Biblical Worldview Integration

October 24, 2023
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During our back to school professional development days, our Director of Spiritual Life, Will Weaver, and I rolled out our philosophy of education to bring clarity to the important work we are called to as a Christian School. Our philosophy of education, which is found below, is called Christian Community Education and can only exist in an institution such as ours.
 
Des Moines Christian School is a community that cultivates the environment, relationships, instruction, experiences, policies, and procedures in which the Holy Spirit has the greatest freedom to nurture the soul of each student so that their minds and thoughts, as well as their passions and identity, are anchored in the truth and love of God and His word, equipping them to have a lifelong impact on the world for Christ as whole, fully-developed disciples.
 (Matthew 22:34-40; Mark 12:28-33; Luke 10:27-28)

I would encourage you to read the article on our philosophy of education, written by Will Weaver, if you have not already done so. 

As we call upon our Gracious Heavenly Father to do the work of transforming souls, which only He can do, we faithfully and obediently do our part in the cultivation process. It is truly humbling to know that God chooses to work through His people and we get to work with Him and for Him. 

I have been reminded of the scripture from Matthew 9:37-38 over and over this school year:  “Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.’”

In light of this, we are extremely grateful for our professional development days throughout the year. These days are gifts of time where our DMC Staff can come together to stop and reflect on how we are cultivating the environment, relationships, instruction, experiences, policies, and procedures in which the Holy Spirit has the greatest freedom. These days equip and nurture our staff to be intentional workers in the harvest field so that the philosophy of education takes deeper root throughout our entire school community. 

Biblical Worldview  

We believe strongly that if we are to see our philosophy of education take deeper root, we must have an unwavering commitment to equipping and nurturing our school community in Biblical Worldview education. 

A worldview is the way in which you see the world. Having a Biblical Worldview is seeing the world God’s way, grounded in His Word. If we want to see transformation in our students, then ours cannot be a school in which God is just “sprinkled on top” of traditional education. We will not accomplish our goal by providing an identical education and just adding in chapels or prayers at the start of class. The way in which we are helping equip our teachers to teach their content through a Biblical worldview is by providing them a simple framework known as CBRR (Creation, Brokenness, Redemption, Restoration).

This framework (CBRR), along with the seven truths listed below, allows for common language across the school and allows the gospel of Jesus to make its way into our classrooms on a daily basis. It serves as a compass to help children interpret their somewhat confusing world through God’s redemptive story.

  1. Each person is a very good creation made with purpose by God (Genesis 1)
  2. Each person is made in God’s image (Genesis 1-2)
  3. Each person is given dominion by God (Genesis 1)
  4. Each person is valuable to God (Matthew 22:15-22)
  5. Each person is loved by God (Romans 5:8)
  6. Each person is sinful within from conception and bent towards self (Romans 5:12)
  7. Each person can be redeemed through Jesus (John 3:16)

    During our professional development days in October, our early education through twelfth grade teachers were blessed to be taught more about CBRR from Brandon Smeltzer from Undefeated Growth. Brandon plans to be with us during our January and April PD days this year to continue to equip us in this area. Mr. Smeltzer is also working with a small group of teachers to help them dig deeper into this learning; in fact, he worked with another group of teachers last year and will work with one more group during the 24-25 school year. Our teachers are excited about this opportunity and it is fun to watch how the Lord is moving!

    Ultimately, we know that outside of our walls and the walls of our churches, our students are being bombarded and shaped by a variety of competing worldviews that are not necessarily compatible with our faith. It is our hope and prayer that these CBRR conversations move beyond our classrooms and into homes. We are excited to offer our next Parent University on November 6th from 6-7 PM in our chapel. Come and learn more about what a Biblical Worldview means, what it looks like in our classrooms at DMC, and what it could look like in your home.