Janet Webb serves as a Bible teacher at Trinity Children’s Centre in Mitchell’s Plain, a township primary school in Cape Town, South Africa
How easy it is for well-meaning Christian teachers to lean towards a focus on behavioural values when applying the Bible. When there is no given plan or resource to guide the content, this is particularly comfortable ground. There is the satisfaction of tangible goals and the assurance that parents will be on board.
Paul writes in 2 Timothy 2:15 ‘Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.’ How crucial it is for teachers to communicate God’s gracious plan to redeem, unite with and work in his people – in all its nuanced applications across Scripture.
At the forefront of my mind as I embark on developing a Bible teaching curriculum for teachers to implement in the primary school is grace. There is a need for the overarching biblical application in the school to shift from acceptance by works, to grace by faith.
In a school where many of the children’s heart beliefs are shaped by Muslim or nominal Christian families, it is essential to foster a culture of grace in our application, as well as in our Bible teaching approach.
The envisioned approach is one where we weave discussion of a myriad of viewpoints into Bible teaching times, where the children’s experience of Bible lessons is that there are no closed subjects, and where children wrestle with the truth in a loving environment and make an informed decision about their faith. Should they come to know Jesus as their Lord and Saviour, it is an environment where their teachers are equipped to spur them on, and they in turn make Jesus known.
Teachers growing and maturing in their own faith is the cornerstone of this work. They are the children’s spiritual role models and touch points with the gospel. Beginning to open the Bible and pray with teachers one-to-one and at a weekly team meeting is an encouraging first step. Having spent two months researching the school’s Bible teaching needs, the next step is to think through guiding principles and objectives for the curriculum. What a joy it will be if the teachers respond with excitement as they progress in correctly handling God’s powerful word!