Tag Archive for: Transformational Perspectives

Transformational Perspectives: Democratic Republic of the Congo, Africa

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This issue of OnPractice is taking a slightly different format than normal as we hear from one of our school leaders in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Heritier Fima will share with us his perspective on what Transformational Education looks like. A complete transcript (in English) can be found after the video.

I want to say a big hello to you. My name is Heritier Fima, and I am the administrator (Head) here at the Fateb Kinshasa Academy. We’re very happy to be partners with TeachBeyond who really has at their centre a vision to transform and use education as a means to transform children’s lives.

Kinshasa is a big city with a lot of people and a lot of schools. There are things that are particular to our school. Most schools in this area teach subjects like science, maths, and even Bible, but it’s hard to really find what makes that school different. And do we see a difference? So a lot of these schools really struggle with integrating their faith in the daily lessons in a very practical way–in how we prepare and what we teach. That is a struggle in most of the schools in our area here in Kinshasa.

This is what makes the Fateb Kinshasa Academy hopefully different from other schools. We believe that we can integrate God’s Word and God’s values, even at a very young age (3, 4,and 5 year olds) and that’s what makes a difference.

So [a] Christian worldview is really what we are talking about. We believe that it’s not only in the classrooms with these young children, but we also want to integrate it with our administration, the people working for our safety, [and with those] who cook and clean. So it’s at all different levels that Christian values and worldviews should be integrated in all things in the school. So if we don’t live that, and reflect these values, how are our children going to learn these things?

In French there is an expression (and I’m not sure if the translation is going to work), the beautiful woman gives the best that she has.

We see a change in children who came and did not know about or even think about asking for forgiveness if they hurt their little classmate, and now we see changes in those things where they are living their values as well. We are having children memorise by heart and carry God’s Word in their hearts. Parents are surprised and so pleasantly pleased, they even sometimes think, is this school or a church? because of the way that their children are taking home things from the Bible. There is a change in their lives, and that we emphasise that here.

DRCAnd a little bit of advice I can give other schools who are maybe trying to implant this Christian worldview in their schools. Let’s be patient with the children we are trying to develop. As we teach these things, it takes time for these things to really implant. Those seeds need to take root in their hearts and to see them grow. Sometimes change happens fast, and sometimes other things take a long time and it is a slow development. Be patient with those children so that we can see and have faith. Be patient, and pray for these children, that we see a change and transformation in their lives. We need to surround them, love them, and walk beside them as they walk towards a future where they will also make an impact on others around them.

This is what we wanted to say with the things that are happening here at the Fateb Kinshasa Academy.

Heritier Fima
Administrator, FATEB Kinshasa Academy
TeachBeyond DRC

Translation: Tamera Peters, School Start-up Consultant
Transcription: Chelsea VanBuskirk, School Services
Photo Credit: FATEB Kinshasa Academy

Inhabiting the Christian Story (by Raphael Haeuser)

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We teach who we are. As Christians, we should allow the Bible to shape our identity, relationships, priorities, etc. If scripture changes us, then the way we teach should also change. Therefore, we should “aspire to ‘incarnate’ the biblical vision, living it out in the day to day interactions of the classroom.”[1] A helpful way to do this is by inhabiting the Christian story because it is a natural vehicle to answer the basic worldview questions. Stories have a plot (answering ‘what’s wrong?’ and ‘what’s the remedy?’), characters (answering ‘who are we?), and setting (answering ‘where are we?’).[2]

 

4 chapter gospelThe biblical story can be divided into 4 acts: Creation, Fall, Redemption, & Consummation.[3] Right now we are living in an interlude between Acts 3 and 4. The kingdom has already been inaugurated, but has not yet been fully established. Our calling now is both: to proclaim the good news of redemption in Christ, and to live out our redeemed creational role, being channels of God’s blessing.

With this in mind, we can answer the worldview questions: (1) Who are we? We are image-bearers, having inherent value and creativity, but we are also sinners in need of repentance and redemption; (2) Where are we? We live in God’s good creation which should be looked after, and in a cultural world, reflecting our image-bearing and sinful capacities; (3) What’s wrong? We experience death and broken relationships at personal, social, spiritual and environmental levels because of our quest for autonomy; and (4) What’s the remedy? We need to turn to Christ to find healing, fulfillment and purpose, and teach and invite others to do the same.

32873536380_41be1f875dHowever, the gospel story is not the only story out there. Our students are exposed to a number of these competing narratives. For instance, consumerism is a story that has a religious appeal,[4] and advertising frequently mimics religious parables.[5] This story answers worldview questions like this: (1) Who are we? We are ‘empty buckets’ who need to work to buy things to fill it; (2) Where are we? We live in a natural world waiting to be exploited, and in a social world of disposable relationships; (3) What’s wrong? We experience emptiness because we are not benefiting from technological progress; and (4) What’s the remedy? We have to buy things to find fulfillment and happiness. As Christians, we must recognise the influence these other stories have on our students and develop a plan to address them.

How we do this raises at least two questions about our educational practices. First, we must ask ‘what story are we teaching?’ We must intentionally live out our vocation in the biblical story, which will give us a different approach to the learning-teaching process in two ways: (1) We will develop a virtuous Christian character and take it to the classroom, and by doing so awaken a similar desire in our students. Our lives provide an example of the maturation process; and (2) we will evaluate the educational techniques we use, as well as classroom dynamics we foster, to see whether they are coherent with the Christian story and worldview.

bookSecond, we must ask ‘what story are we teaching?’ To an outside observer, many of the specific things we do in the classroom might appear to be the same (2+2 is still 4), but a deeper examination will reveal connections to the bigger story. Maths can be used to make us more competitive or more generous, to help us take care of creation or exploit it.

As we press into our faith and bring it into our professional practices, are we helping our students grow as persons, or merely  becoming better consumers? The difference lies in the greater story that we inhabit and teach by.

Raphael Haeuser 

Teacher Education Services

TeachBeyond Brazil

[1] David I. Smith and John Shortt, The Bible and the Task of Teaching (Stapleford: Stapleford Centre, 2002), 38.

[2] J. Richard Middleton and Brian J. Walsh, Truth Is Stranger than It Used to Be : Biblical Faith in a Postmodern Age (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1995).

[3] For those interested in digging deeper into how the biblical story shapes us and/or education, I highly recommend: Harold Klassen, Visual Valet: Personal Assistant for Christian Thinkers and Teachers (Amazon, 2015); and Craig G. Bartholomew and Michael W. Goheen, The Drama of Scripture : Finding Our Place in the Biblical Story, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2014).

[4] James K. A. Smith, Desiring the Kingdom: Worship, Worldview, and Cultural Formation, Cultural Liturgies, v. 1 (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2009).

[5] Neil Postman, The End of Education: Redefining the Value of School (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1995).

Developing a Sticky Faith

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One of the books that has significantly influenced the way that I think about Christian education is Sticky Faith by Dr. Kara Powell and Dr. Chap Clark. The book is based on a longitudinal research project asking: why are so many young people—who would claim an active Christian faith position when they leave high school–unable to make the same claim five years later? “Most churches in America would give anything to develop a deep, growing faith in kids that ‘sticks’ and continues to mature long term. Yet…the reality is that almost half of their graduating seniors struggle deeply with their faith in college.”[1] The book explores a number of reasons for this catastrophic early adult drop out.

When I came across Sticky Faith I had been high school principal at a very international school in Asia for a number of years. We were wrestling with how to prepare our growing number of graduating students for the faith challenges that life after several years in a Christian mission school would bring. One key line from the book that struck me was: “…as eight years of research has shown, it is not doubt, or hard questions that are toxic to faith. It is silence.“[2]

This resonated with our experience, so we decided to fill the silence with some hard questions that allowed for, if not doubt, at least conversation. We did so in the belief that it would be better for our students to wrestle with these hard questions while still surrounded by their families and the faith community within our school.

As part of our biblical worldview agenda, we encouraged staff to add challenging questions to the learning outcomes already existing in our high school curriculum. Some examples are:

  • In English, we study The Crucible by Arthur Miller, so we added: “There are voices of fear in this book. Discuss what voices of fear, if any, are heard in your church.”
  • In Cambridge IGCSE Geography, learning outcomes exist around environmental safeguarding, so we asked: “Christians have differing views about global warming. Which of these differences are based on their Christian faith?”
  • In our IB Theory of Knowledge course we look at how we know the things we know. We introduced the question: “Some Christians think God has been creating the universe we see for 6000 years, others for 14.5 billion years, and others somewhere in between. What evidence do these Christians base their view on?”
  • Our grade 12 Christian Perspectives course explored the basis for the dominant cultural postmodern worldview. We asked: “What aspects, if any, of modern main-stream Christian faith positions reflect a postmodern worldview?”

We found the discussions that followed from these and similar questions could be challenging for us as a staff as they prompted us to share more of our own faith position. We also were forced to be vulnerable with students in admitting to our own lack of certainty around some questions. However, we also felt this process helped us to foster an environment where students could approach staff with other faith questions they encountered.

We were initially concerned with how our parents might respond to this approach, and this could be a significant issue in your context. I think one of the things that helped calm some concerns was that I, and others who were primarily involved in developing this approach, had been at the school for a number of years. Parents had learned to trust us, both professionally and as Christians who cared about their children’s developing faith. Another factor was that we limited this approach to our high school students (grades 9-12); and a number of parents acknowledged the benefits of taking some faith risks with older teenagers that they would not have considered appropriate for children even a year or two younger.
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As you think about filling in the silence at your school, what questions would you ask in the cultural context of your educational setting to reduce the chance of your teenage Christians faith failing to stick through early adulthood?
Mark Prothero, M.Ed.
School Services Consultant
TeachBeyond

[1] www.stickyfaith.org

[2] Clark, www.stickyfaith.org.
Bibliography
Clark, Dr Kara Powell and Dr Chap Clark. Sticky Faith. n.d.
www.stickyfaith.org. n.d.

Photo Credits: BFA middle schoolers, TeachBeyond Facebook page.

Mark Prothero (mprothero@teachbeyond.org) has a M.Ed in curriculum studies from the University of Leeds. He has 16 years experience in 5 urban high schools in England, 3 years in a rural ex-mission school in Malawi, and 10 years as high school principal at Hope International School in Cambodia, from where he recently returned to the UK and became a member of TeachBeyond.

Transformational Perspectives

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International Day - all studentsTeachBeyond is registered in fifteen nations around the world. We serve in nearly fifty countries, and partner with over sixty other ministries. Our members represent a number of different nationalities, languages, and cultures. And while we all share the vision of providing education as an effective catalyst to bring hope to individuals and positive transformation to societies, this can look differently in our different contexts. No one nation or culture holds the definitive answer on how to cultivate a biblical worldview.

In Ephesians 4, Paul reminds the church that “there is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call…But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.” He goes on to point out that while we are given different callings (apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds and teachers) these are giving for a common purpose “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ…[that] when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.”[1]

Paul reminds us that as members of the family of God, we are part of a unified whole. In our diversity, we see and understand different elements of God’s multi-faceted nature. We can learn from each other and grow together towards the common purpose of seeing God’s name glorified and His kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.

To that end, this year we’ve been intentional in asking TeachBeyond members from multiple passport and service countries to share their perspective on what it means to bring the gospel through transformational education. We’re calling this series Transformational Perspectives. Each author has been asked the following questions:

  • As you consider what it means to deliver transformational education, underpinned by a distinctly biblical worldview, what principles and themes stick out to you? How do these inform your professional practice?
  • What are the essential elements that make up a biblical worldview and how do these show up in the classroom?
  • What practical advice would you share with other teachers who want their lessons to reflect an integrated understanding of God’s word and world?

Our hope is that as we as the larger TeachBeyond community are exposed to and challenged by these different perspectives, that we will all grow in our own understanding and practice of biblically inspired, Holy Spirit empowered transformational education.

If you have a perspective that you would like to share, please don’t hesitate to contact us at onpractice@teachbeyond.org.

 

Becky Hunsberger

Coordinator of Teacher Education Services

TeachBeyond

 

[1] See Ephesians 4:1-16

Photo courtesy of HOPAC, Tanzania.