A HAMILTON DISTRICT CHRISTIAN HIGH PUBLICATION
SPRING 2024
Vol. 17 Issue 2
What does teaching Christianly look like?
James Harskamp, HDCH Science teacher
What does it mean when we say we are Christian teachers? Is Christian merely an adjective, or is Christian teaching cohesively a verb in itself? Teaching Christianly is not primarily equipping churched children to have the right knowledge and skills, but is teaching from the viewpoint that these students are image bearers of God; eternal souls loved by God. Just as it would be considered negligence for a parent to feed a child candy and pizza as their whole diet, so too, it would be negligent to offer a curriculum that does not feed the whole person–mind, body, and soul. This task relies on the personal faith of the teacher to serve as the guide, the aligning of curriculum to show Christ as the author and sustainer of life, and the community of believers upholding the students. Agricultural metaphors pertaining to the Christian life are plentiful in the Scriptures. The image of the tree planted by streams of water in Psalm 1 illustrates the need for a constant sustaining source, which the psalmist attributes to “delighting and meditating on God’s law day and night” (Psalm 1:2). If a Christian teacher is to be genuine in their goal of encouraging the growth of Christ-followers, our roots must go down to the living water, to Christ and His word, taking time to abide in Him and His love (John 15). As we pursue the beauty and holiness of God, we find who we truly are as children of God, as beloved by the Father. As renowned educator Parker Palmer puts in his book The Courage to Teach, “Good teaching cannot be reduced to technique; good teaching comes from the identity and integrity of the teacher.” A genuine desire to know and follow Christ personally that spills into our teaching organically will be what our students will remember, likely more than any project or assignment. C.S. Lewis, in his “Meditation in a Tool Shed,” paints a picture of an old shed where a beam of light shines through the crack in the wall. His observation of the motes of dust floating in the air allows him to see the beam – he is looking at the beam. But when he moves into the beam of light and looks along it, the tool shed disappears in the brilliance of the light, and he partially sees the trees sunbathed in the breeze outside, and even further away, the sun itself. HDCH Mission: Cultivating character through learning for lives of service to God.