We started our discussion with the following two questions.

First, what are you doing in your school to help your students connect to a larger global understanding of the world? Second, how do you make room for students of other cultures and countries to come to your school?

Christian Altena:

Greetings to all from a beautifully snowy Chicago.

As soon as I saw the prompt for this issue, I immediately felt convicted. This is an area in which my school and I could stand to make many strides forward. Our school has a growing international student program and we have long welcomed foreign exchange students. We sponsor mission trips to Central America and recently wrapped up this year’s Operation Christmas Child campaign. These are wonderful things, but I would like to see us take more steps of faith; more steps like last year’s fundraising campaign for a school in Nicaragua called Tesoros de Dios. They needed a new bus and Chicago Christian High School raised $10,000 to meet that need. Our school needs to take more steps like those taken by Surrey Christian School in British Columbia, Canada, who sponsor and maintain long-term relationships with schools in Africa and Central America.

A significant drawback of teaching in our school association is the lack of diversity and our hesitant and short-lived connections to other cultures. Scanning the faces at the Christian Educators Association convention this year in South Bend, or in the break room at school, demonstrates that this is a very real concern. Certainly this is changing–and changing quickly in some of our schools. Yet, when being a white Methodist from Ohio makes you the most diverse member of the teaching staff, it suggests that there is still work to be done.

I am excited about the possibilities. CCHS is extremely well placed to reflect such a cosmopolitan city as Chicago. We kept the name after we moved in the early 1960s, but ironically became more inclusive out in the suburbs. I pray that God shows us how to better become the school for such a time and place as this.

Rebecca DeSmith:

At Sioux Center Christian School (SCCS), we usually organize a Christmas project to raise money for mosquito netting for people in India, or we donate canned goods to a local food pantry. While these are good projects to raise awareness about the needs of others around our world, they are “special” projects that are not integrated into our curriculum.

This year, though, we are implementing Teaching for Transformation (TfT)—a framework for intentionally incorporating faith-nurture into our classrooms and teaching. One part of TfT involves giving students the opportunity to participate in Formational Learning Experiences. These are authentic learning experiences that come out of students’ learning and encourage students to practice who they are in God’s kingdom.

In the short time we’ve been integrating TfT into our classrooms at SCCS, we’ve seen wonderful examples of serving others beyond our school walls, doing real work that meets a real need for real people—Here are just a few examples:

First graders donated new or gently used books to Promise Community Health Center—a health facility that meets the needs of many people in our area, including several Hispanic families.

Second graders prepared hygiene kits for an orphanage in Haiti.

Fourth graders raised over $300 to buy items from the World Renew Gift Catalog to help support families in various parts of the world.

Fifth graders sent letters of sympathy to a school in Tennessee who lost several students as a result of a bus accident.

Sixth graders spent a morning with the elderly in our community singing songs, playing games, and sharing treats.

Eighth graders sent notes of encouragement to area pastors for their work in spreading the gospel to the people in our area.

I know this is only a start, but I’m very excited to see how the students and teachers at SCCS will continue to serve others. Our students are realizing that they don’t need to wait until they are adults to see the needs of others and respond appropriately—they can do it right now!

Blessings in your work!

Gayle Monsma:

Thanks for the ideas and thoughts you both have contributed so far. I can certainly relate to both posts! Rebecca, your connection to TfT is encouraging as the organization I work for (The Prairie Centre for Christian Education, or PCCE) is the catalyst behind TfT and to see it making such a positive impact in your school is great. But even better is the impact that your school is making in your community and beyond. Giving students real work / real need / real people experiences is what authentic and integral Christian education should be about. Keep up the kingdom-building work!

In terms of something that the PCCE does to promote global understanding, we have a partnership with a group of Christian schools in Zambia. For the last several years, we have partnered with EduDeo Ministries to provide leadership training (including TfT leadership) to their school leaders. Each year we send two PCCE leaders to spend a week or more working with our Zambian colleagues to further develop their understanding of Christian education and how to best implement TfT within their cultural environment. Having PCCE involved in this partnership is a positive way for us to open our organization’s eyes to the global Christian education context.

I’d encourage anyone who is involved in or involving their students in cross-cultural or development work (even if those different “cultures” exist within the city your school is located in) to read the book When Helping Hurts, by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert. It’s a book that has shaken my world a bit (well, actually, a lot!).

Justin Cook:

Hi everyone. I celebrate the good work being shared but also appreciate Christian’s desire for more diversity in our schools. I desire that too. One of our schools actively pursues that diversity. Northumberland Christian School in Cobourg, ON, has a rich relationship with Alderville First Nation located close to the school. A number of NCS students live in Alderville. The beauty of this relationship between two linked but distinct communities fills me with hope. It’s common to hear someone from NCS say “miigwech” (“thank you” in Ojibwe).

I’m also hopeful about a recent project from the grade four students of Halton Hills Christian School led by teacher Liz Raja. The students asked this driving question: “How can we, as global citizens, advocate for equal access to education?” The class partnered with an organization called Pennies for Peace to learn more about equal access to education, studied the novel The Breadwinner written by local author Deborah Ellis, and answered their own driving question by producing a book called The Dream that Changed Everything. Raja says this about the book: “The book takes on the difficult topic of equal access to education for children around the world. In it readers meet Emily and Amena. They live in different countries, have different lives, and even speak different languages. But under all of that, they are the same—children who want to learn and go to school. The grade fours produced this book to help make equal access to education more possible.” Students sold the book at a local farmers market to raise funds for Pennies for Peace and to raise awareness of the need for equality in education. One student said this about the project: “I feel empowered because I didn’t know that I could help send a girl to school. I’m only in grade four, but I can make the world better too.”

Just as Gayle celebrates the PCCE’s relationship with Christian educators in Zambia through the great work of EduDeo, I’m encouraged by our growing relationship with Korean Christian educators. Over twenty leaders from Korea visited us here in Ontario last winter, and we celebrated a shared desire to “educate for shalom” and to empower students to do beautiful work (just like Rebecca highlights with that powerful phrase—“real work that meets a real need for real people”). In an effort to keep collaborating, I traveled to Korea last summer with a colleague of mine—Harry Blyleven—from our Christian Teacher Academy in Ontario. Harry and I had an incredible experience not only designing authentic projects with one hundred and sixty Christian educators there, but also touring and learning about South Korea. It was inspiring to be on the other side of the planet, experiencing such a deep sense of mutuality, love, and a shared vision for learning.

Lastly, at our Christian Schools Canada conference in Banff, Alberta, this past fall, we also heard about the great work that Australian Christian educators are doing. It’s incredible to think about those of us here in North America linked in a shared identity with other Christian educators in continents all over the world—all of us adopted sons and daughters of the coming King.

John Walcott:

As I close our dialogue, I’d like to highlight a few aspects of our discussion. First, our contributors have pointed to excellent examples of serving others beyond our school walls, mutually beneficial cross-cultural partnerships, and opportunities to learn from others. Second, they articulated the need for increased diversity in our schools. As noted, this can be challenging, but it should be at the heart of our vision for shalom in our schools and communities. Third, it is important to highlight the references to rich relationships, shared desire, and shared vision. These words point to a needed perspective as we seek to connect our students to a global understanding of the world and as we strive to make room in our schools for students of other cultures and countries. These words stress the importance of learning from each other while also learning about each other. They challenge us to carefully consider the position from which we seek to engage with those who may not be well represented in our schools. When we begin by seeking relationships and shared experiences, by seeking to learn together, we stop talking about others and begin to expand our vision of God’s kingdom.  

The panel consists of:

Christian Altena, who teaches at Chicago Christian High School in Palos Heights, Illinois.

Justin Cook, who serves as the Director of Learning at the Ontario Alliance of Christian Schools in Ancaster, Ontario.

Rebecca DeSmith, who serves as Discovery Program coordinator and teacher at Sioux Center Christian School.

Gayle Monsma, who serves as the Executive Director for The Prairie Centre for Christian Education in Edmonton, Alberta.

John Walcott, who is assistant professor in the education department at Calvin College.