School Education Offers A Thorough Examination of This Topic, Illuminating The Fact That The Bible

Amelia Jennings
Professor Van Spronsen

LBS 400
24 March 2017
Why, Who, How We Educate
In order to educate students well, it is important for Christian teachers to understand the
foundations on which Christian education stands. The ACSIs book, Foundations of Christian
School Education offers a thorough examination of this topic, illuminating the fact that the Bible
offers insight into the sources and nature of knowledge itself, the learning process and the
learner, and it equips teachers with principles regarding current issues and everyday instruction.
The Bible is clear in communicating that truth is from God and does exist. Educators and
students do not build new truth, but seek Gods unchanging truth to the best of their fallen human
abilities in the context of a world in which God has revealed himself generally and specially.
While the content of Gods truth is far more important than the method by which that truth is
sought, it is valuable to note that through a Biblical framework, both the sacred and secular
content can be understood and used for good. Because of the nature of the learners themselves,
knowledge is more than the mere content, though, rather it includes the process of discerning and
connecting ideas in the brain. In terms of Biblical wisdom, this discernment and meaning making
is part of the image of God in man which brings joy and brings the wise person in deeper
relationship with God. The purpose of any of this knowledge is to love and serve God and others
better.
To understand the nature of knowledge in a Christian worldview leads to an investigation
of the nature of the knowledge-seekers, the students and the process of learning itself. Already it
has been established that the learner has an active nature in education, that the role involves more
than just tuning in and picking up information, though the process of learning does include stages
of instruction. Students need to have direct instruction first, including modeling of what they
must know and be able to do, before getting practice with the intent of achieving mastery.
Students are created good, but are fallen and sinful, so a major part of Christian education deals
with the nature of the learner as a sheep in need of heart and action shepherding. They need their
hearts and minds to be shaped after Christ, even as they are unique in their temperament,
abilities, personality, and intelligences. One aspect of this uniqueness is how students receive and
store information. Howard Gardners theory of multiple intelligences reveals how the complex
human mind builds meaning and memories in a variety of different ways, and each student uses
all the different intelligences with preference for some more than others. In a major project of
guiding their actions, informing their minds, and discipling their hearts, teachers meet students as
the unique image-bearers they are, challenging them to own their education as well, since student
investment and motivation helps support the learning process and growth.
The task of understanding each individual student and how their learning and personality
fit in the grand scheme of how learning takes place is a large enough task as it is, but given the
global connectedness and other current issues of the 21st century, teachers also have to consider
a variety of other factors as they educate a class full of students. One such factor is the socio-
historical context of the learner. Culturally, any student has a different set of values and habits
which are stronger or more pronounced from other cultures, sometimes including the teachers
culture. This means that, to be sensitive to students framework of values and basis of pre-
knowledge or skills, the teacher must be aware of those things. Students also come to school
impoverished in many different ways -they may be traditionally financially poor, or they may be
poor with respect to emotional or social fulfillment, they may be spiritually poor because they do
not know the Lord or have a steady diet of his word, and they may even be poor in regard to
academic skills or knowledge. Even students with exceptional giftedness are impoverished in
that they do not always get the challenge they need. Whatever the poverty, students come with a
need to be understood and served, with a need to be challenged and encouraged to grow.
Teachers must consider those needs in order to best serve these students with empathy and the
right tools.
In practical terms, the outworking of these foundational aspects of Christian education is
unique for every classroom. Teachers need to listen to, understand, and meet the unique needs of
their students. Students need staged instruction that motivates them out of their inherent desire to
make meaning while giving them the tools they need to learn and grow confident in Gods
absolute truth. All aspects of how instruction takes place and how the classroom is managed must
demonstrate care and structure to direct the students hearts in obedience to and love for God.
The Bible calls all followers of Christ to greater discernment, to know and follow God more each
day. This call offers the promise that He can be known and followed with the reminder that it is a
process of growth and the force of a command. This call is the foundation of Christian education.

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Amelia Jennings

Professor Van Spronsen

Why, Who, How We Educate

To understand the nature of knowledge in a Christian worldview leads to an investigation

In practical terms, the outworking of these foundational aspects of Christian education is

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