Welcome to Teachers Talking for Term 2. Last term we explored how to engender a sure hope in the lives of our students as we invite them to locate their lives in God’s grand story and carry it forward in their times.

Our challenge is to nurture school communities of long-term hope in a world that seeks to pressure our children to conform to the spirit of the age. The statistics paint a grim picture of “an epidemic of young people leaving the evangelical church.” [1] Various sources put the rate of students who claim to be Christian leaving their faith on beginning university as 70 – 75%.”  [2]

Our heart is to raise up a new generation who will faithfully and thoughtfully follow the Lord Jesus, and who will not be taken captive by the seductions of the culture. If we, as Christian educators, are to do this, we must identify the idols of our historical and cultural time. Which false gods are 21st century people seduced by? What is captivating the hearts and minds of our students? Teacher-training, curriculum documents, school policies and culture are all shaped by religious belief. When we define ourselves by the dominant narratives of the culture that are idolatrous at their heart, we end up as neither relevant nor faithful and are in danger of losing not only our identity and significance, but the very heart of what the Lord calls us to do through our educational task. That task is to raise our students to be faithful disciples of Jesus who will rise to the challenge to serve the Lord in their generation.

To this end, during Term 2, the Teachers Talking offerings will focus on the theme “Unmasking the Idols of the Age”.  We trust these talks will assist you to critique and challenge our cultural idolatry and call our students to a life of radical discipleship that reflects the way of Jesus.

“I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.  You shall have no gods before me.  You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath …. “ Exodus 20: 2 – 4

 

Grace and Peace
TEC Team

 

 

 

[1] Dr Kara E. Powell and Dr Chap Clark, Sticky Faith: Everyday Ideas to Build Lasting Faith in Your Kids, (USA: Zondermans, 2011), 15,16.

[2] John Collier, The Attrition of Christian Youth from Faith at University: Why does it happen and what can be done about it, (Australia: Unpublished Journal Article, 2022), 2.