Teaching Tuesday: Teaching in Religious Schools

Teaching religion in public schools requires equity and careful considerations, however teaching the Christian religion and sharing your faith, is a pillar of teaching in Christian schools. A wise mentor at GCU, back in the 1980s, said that God makes teachers. There are many Christians who feel called to serve the Lord in public and charter schools who are making a great impact on the lives of their students and colleagues alike. Many other teachers are called to serve in Christian schools. If you feel drawn to share your faith to students in the classroom setting, the three components below may help guide your consideration for teaching in a religious school.

Model Relationships

The aim of Christian education is for teachers to model and encourage right relationships with God and others. They help students to know God by growing in their faith together. As a class you would explore ways to participate in God’s kingdom through academic instruction. Christian educators point their students toward an understanding that God is at the center of every area of study and is the Creator of all knowledge and truth.

Teach in Alignment With the Bible

In this pursuit, Christian educators must develop lessons that are aligned with biblical concepts. Although biblical integration in the curriculum is an important distinctive of Christian education, it should also be distinguished by love, trust and discipleship. As a Christian educator you would help awaken their eyes and hearts to the beauty around them in a world plentiful with God’s blessings and promoting living in His service.

Live Your Discipleship

Rigorous discipleship includes spending time with God, through prayer, song, nature and reading the Bible. It requires you to take efforts to follow the ways of God and ask for forgiveness when we stray. We must not give up in our efforts, because we believe we will be strengthened as we walk in faith. Anyone who feels called to discipleship and teaching as a Christian educator should do so prayerfully. They must fully equip by studying God’s Word on a regular basis.

Although “good teaching is good teaching” whether in a public, charter or Christian school, the responsibility for the discipleship of students placed upon a teacher in Christian education can prove daunting. Christian educators fulfill a special role teaching academic areas, as well as guiding classroom students in their faith journeys. If you feel you may be called to a position teaching in a Christian or other religious school think deeply and pray faithfully, as you begin this pathway.

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