Thoughts from Harold Klassen and associates. http://www.transformingteachers.org Fri, 18 May 2012 04:21:11 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.2 http://www.transformingteachers.org/images/M_images/joomla_rss.png http://www.transformingteachers.org Thoughts from Harold Klassen and associates. http://www.transformingteachers.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=325&Itemid=9 Christian Overman's blog (http://www.biblicalworldviewmatters.blogspot.com/) (June 6, 2011) contains a very interesting video about the value of physical work. Did you know that the Hebrew word for work and worship are the same—avodah? Fri, 03 Jun 2011 09:42:49 +0100 http://www.transformingteachers.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=198&Itemid=9 If the stuff we do in the classroom isn't changed by Christ, we can hardly call what we are doing Christian education. Godly role-modelling, God-honoring excellence, and God-worshipping chapel services are vitally important, but if the educational core is not transformed by Christ, we will confirm the impression that He is an optional extra in life—an attractive option, but not essential. Real life, the things that are important, like instruction, methodology, evaluation, and curriculum don't need Him. It's easy to give the impression that leaving Him out of 90% of the school day is OK, as long as He gets a few moments honorable mention in morning devotions. Christian education is the process of preparing a person for life in which all elements—purpose, teacher, student, content, methodology, philosophy, objectives, assessment, environment, etc.—are related to Christ and are being transformed by Him. Anywhere He is being revealed as the Creator, Sustainer, Redeemer, and Ruler of His world through the life of His children and through His Word, ministry is being done. Some situations may allow the the instruction to be more overt, but any classroom where a teacher is intentional about representing and revealing Christ by exploring the what has been made so that God's invisible qualities—His eternal power and divine nature are clearly seen (Romans 1:20)—is serving Christ and others. Thu, 02 Jun 2011 19:00:00 +0100 http://www.transformingteachers.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=320&Itemid=9 The classroom of a Christian teacher is to be a place of ministry, not a door to ministry. God hasn't given us jobs to support ministry, but jobs to do ministry. Our work is not intended to be a distraction from the important stuff that we do in our leisure time. The time we spend with the Body of Christ in the place where the His church meets in our community is not the focus of His plan. That time is intended to prepare us for the work that we do with all the other people in all the other places in the normal world. Sometimes it seems that we spend all our time studying the statistics of our Sunday practices while ignoring the results of the week-long games. Mon, 16 May 2011 17:50:16 +0100 http://www.transformingteachers.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=303&Itemid=9 By Harold Klassen Christian education means different things to different people. Perceptions of what it could and should be, have been shaped by the practice and pronouncements of a great variety of people who have identified themselves with Christ, i.e. Christians. Instead of trying to deal with the legacy of millennia, considering what Christ-in education should look like, may move the discussion from the past, or even the present, to the future. Fri, 24 Sep 2010 09:38:17 +0100 http://www.transformingteachers.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=280&Itemid=9 By Paul Stevens at Regent College I found this video very helpful in expressing the importance of seeing every kind of work as ministry. It was featured in the newsletter from Christian Overman, Worldview Matters, December 11, 2009 Mon, 14 Dec 2009 07:10:37 +0100 http://www.transformingteachers.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=276&Itemid=9 A poem by Brian Wakeman Wed, 14 Oct 2009 16:49:09 +0100 http://www.transformingteachers.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=275&Itemid=9 By Brian Wakeman A response to Richard Dawkins, River Out Of Eden: A Darwinian View Of Life Wed, 14 Oct 2009 16:38:09 +0100 http://www.transformingteachers.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=256&Itemid=9 Do Christian schools make students more religious? (http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2009/februaryweb-only/106-31.0.html?start=1) is a report by Tobin Grant in Christianity Today (http://www.christianitytoday.com/) about a study of students in US Christian schools. The conclusions are thought-provoking, but they may have measured the wrong thing. Fri, 13 Feb 2009 06:22:29 +0100 http://www.transformingteachers.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=231&Itemid=9 I was challenged by some questions posed in an article published in the December 2008 edition of eg by The London Institute for Contemporary Christianity (http://www.licc.org.uk/). In the aftermath of the credit crunch, Mark Greene wonders what lessons we will have to learn about transforming our society and the organisations we engage with. Mon, 26 Jan 2009 05:47:56 +0100 http://www.transformingteachers.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=221&Itemid=9 In Missional vs. Evangelical (http://www.battlefortruth.org/ArticlesDetail.asp?id=243 rr=1), S. Michael Craven (http://www.battlefortruth.org/) asked, What does it mean to be “missional”? Missional means: to participate in the mission of Jesus in the world, to incarnate in the experiences of our lives and our communities the good news of God’s love for the world. Mon, 17 Nov 2008 08:51:46 +0100