“Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.”
– James 3:1
Both the most important responsibility and the greatest privilege we have been given as teachers is to present everything we teach from a biblical worldview. Our hearts long to praise God, and the Psalms remind us over and over again that praise should be continually on our lips. So how do we do it? How do we teach young children how to add and subtract, how to blend sounds to create words, how to properly label the parts of a fish or a bird, or to construct proper sentences, all the while teaching about the Creator?
Perhaps the most important thing to note is that it is not enough to simply add a related Bible verse to a lesson or a project and say we have taught from a “biblical worldview.” We have to continually make Scriptural connections, identify God’s attributes from His handiwork, observe the effects of sin in the world, and train our students to constantly search for truth, goodness, and beauty.
In his epistles, Paul teaches us how to live like Christians, encouraging us to “follow me as I follow Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1). Paul’s example teaches us that the most effective way to teach a biblical worldview is to model a biblical worldview. Therefore, when we react to the world with a sense of awe and wonder, our students will learn to do the same.
In the Lower School we start each day with a catechism that serves to train the students to embrace a biblical worldview. We can use these same catechism questions to see how our biblical worldview permeates all of our instruction at Cary Christian School:
What is math?
Math is understanding that numbers must obey God.
How do numbers obey God?
God never changes, and so math obeys God by never changing either.
Math might not be a subject that automatically brings to mind Bible verses or thoughts of truth and beauty. However, math is actually a lot of fun to think about from a biblical perspective. Math is not really something man has created or constructed. Rather, it is the language of God’s creation which He has allowed us to discover, so that we may understand Him better. Math provides mind-boggling ways of thinking about God’s eternality, for taking note of His orderliness, for observing the symmetry in His design. We can see it in the way both atoms and the solar system are ordered and held together, or the way lungs and leaves and our circulatory system and the roots of trees have a similar structure and function. Math is all around us, and it is evidence of a great Creator.
What is history?
History is the story of God working all things together for His glory. It shows how God has guarded, purified, and strengthened His undeserving people.
Why should we learn history?
We should learn history so we will remember that God will guard, purify, and strengthen us, too.
When we study the events of history, we are able to talk about how seemingly unrelated events fit into a complex, interconnected timeline that is part of a plan orchestrated by a sovereign God. In our studies, we notice how “random” weather events change the course of history. We see how God set up rulers, even evil ones, to do His will. From our place in time, we can look back on other eras of history and determine that all things really do work together for good.
What is science?
Science is discovering and understanding God’s work in creation.
Why should we learn science?
We should learn science to rejoice in God’s creation and see that the whole earth is full of His glory.
Studying science naturally fills us with wonder and curiosity as we explore the magnificent works of the great Creator. I love to point out to my students all the ways that man has studied God’s creation to become creators ourselves. We learn to fly by studying God’s flying creatures, we learn about insulation from animal habitats, we learn to make suits that help us to swim and dive more efficiently by studying water creatures. The list is unending. Everything we as humans have endeavored to create, we learned by studying the handiwork of our Creator.
Why do we learn to spell correctly?
We learn to spell correctly because God delights in order and the right use of the tongue.
Why do we learn to read and write well?
We learn to read and write well because God has created the written word, and He has placed the mystery of salvation in a written story.
As we read, we look for evidence of truth, goodness, and beauty, as well as sin and its consequences. We can evaluate characters using biblical principles. We can take note of the beauty of language and the power of storytelling and notice how that relates to the first Great Story. Students love looking up references and reading straight from the Bible, and this way they make their own biblical connections with whatever we are reading in class. They can then articulate clearly what they have learned about God because they have learned to spell and write well.
At Cary Christian School, we strive to provide an excellent classical education founded upon a biblical worldview, every day, in every subject. It is a joy, an honor, and a great privilege to be a part of such a beautiful work.