You know that loving God and others plays a key role in pursuing a growing relationship with God.

Question: To love God and others even more, what do you need to keep doing? start doing? stop doing?

To find out, pray and then reflect on the following 5 questions:

1. What does the Bible say about loving God and others? (Matt. 22.37-39) 
2. What excites/frustrates you about loving God and others?
3. How does loving God and others help you have a growing relationship with God?
4. To love God and others even more, what do you need to keep doing? start doing? stop doing?
5. What will you do?

Pursue a growing relationship with God. Today.

You know that understanding and applying the Bible, God's Word, can help you pursue a growing relationship with God.

Question: What can you do to understand and apply the Bible even more?

To find out, pray and then reflect on the following 7 questions:

1. How do you learn about the Bible?
2. How do you use the Bible to guide your life? (2 Tim. 3.16)
3. What satisfies/concerns you about your understanding of the Bible? about your use of the Bible to guide your life?
4. What helps you better understand and apply the Bible? What hinders you?
5. How does understanding and applying the Bible help you have a growing relationship with God?
6. What can you do to understand and apply the Bible even more?
7. What will you do?

Pursue a growing relationship with God. Today.

You want to continue pursuing a growing relationship with God. You know this involves things like: 

• Understanding the Bible, God’s Word, and allowing it to guide your life 
• Loving God and others
• Bearing the fruit of the Spirit
• Practicing spiritual disciplines
• Participating in Christ’s Body, the Church
• Making Christian disciples of all nations
• Caring for God’s creation

Question: How can you pursue a growing relationship with God?

To find out, pray and then reflect on the following 7 questions:

1. What can you do to understand and apply the Bible even more?
2. To love God and others even more, what do you need to KeepStartStop doing?
3. How can you bear the fruit of the Spirit even more?
4. How can you practice the spiritual disciplines even more?
5. How can you participate in Christ's Body, the Church, even more?
6. To make even more disciples, what do you need to keep doing? start doing? stop doing?
7. How can you care for God's creation even more?

Pursue a growing relationship with God. Today.


*To talk a self-assessment on your relationship with God, click here.

You’re a Christian serving in a school. In response to Christ’s love and as the foundation for your ministry at school, you want to have a growing relationship with God.

Question: How’s your relationship with God?

To find out, take the following self-assessment. Read More...

You’re working to help your students develop the mind of Christ. You want to help your students to connect what they study and the Bible. You’ve helped your student connect what they study and specific Biblical principles. And you want to make sure that your students connect what they study with the big picture of what God is doing.

Question: What’s the big picture?

Answer: God’s story of creation-fall-redemption-restoration. Here’s the short version of God’s story. Read More...

Help your students connect God's world, God's Word, and their lives.

Smaller things fit into bigger things. For example, puzzle pieces fit into the overall puzzle picture.
 
In Christian education, smaller things fit into bigger things. For example, what students study (smaller picture) fits into God's overarching story of creation-fall-redemption-restoration (bigger picture).
 
Implication: Ask your students, "How does what you study fit into God's story?" Don't ask, "How can you add God's story to what you study?" 
 
Why? Because this question increases the tendency of students to "purify" their studies by sprinkling on Bible verses. Because this question is actually not an effective question—it asks, "How can you fit the bigger picture into the smaller picture?" Because this question doesn't help students get the "big picture" perspective of what they study.

Target Biblical perspective. Get your students to fit what they study into God's story.

To get an idea of how your teachers can more effectively help students what they study and what the Bible teaches, complete the following assessment. Next, use your assessment data to develop action plans. Read More...

You want your students to develop a Christ-centered worldview. So, you decide to help your students deepen their Bible knowledge.
 
Question: What 3 Bible verses will you help your students memorize, understand, and apply? Read More...

You’re a principal, and you’re excited that teachers have helped their students connect 2 things: course content and Biblical principles. Now you want teachers to help their students connect 3 things: course content, Biblical principles, and creation-fall-redemption-restoration. Good.
 
Question: What are you going to do? Read More...

To help your students develop a Christ-centered worldview, have them connect course content, Biblical priniciples, and God's story of creation-fall-redemption-restoration.

Want to help your students to better connect the course content and Biblical principles they study to God’s story of creation-fall-redemption-restoration? Good. Reflecting on a set of DRAW questions can help you determine what action steps to take. What does “DRAW” stand for?

• Define: Get the facts defined.
• Respond: Get the facts responded to in terms of feelings/experiences.
• Analyze: Get the facts, feelings, and experiences analyzed.
• What’s next?: Get next steps considered.

As a result of reflecting on the following set of DRAW questions, you will identify 1 or more SMART action steps you will take to help your students better connect the course content and Biblical principles they study to God’s story of creation-fall-redemption-restoration. Read More...

You know that when you meet your students’ learning needs, they do better. Since you want your students to do better on connecting what they study and Biblical principles, you decide to meet specific learning needs.
 
Question: What 3 learning needs will you meet? Read More...

Dan Beerens, vice president of learning services at Christian Schools International, focuses on Christian education in his blog Nurturing Faith. In this blog entry, he discusses why a Biblical worldview is critically important.

Ron Sider presents evidence in his disturbing book, The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience: Why Are Christians Living Just Like the Rest of the World?, that evangelicals without a Biblical worldview are not living any differently (or in some cases demonstrating worse behavior) than the average non-evangelical. However, all is not gloom and despair! In the last part of his book he presents a strong argument that evangelicals with a Biblical worldview demonstrate different behavior – deeply committed Christians demonstrate more Godly behavior and spend significantly more time living out their faith.  Read More...

As a result of getting a Christ-centered education, we want our students to love God with their minds. So, we want our students to develop a Christ-centered worldview. One way to do to this is by having our students experience a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum:

• Guaranteed: All teachers at a given Christian school teach specified Bible content in each subject they teach.
• Viable: All teachers have sufficient instructional time to teach the specified Bible content.
• Biblical perspective: The specified Bible content is formatted as Biblical principles. Each Biblical principle is supported by at least 3 Bible passages.
• Curriculum: The specified Bible content is documented in the curriculum.

To move forward on developing a Biblical perspective curriculum, you’ve reflected on 5 key questions:

1. Regarding developing a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum, what are the opportunities/problems?
2. What’s your stakeholders’ perspective of a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum?
3. Where are you/your school in terms of having a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum?
4. Regarding developing a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum, what’s your/your school’s level of motivation?
5. To develop a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum, what do you/your school need to keep doing? start doing? stop doing?

Read More...

You want to more effectively help your students connect what they study and what the Bible teaches. So, you’ve identified your goal: To develop a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum:

• Guaranteed: All teachers at a given Christian school teach specified Bible content in each subject they teach.
• Viable: All teachers have sufficient instructional time to teach the specified Bible content.
• Biblical perspective: The specified Bible content is formatted as Biblical principles. Each Biblical principle is supported by at least 3 Bible passages.
• Curriculum: The specified Bible content is documented in the curriculum.

To move forward on your goal, you’ve reflected on 4 key questions. Read More...

You’re focused on helping your students develop a Christ-centered worldview. During class, you want to help your students connect Biblical principles and what they study.
 
Question: What 3 engaging instructional strategies will you use? Read More...

You're at school, and you want to help others grow. Instead of giving advice or suggestions, ask questions that fit the DRAW protocol:

• Define: Get the facts defined.
• Respond: Get the facts responded to in terms of feelings/experiences.
• Analyze: Get the facts, feelings, and experiences analyzed.
• What’s next?: Get next steps considered.

 
Here's a set of DRAW questions you can use for a faculty meeting conversation about a Biblical perspective of science-related issues. Read More...

You want your students to connect what they study and what the Bible teaches. You’re clear on what your students are studying. You’re not as clear on what Biblical teaching connects to what your students are studying.
 
Question: How can you determine what Biblical teaching connects to what your students are studying? Read More...

Targeting Biblical perspective is vital. To get an idea of where your academic department is in terms of targeting Biblical perspective, reflect on 8 questions:

1. What’s God’s purpose? 
2. What’s wrong?
3. What difference does Jesus make? 
4. What will you do?
5. What does the your department target?

Read More...

You want develop a Biblical perspective of your subject area. Good.
 
Question: How can you do this?
 
Answer: By reflecting on creation-fall-redemption-restoration questions. Read More...

Your goal: To develop a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum:

• Guaranteed: All teachers at a given Christian school teach specified Bible content in each subject they teach.
• Viable: All teachers have sufficient instructional time to teach the specified Bible content.
• Biblical perspective: The specified Bible content is formatted as Biblical principles. Each Biblical principle is supported by at least 3 Bible passages.
• Curriculum: The specified Bible content is documented in the curriculum. 

My question: Regarding developing a guaranteed, viable Biblical perspective curriculum, what’s your/your school’s level of motivation? Read More...

Targeting Biblical perspective is vital. To get an idea of where you are in terms of targeting Biblical perspective, reflect on 9 questions:

1. What kind of people do you want your students to be?
2. What do you want your students to understand about God and His creation? 
3. What’s your vision? 
4. What do you target?
5. Specifically, what do you want your students to connect?

Read More...

Kim Essenburg, English 10 teacher at Christian academy in Japan, responds:

In English 10, my students hone their thinking, writing, reading, and presentation skills as they grapple with world literature, for example:

• The Analects by Confucius
• Cry, the Beloved Country by Paton
• “To My Brother Miguel” by Vallejo
• Night by Wiesel
• A Midsummer’s Night Dream by Shakespeare

I want them to connect course content and skills with the 11 Biblical principles they learn: Read More...