Stories of good news from Christian teachers and staff

I am thankful for the opportunity to mentor my students in their Christian faith. As an art teacher, I recently had such an opportunity: The teenaged girls in my class were drawing self-portraits, and were being quite critical of their own appearance as they drew all their facial features. I reminded them that they are each uniquely beautiful and fearfully and wonderfully made by God. In this way I could refer to what the Bible says to encourage the girls to develop a positive mind frame about their physical appearance.

Children at our school come from a number of different faiths. We also have many children who bring social or emotional challenges. Knowing Jesus’ compassion, our staff – including the office, maintenance, canteen, and teaching staff have the freedom to talk about God’s love for these individuals. We can encourage and pray with our students where appropriate. Planting seeds and nurturing them is a privilege.

When I was struggling with a really challenging class early in my career, I prayed a lot about it, and God reminded me of the patience he’d shown me in my life when I had been difficult. He’d focused not on the behaviour itself, but on the root cause – the need for love, the lack of trust, the brokenness – and helped me gently from the inside out. When I took that approach with my students – dealing with behaviour in the moment when it was needed, but treating each one as an individual with hurts and frustrations, and being willing to listen before jumping to conclusions – it revolutionised not just the way that I taught, but the extent to which my students trusted me, behaved in class, and enjoyed my classes.

I felt a strong calling to teach during a Mission exposure trip to Rwanda, 4-years post-genocide. It was during this trip, inspired by some young people with a strong Christian faith who were actively serving their local communities and involved in rebuilding their devastated country that I felt compelled to teach, equip, train, coach and care for the next generation.

I received a message from a past student a few years after she graduated. The message was one of thanks. She acknowledged that she had been a challenging student and said she truly appreciated the fact I had cared about her. A few years later I ran into her at a school event and she sat and talked with me for over an hour. It was wonderful seeing her again as a young adult.

I do what I do because of my faith. Everyone acknowledges that in our society, teachers are undervalued and underpaid as a whole with enormous pressure as they try to make a difference in a community without consequences or boundaries, with lack of respect and understanding for the trauma most teachers face each day. I stay in this job because I believe this is where God wants me – it would be far easier to follow another path. Because of my faith, I want to give this generation stability, love and understanding. It is so hard for this generation and they face things I never had to as a child. I want to be there for them.

A particular student with a difficult home life and who also struggles academically, is achieving improvement with grades purely from a Christian school environment that caters to his needs. His relationship with God is helping him deal with other issues and providing a positive perspective on life in general.

Jesus came not to be served but to serve. Christian teachers serve their students and families, showing love and humility because that is what Christ has called us to.