About a decade ago, Emma came into my class, eager to learn. She was the dream eighth-grade student. She was funny and thoughtful, and she viewed the world through the eyes of someone much older. Her faith was deep, her understanding of Scripture mature, and her convictions sincere. I could go on, but she was […]
Our panel gathered together remotely to talk about doubt and how we might walk alongside students in our schools or classrooms who are wrestling with doubts related to their faith. I opened the dialogue by inviting the panelists to share examples from their classrooms or perspectives they have gained from working with students who are […]
“Ever since I was old enough to fold my hands and close my eyes, I’ve said prayers to God, answered ‘Jesus’ to all the children’s sermons questions, celebrated Easter and Jesus’s resurrection, believed that God would take care of me. But now, I wonder . . .” One or more of your students at some […]
Many people experience a defining moment that shapes what they will become. While I was teaching at an urban alternative high school, that moment came for me when a student screamed a string of expletives in my face. Standing there, armed with my master’s degree and ten years of classroom experience, it struck me that […]
A young man in the circle decided to be vulnerable: “I have never seen an example of a Christian life in church that I want to follow.” What happened next shocked me. One by one, the others in the circle nodded their agreement. I shook my head in astonishment, and they shook their heads in […]
The young woman sat across from me in my office, visibly nervous. She was in her first year at Calvin College, and no one from her school, church, or community was here with her. She was alone and, for the first time, asking big questions about church, God, faith, and Scripture: How can we know […]
Every day one of our Bible teachers selects a quote to add to the announcements scrolling on the TV screens around our school. I often read the quote as I walk the halls, appreciate the wisdom it contains, and continue about my day. One day this past January, however, I read the quote and had […]
The title of this article can be taken in two different ways, and I mean both of them. On the one hand, “Doubt Away” might sound protective, as in put doubt away. Or it might seem permissive, as in go ahead, doubt away. As Christian educators we should teach and model to our students how […]
Maxwell Prentiss-Hall, Bedlam’s counselor, entered the teachers’ lounge at break and slumped quietly into a seat. Resting his chin in his hand, he sighed deeply and then grimaced as he slapped his fist on the table. Bible teacher Cal Vandermeer looked at him with surprise, but it was gym teacher Rex Kane, working the crossword […]
If you are absolutely, perfectly sure that once upon a time there were, in fact, two naked people tending the greenest garden of flowery delights, something beyond human imagination, and that those two, male and female, got themselves and all humankind brought into sin and darkness by a serpent who conned them into eating […]