Stories of good news from Christian teachers and staff

Christian teachers are a beacon of hope when students are faced with today’s challenges. Christian teachers draw wisdom, discernment and strength from the Bible to steer students back to the word of God and to show students their worth and their value in the eyes of God. Teachers help students to understand that they are the face of God and lead them to be the Hands and Feet of God by helping them grow in their fruits of the spirit and using their God Given gifts and talents to impact other lives. Teachers encourage and inspire their students to shine their light into our other people’s hearts and minds.

I am a Christian teacher who has worked in Christian education for over 20 years. Having the freedom to share our faith with our students is what sets our schools apart from others. I have seen countless students who have come to our school broken and hurt and I have witnessed the difference that our school and particularly our faith filled staff have made in their lives. Lives have been transformed and saved because of the work our Christian schools do and the faith that is shared in our classrooms. Being a Christian isn’t something you do, it is who you are. To take away the rights of Christian teachers to teach from their hearts is a huge mistake that will be felt throughout all areas of society. Our staff are unified by their faith. Unity and consistency is what makes a school work so well and is what teachers children so successfully. We need to keep the unity in our schools to keep the peace in our community.

As a Christian, my faith is the most important part of my life. When choosing a school for my children, I wanted to choose a school that shared the beliefs and faith of our family. When schools and families work together to raise and educate children, the result is well adjusted, confident children. My children have received the best education at their Christian school because they are not only teaching their minds but also their hearts. I am confident that what my children are learning at school is consistent with what we are teaching them at home. That consistency is building a strong foundation for my kids and it is our rights as parents to choose who we allow to invest into them on a daily basis.

I spoke with a parent, desperate to enrol her child in the school.

She said she was from a country that didn’t welcome “religion”, but that since arriving in Australia she was drawn to the Christian way of viewing the world. She wanted her daughter to be educated in a school where exploring who God is and who Jesus is. She wanted her child to enjoy a faith and to hear about this through her teachers and friends. She knew this would help her through her life and she was desperate that this be her child’s experience. The mother is absolutely delighted that this is now happening, and her daughter’s education is so “good”.

As a previous student at Sunrise and a current teacher, I have witnessed incredible testimonies of God’s work in the school. I had teachers pray for me through my troubles growing up and I love to be able to do that with my students.

Christian schools are faith communities. The education offered is not just academic but also holistic, nurturing the spiritual and moral dimensions of the child’s life. This is only possible because Christian schools employ staff who are practising Christians. You cannot “walk the talk” if you don’t believe the talk!  At enrollment interviews, when asked why they want to enrol their child in a Christian school, parents frequently express that they want their children to be surrounded by Christian beliefs and values and the love that is found within the school community.

I have worked extensively as a teacher and leader in various State schools, including the primary and adult education sectors. I didn’t go to Church at that time, but I have always believed in God. Over many years, I watched the decline of values in the secular schools I worked at, as the race for academic growth and data took precedence. I wanted something more. I wanted an holistic approach to teaching and learning. I took a position at Mount Evelyn Christian School as my very first experience of a Christian School and I cannot begin to explain the difference. The contrast in the learning environment was tangible. There was soul to the school. So much so, I would prefer not to work in a secular school again.

The Australian curriculum is facilitated in all schools, so what is ‘this difference’ in a Christian school? The sense of community is far stronger. Hope is instilled into our students through both wonderful, and challenging times. Our society needs strong values, morals, and hope now more than ever. Our News Channels are screaming the need for connection, understanding, tolerance, forgiveness, justice and mercy.

My Christian school has a philosophy of ‘Head.’ Heart.’ Hand.’ Students learn about the world around them (Head). They understand and care about the world from different perspectives (Heart), and they look for acts of service to better the world around them (Hand). Although this can be said of some State schools, the difference is, this calling for acts of service is part of every day life and not just an ‘add on.’ Students learn the Fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control as part of the fabric of their life. I can only describe this difference as a ‘hidden curriculum’. One that is not measured with data, but one that becomes the heart and soul of our students so they will steward this Earth and continue to lead by the example of faith, hope and love.

We have had a student enrol in our school this year. In her pre-enrolment assessment she shared that she was in hospital last year and was off school for 3 months. When I inquired she shared that she had overdosed and could not face going back to school. 

The family brought her to our school based on what they had heard from another family but did not have a Christian faith background. 

When I recently asked this student about what she had experienced she shared that she felt welcomed, she felt cared for when she didn’t know when she would sleep one night, school helped her out, she could come to school because she was not being bullied and there were no dramas at school. She has not missed school since coming to this school and was starting to focus on her learning. 

In the past she was distracted by her phone and could see the strict rules around phone usage had helped her to focus on her learning. She openly seeks help and talks through issues, and is very accepting of the offer to pray for her. 

She does not have a Christian faith but is very receptive to those around her who do and support her in this way. 

The ability to really care and feed into families lives, praying with parents and encouraging them through the struggles of life. This is not just a teaching job. It is a ministry of more than mere academic successes, Christian teaching affects the human spirit and soul through joy, peace, forgiveness and love.

We had a new family of three boys come to our school, 10 year old twins and their 7 year old brother. Accompanied with some fairly tricky medical issues for one twin, the other twin had never spent a whole day in class since he was in Kindergarten. This was mainly due to some very tricky behaviours and a previous school who were unable to support him anymore. Our school embraced the whole family, walking with them and supporting them through their time of darkness and in their circumstances. Whilst we are still working very hard to grow them academically, all three boys are now thriving and love to be at school. They are always singing about God and love to share how much they love God. It has been an absolute pleasure helping this family and seeing them now thrive.

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.