In 2006, Dave Burgess’s book Teach Like a Pirate launched a thousand book studies. Its tenets of taking risks, building student rapport, and being “all in” still inspire educators almost twenty years later. However, with full respect for teaching with passion, I’d like to propose a slightly different model for Christian Educators to pursue: teach like a child of God.
Much like the inescapable pull of genetics, a number of characteristics are common among God’s children. And when used in a K-12 school, the following qualities take a distinct form.
A child of God knows his or her identity.
Whether they belong to the physics instructor, the assistant principal, or the school secretary, “teachers’ kids” are easy to spot. They walk with confidence and know staff members by name. They are trusted with keys to unlock classrooms and use the weight room after hours. Just as a teacher’s kid doesn’t sweat forgetting the field trip form because Mom or Dad is just down the hall, we can rest assured that our Heavenly Father will fight our battles—big and small—just because we are His. We can walk tall in the confidence that we have been placed in our exact contracts for a Kingdom purpose, with gifts to share and good works laid out in advance for us to do. Children of God can be calm during storms because they have been chosen and adopted by the One who stills the wind and the waves.
This year, educators in Valley City, North Dakota, opened The Lighthouse—a small clothing store housed in one of our school district buildings, offering gently used school clothing to families new to our district or those needing a helping hand during the school year. The first step in bringing this ministry to fruition was to repaint the room and tear up the old carpet. Watching my siblings in Christ faithfully arrive to serve during winter break in paint-splotched sweats with brushes in hand was heartwarming. They knew their Father had a chore list for them, and they showed up. With joyful obedience, these children of God renovated a room that would soon clothe community members in fabric and love.
A child of God offers grace when slighted.
Insulted? No matter. Inconvenienced? Not a big deal. I once heard it said that a Christian should never be offended. We, as believers, understand the earned wages of our sinful nature and know we have been forgiven much. Luke 7:47 captures the truth that he who has been forgiven much loves much. Conflict during the school year may be unavoidable, but children of God do not harbor bitterness or grudges once it’s resolved. The Bible directs us as followers of Christ to forgive quickly and often—seventy times seven, in fact—and this schedule leaves little room for replaying slights to our pride.
One of the joys of belonging to a department is having access to veteran colleagues who can guide and mentor you. In our 7-12 ELA department, I have taken many lessons from our chair, who is now just one year away from retirement. Through the years, I have watched the administration juggle her schedule again and again, resulting in countless new course preps. Each year, she takes the new assignment in stride with a smile, never once grumbling or mentioning her seniority. She is the first to arrive at staff prayer, sign a sympathy card in the office, throw a baby shower for a younger teacher, or give more than her share for Administrative Professionals Day. She models grace in all she does, a trait she gets directly from her Father.
A child of God is hospitable.
Being hospitable can mean a well-stocked classroom complete with Band-Aids, tissues, baby wipes, extra pencils, iPad chargers, and all the physical things that bring comfort and meet needs. However, I think hospitality can also be a mindset of sharing one’s abundance; in Christ, we all have abundance. Children of God make it a self-assigned mission to check in on new staff members during those first few months and to learn their drink orders at the local coffee shop. Children of God are quick to cover a class for a teacher running to pick up their child with a fever at daycare. They make sure every student in the room feels a sense of belonging and purpose when asked to be part of a small group activity.
CE member Hannah Chumley, a kindergarten teacher in Bismarck, ND, shows hospitality by hosting Good News Clubs in her classroom twice a month, along with two of her colleagues. She shared how this also includes sharing the Gospel: “One of my own students has taken the liberty to share about the hope of Jesus with her peers using the Gospel-centered bracelet we created at the club. All praise be to God for how He is using all voices, both big and small, loud and quiet, to share the Gospel.” This chain reaction began with Hannah’s open door after school hours.
A child of God exudes joy.
Since Christ promises that our Heavenly Father takes care of His children more than the sparrows and lilies, we can redirect our energy from worry to play. Children of God have a sparkle in their eyes and a little mischief up their sleeves. Children of God find ways to bring the simple pleasures of childhood into lesson plans. Blowing bubbles, hosting cupcake wars, flying kites, drawing with sidewalk chalk, creating an escape room, or taking a walk for ice cream cones on a spring day are not off-limits to teachers who embrace each new day with childlike joy.
CE member Tom Milbrandt from Valley City, ND, admits, “Maybe I take ‘child-like’ to a whole new level when I am in the hallway between classes shooting on a Nerf basketball hoop with passing students or ‘winning’ my way to the championship of the pie-a-teacher-in-the-face competition. Maybe it is the challenge of sliding into a youth medium jersey that a student was wondering if I could fit into, since he wore it in third grade. Relationships are a way to reach the kids that it seems no one can.”
A child of God is known by his or her love.
John 13:35 declares that we will be recognized as believers when we have love for one another. Children of God don’t need PD to be reminded to consider students’ best interests. Instead, love for students wells up and overflows. In an upset of the adage hurting people hurt people, children of God are meant to demonstrate that loved people love people. Our teaching contracts offer eight-plus hours a day of opportunities to do exactly this.
In a Stanley, ND elementary school, CE member and fourth-grade teacher, Jake Hellman, takes to the hallways to show love, even when he’s not feeling it. “I walk the hallways every morning and make a point to converse with all students. Even when I am having a rough morning or have lots to do in the day, I take at least a few minutes to walk up and down the halls of my school and greet every single kid and adult I see. I try to make their day start off right whenever possible. Even with a simple ‘sweet shoes,’ you can shine His light and make a day.”
A child of God is ready to pray with and for others.
As believing teachers, we get the privilege to be unofficial chaplains in our buildings. As children of God, we watch out for the bumps and bruises of those in our district, and we can offer brief, believing prayers throughout the school day. These prayers can be silent intercessions made on behalf of students we teach, students or staff we pass in the hallway, or—in some fortunate instances—audible prayer with another staff member in a quiet moment directed by the Holy Spirit. We know that we cannot solve problems, but we can carry our own problems and the problems of those we know straight to the cross. When a colleague is facing a difficult season, children of God should be accessible, warm, and inviting as they point toward the Waymaker.
In the rural ND town of Carrington, just off Highway 281, CE member April Berntson’s 6 x 8 ruled prayer journal can be found tucked into her backpack or desk. Several times a week, she opens it for a time of prayer. This sage green notebook is the second of its kind used to faithfully chronicle five years of teaching first grade. Reserving space for each of her students’ names, April adds their concerns, goals, life events, and humorous quips as they come up over time. She explains, “Having these written down allows me to be intentional in my prayers, lifting up each child and their needs with sincerity.”
What an exciting privilege it is to be a child of God—and how special to be a child of God in a public school, recklessly chasing after our Father’s heart. With the Holy Spirit’s equipping, we can adopt the characteristics of our Savior. We can reflect His love, grace, hospitality, forgiveness, joy, peace, and even His prayer habits. Educators, this year, let’s teach like pirates children of God—redeemed and fully loved.
CE member Justin LeBar, a fourth-grade teacher in Stanley, ND, sums up why this matters so much in the classroom: “As I love those that I teach, I begin to see them as God sees them. I seek to understand the circumstances that they come from. I better understand their needs. I even recognize better what their strengths are. And here's the kicker—when we find appropriate ways to let them know that we care about them, they trust us. They are more willing to learn. Love is the great motivator.”
Kristi Shanenko teaches ELA in North Dakota. She loves her teenagers at school and at home and feels grateful that God chooses to work through His children in small but eternal ways.
