Spirit.
If that seems too theologically “lofty” for us; then we need to read Paul’s letter to the Colossians until the truths contained there permeate every cell of our beings, every thought and every action. Nothing is more important than this.
Inward: Communities care for one another. Biblical Christian communities search for the Shalom to be found in a communal relationship with God. They care for one another because at the centre of the community is “The Father of all compassion” [1]
There is a clear recognition that Christ brings harmony to His people. There is a clear future hope that His people will know the wonder of Shalom community. So, we yearn for it now.
The community is also united by its sadness and grief when that shalom is missing from its daily life. So, community is not just having a positive attitude, but living with the tension of future promise and present brokenness.
Biblical Christian communities encourage one another on this journey of hope.
Outward: Biblical Christian learning communities do not simply exist for their own benefit.
“. . . a Christian education is for others—the common good of the communities in which we and our students live and serve.”
[2]
“Christ-centred schools equip students to be the kind of people who run toward trouble—to see the hurts of the world and try to heal, to see chaos and try to bring order, to see violence and try to bring peace.” [3]
We are to see clearly that we are developing young people to be actively engaged in the world in redemptive ways.
[1] 2 Corinthians 1:3
[2] ACSI statement
[3] Leah Zuidema Dordt College
Aug 22, 2019 | TEC Connects
I recently heard a message from one of our staff at our School Leadership Retreat and with permission I am sharing this message called Wellbeing – Planted in the Garden of God.
The Bible is full of metaphors about God. The Bible uses metaphors to explain spiritual realities. One of those metaphors speaks of God being the ‘Grand Gardener’ and that our wellbeing is directly linked to being in relationship with God.
It is this metaphorical idea that we take up as we look at 1 Peter 1:3-5 and 23 where God is speaking about our original seed that became corrupt by sin and the imperishable seed that comes from our new birth in Jesus. God replants us into His garden of redemption through a seed that will not perish, spoil or fade. His desire to restore his original creative plan is worked into us through this imperishable seed and directly impacts our wellbeing.
But let’s stop for a moment to reflect on what a delightful experience it is to walk into a magnificent garden. It is enchanting and enticing. It invites us in and we get lost in the wonder and magic of a garden in full bloom. There is both diversity and unity in a garden, richness of colouration and variety, flourishing and blossoming the way the gardener planned. And of course, there is always the gardener who has a vision and plan for the garden: to plant seeds, cultivate and facilitate the growth of the garden to full bloom. It is a gift.
My friend is an avid gardener. He has a magnificent garden and is also a super grower of African violets. As I look at his garden I am reminded of the nature of God where the Bible speaks metaphorically of God being our ultimate, grand gardener.
In Genesis 1, God magnificently created Eden. We see all the potential that God invested into the garden of Eden including the creation of humanity in His image as He planted them into their creational home. We see the purpose of humanity (to know God and relate to each other) and the role of humanity (to have dominion, cultivate and develop the earth). In original creation, wellbeing was an assumed state. Wellbeing in this context was ultimate. Our humanity was complete. Humanity flourished the way God intended.
Yet as every good gardener knows, there are principles that govern how the garden is to be maintained and grown. When this is violated, the garden will not grow and flourish. In Genesis 1, we see that the garden was spoiled by humanity’s choice to live independent of God, the grand gardener. After being perfectly planted in relationship with God in the perfect garden and home, the whole of humanity was uprooted and the garden of God was tainted. The image bearers became shattered image bearers and the state of true wellbeing was disrupted. Wellbeing at every level was dislocated and shattered. Relationship with God, each other, self and creation was fractured. Wellbeing was incomplete. Humanity violated the principles that governed their relationship with the grand gardener. As implied in 1 Peter 1, this seed was perishable.
If we track forward with God’s redemptive plan outworked with Israel, we see another metaphor of God the grand gardener in Isaiah 5. God has laboured with Israel, his prize “vine” but it produced no fruit. Once again, the garden is uprooted but not abandoned. God’s salvation plan to rescue and redeem remained firm.
Then of course we see the masterful redemptive plan of God take shape and culminate in Jesus. I recently read a quote by Blaise Pascal, “man was lost and found in a garden”. It is significant to understand that humanity was created in a garden, lost in a garden and then of course found. But this time the garden was a place of agony and sacrifice; the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus became the ultimate restorer of life and made it possible for humanity to be reconciled to God.
As Peter tells us, through Jesus and the hearing of the Word, we are born with an imperishable seed. This is a seed that will never fade or breathe its last.
So, let us draw some conclusions about the hope of our imperishable seed in relationship to the grand gardener; wellbeing – planted in the garden of God.
- God the Gardener never abandon the garden bed of humanity. Rather He sets about restoring the garden. We see this pattern running through Scripture where God is described metaphorically as the ultimate, grand Gardener who sets in motion a redemptive plan of restoration – for our wellbeing. We can be replanted or reborn with His imperishable seed.
- The intention of God, the grand gardener has not changed. Everything God intended for humanity in original creation remains unchanged. He has given us His imperishable seed which means we become restored image bearers and we function according to his original design purposes – our wellbeing can be restored.
- Every seed of humanity created by God contains value, worth, dignity and potential. When a gardener plants a seed into a garden there is an awareness that each seed has potential and will yield produce when the conditions are right. When God replants us into relationship with himself with an imperishable seed, He can bring about our growth, flourishing and wellbeing. We are not devalued or defined by the reductionist views of the philosophical age. We are defined by the redemptive hand of God, the grand gardener.
- When God created humanity, isolation was never his plan. God, the ultimate, grand gardener, plants us TOGETHER into the garden bed of His kingdom community. He cultivates us, tends us, provides our nutrients, waters our souls, labours for our good and as we bloom, he celebrates over us as our wellbeing is restored.
I mentioned my friend who was a super grower of African violets.
He conducted an experiment. He took some of the plantlets from the seeds he had sewn and placed them in isolation of the other group of violet plantlets that were together. The violets that were in isolation grew, but they were stunted and did not reach their full potential. The ones that were part of a “garden bed” of violets, thrived. African violets draw moisture from the roots and expiate. They thrive on humidity. The plants in community benefited from the communal humidity vs plants in isolation with limited humidity. God’s plan for community is the same. Together we flourish.
- Plant life produces flowers and fruit. As we are planted into the kingdom garden of God with an imperishable seed, fruit is the result; the Fruit of the Spirit. This fruit will be the defining expression of our lives and our community. It identifies the garden and attracts people to the fruit.
In summary, although our wellbeing as God originally designed for us was dislocated or distorted by sin, God, the ultimate, grand gardener of our souls did not abandon the garden bed. Rather he set about restoring the kingdom garden bed and plants us with an imperishable seed so that we may flourish. This gives us ultimate hope, meaning and fulfilment that our wellbeing can be restored as we live in relationship with the Grand Gardener.
Aug 20, 2019 | Teachers Talking
In our culture, education is often seen as a means to gain mastery and control and independence that will enable students to maximise their own personal opportunities. However, to embrace a way of teaching, learning and knowing that is shaped by a true understanding of love, is the way of Jesus.
The Bible teaches us that God is relational-Father, Son and Holy Spirit- with love defining His nature. As God’s image bearers, we learn about our personhood and purpose through our loving relationship with God and with others. To love is to know.
Wandel wrote about how the Reformers, such as Augustine, understood self and others – “…sin consisted in valuing oneself above others. … it was to conceive of God in terms of one’s own experience…. it was to measure others in reference to oneself, to enter social relations out of self-interest…. The worship of God was the movement of the soul, from self-love, self-orientation, to God and outward to others, honouring them, according humanity equal value to oneself, and according God greater value than oneself.” God’s people are to embody the stories, practices and patterns of life that resonate with this reality.
How does the love of God and neighbour shape our teaching and learning practice? How does it orientate our students’ minds and hearts to their Creator and His purposes?
David Watson in his book “On Christian Teaching” uses the illustration of language teaching. Much of the images and content in the textbooks are around international tourism, staying in good hotels, eating in nice restaurants and understanding their hobbies, clothing and customs. Here the practice of the language classroom was offering students an understanding of language learning as a means of social mobility and economic utility. It is about the consumer-self. In the study of a language, there is not a rich narrative context to depict the world of the people whose language they are learning. “…they do not pray, suffer, die, celebrate, face difficult moral choices, lament …… tell meaningful stories, work at relationships.”
What if the teaching of Language was a counter-action of self-love, honouring others and treating them with dignity? What if our pedagogy in language learning could assist to breakdown cultural barriers and help our students to understand the rich stories that have shaped that culture? How might our students communicate in the language to understand these people more deeply?
For reflection:
- 1. Consider a subject you teach. How can you use resources and activities that lead students to love God and others?
- 2. In what ways does the learning lead to students serving others sacrificially?
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom
and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.
Proverbs 9:10
Grace and Peace
The Team
The Excellence Centre
Aug 20, 2019 | Care Conversations
Formation of beliefs, faith, knowledge, dispositions, thinking, actions, language and behaviour takes place in community.
God’s plan is for our formation to begin as part of a family and then various different communities and ultimately know our place in the Body of Christ.
It is clear throughout the Scriptures that the design is for growth, development, identity, purpose and formation to occur in communities. It is the Holy Spirit who will transform young people into the image of Christ.
In our families, and then in other communities, we receive instruction – but, more than that we learn by how that community lives out life on a daily and moment by moment basis. Children in families learn more from the observation of their parents’ actions than they do from direct instruction. How do we express affection, how do we discipline in love, how do we talk about the neighbours, how do we contribute to our local community, how do we spend the family income?
This then becomes the basis of growth, development and formation in a Biblical Christian School. Why does this community exist and what guides its thinking and actions? This is why all of the teachers and staff, no matter whether they have direct contact with students on a daily basis or not, must share a faith in Christ and an understanding of the community’s purpose.
The curriculum content, pedagogical practices, programs will all have influence; but knowing why the community exists and how the community lives will have the most significant influence.
“Education isn’t just about the dissemination of information; it is more fundamentally an exercise in the formation of the whole child.” [1]
[1] James Smith “educating the Imagination”
Aug 14, 2019 | Care Conversations
Throughout history, people have been drawn to community. In my formative years, hippie communes were popular (not that I joined!).
Two things tend to bring communities together is a love for something, and/or a common opposition to something.
Many communities search for freedom and are opposed to any form of external restriction. Strangely, often these communities result in more oppression; and the worst end up as cultish.
Christian community is focussed on the person of Jesus, which results in a love for people as image bearers of God.
Sadly, everything that we value can become an idol. Dietrich Bonhoeffer says:
“The person who loves their dream of community will destroy community, but the person who loves those around them will create community.”
[1]
This idolising of community, as a concept, will easily occur unless we realise that community is God’s intention, God’s initiative and it will be sustained by Him. Knowing this as our basis we will work out ways to live together in community, glorifying God and serving one another.
“We do not create community. God has created and redeemed us in community . . . The school is one of the ways in which we are called to express our communal relationship . . . it is important that we develop in the school, a sense of community, a sense of belonging together, needing one another, serving one another.”
[2]
[1] Dietrich Bonhoeffer “Life Together”
[2] Stuart Fowler – Schools are for Learning
