Enlarging the Map

At the end of the day, after the students have left the school and the building is quiet, I often find myself staring out my window looking at the tired and old “Fraser Valley Christian High” sign on 92nd avenue that I helped erect almost 20 years ago. The principal at that time, Al Boerema, tapped a few of us grade 12 guys on the shoulder and told us he needed our help. He muttered something about “People need to know who we are.” All I could think about what the fact I was missing an English Literature 12 test Mr. DeGroot was giving, and if I played my cards right, I could avoid writing a test for which I did not study.

This morning I find myself asking about Fraser Valley “who are we?” Maybe a better question is “who are we becoming?” as a community of learners and teachers. I am asking myself these questions in light of some challenges put before our staff at our retreat last Thursday evening and Friday.

Our mission statement bravely proclaims that Fraser Valley “seeks to equip students with a Biblical worldview that encourages serving others, living with integrity, and participating in Christ’s redemptive claim on all of life.” If that is one part of the answer to “who are we becoming?” then I wonder how what happens in our classrooms, hallways, gyms, and every square inch of this school points students in that direction. If the school’s curriculum does not do this, then are we really any different than the school down the street from us?

For example, is it even possible that a class on participial and gerund phrases can help students serve others and live with integrity? David Smith, our speaker from the Kuyers Institute at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, MI not only reminded us that it is possible, it must be so if our Christian schools are going to remain distinctive and unique; not just distinctive today or for this school year, but for years to come. In this sense, the entire learning community not only finds ways to practically work out the vision and mission in the classroom, they become the protectors and keepers of it as well.

Smith reminded us that we must protect, keep, and work out our vision in a way that goes much deeper than giving students grammar sentences or Math story problems with Bible verses in it. Integrating the biblical story into all aspects of teaching is possibly the most difficult and rewarding aspect of what it means to teach Christianly. Smith reminded us that we are called to be much more than Christians who teach, but that teaching Christianly is to enlarge our map of Christian teaching and learning so that we are consistently “reshaping our teaching and learning in light of the renewal of all things.”

This constant reshaping will take time, energy, and it can be exhausting, but it can also be exhilerating. It will certainly take more time than it takes to repaint an old sign that sits outside my window. But if we are always in the process of reshaping and renewing our teaching, curriculum and our relationships in light of God’s redemptive claim on all of creation, than students will be nudged towards having a stronger sense of who they are becoming.