A review of Teaching the Faith, Forming the Faithful, guest post by Abram Kielsmeier-Jones

Cover photo from CBD, ChristianBook.com

The following is a guest post by my friend Abram Kielsmeier-Jones.  Abram and I have had the opportunity and blessing to serve in ministry together.  I think the world of him and his ministry.  Abram has written Sustainable Youth Ministry: The Study Guide for Mark Devries' Sustainable Youth Ministry, which I had the privilege of reviewing for Youth Worker here.  You can read more of Abram's work on his blog Words on the Word and can learn more about Abram K-J here.

A Review of Teaching the Faith, Forming the Faithful
By Abram Kielsmeier-Jones

"[Elliot] Eisner [in The Educational Imagination] contends that what a teaching institution does 'not teach may be as important as what they do teach. Ignorance is not simply a neutral void; it has important effects on the kinds of options one is able to consider, the alternatives that one can examine, and the perspectives from which one can view a situation or problems. The absence of a set of considerations or perspectives or the inability to use certain processes for appraising a context biases the evidence one is able to take into account….'" (quoted in Teaching the Faith, Forming the Faithful: A Biblical Vision for Education in the Church, p. 128).

Churches and ministries and schools all ought to give constant attention to what they teach. Gary A. Parrett and S. Steve Kang refer to the "explicit" curriculum--the content of teaching that teachers mean to teach. There is also "implicit" curriculum--the milieu in which teachers teach, and even the things they communicate to students while they teach. (Implicit curriculum can be deliberate or not!)

Then there is "null curriculum"--that which teachers do not teach. Parrett and Kang say that this is no less important than explicit and implicit curricula. They say, "[If a] course--set, we are supposing, in a North American context--never deals with issues like racism or poverty or warfare, then students are learning, by what is not taught (the null curriculum), that such issues must not be of vital concern for Christian ethics" (p. 129).

Few enough churches, ministries, and schools take the time to deliberately mark out their explicit curriculum. Even fewer think about implicit curriculum. What about null curriculum? What are we not teaching our students, and what impact is that having?

Reclaiming the Future of Christian Education

Photo of the cover of Reclaiming the Future of Christian Education from Amazon.com

“The true purpose of Christian education is to prepare young people for a complete life under the lordship of Jesus Christ.” This definition of the purpose of Christian education from the back of Reclaiming the Future of Christian Education, by Albert E. Greene, is just as good as any and gives the reader of the book insight into what he or she is about to learn and discover about reclaiming the future of Christian education.

A quick summary of Reclaiming the Future of Christian Education is found in the introduction, which states, “This book is about developing a new, transformed conscious- ness—a biblical consciousness—through teaching children in Christian homes, churches, and schools.”

Within the pages of this important and valuable book, Albert E. Greene explores Christian education and its future through looking at education’s past through the lenses of the following sections in Part I, Understanding The Times: The Enlightenment and Postmodernism, An Alternative Consciousness, Teaching and Learning God, and Praise and Thanksgiving.

This first section, Understanding The Times, begins with defining and unpacking education as it relates to the enlightenment and postmodernism. These two schools of thought have influenced the student’s, as well as the educator’s, thinking and have shaped education more than we may realize. As Greene laments in the introduction, “Our thinking is thoroughly adulterated by Enlightenment concepts. It is as polluted as the most victimized parts of our physical environment (Greene, p. VII).”

The idea that science is the highest form of truth to the neglect of ethics and morals is examined in looking at The Enlightenment. And in inspecting postmodernism, relativism, the lack of absolute truth, individual happiness, and the creation of meaning is explored. These modes of thinking clearly affect the student and the educator and cloud a true Christian worldview that we should be seeking to live, to learn, and to teach from.

In the section An Alternative Consciousness, the need for an alternative to the thinking of the enlightenment and postmodernism is presented and described. The problem that is being addressed here is the reality that “‘we have privatized our religion as we have secularized our culture (Religion and American Education, p. 61).’ Thus the Christian church is heavily involved in dualism (p. 27).” This “third way,” or “alternative consciousness,” champions a Biblical worldview and seeks to facilitate “a renewed Christian culture.”

The emphasis in this section is on the truth that all of education and study concerns itself with the “stuff” of God’s own creation. If the student is to properly understand anything in this created order, he or she must understand God, The Creator. Greene declares that the nature of truth is unified in God and that truth is a person, Jesus Christ. Greene says, “The Christian mind denies the possibility of a distinction between secular and spiritual truth because it realizes that every created thing reveals God and thus cannot be isolated from ‘the facts.’”

Greene also declares, “Knowing God in and through the creation is what is important, and students must be helped to explore the creation along the lines of their own gifts.” Greene stresses, “If we seriously intend to reawaken as a church to the biblical view of life and reality, we dare not fail to train our children, whether in Christian schools or in Christian home schools, in a transformed, biblical consciousness.” In other words, we must return to a biblical worldview.

Greene writes in chapter 4, Teaching and Learning and God, “[Created things] are laden with meaning because they are all part of God’s way of giving Himself to us. We refuse our birthright and willfully go about as paupers if we insist on regarding ordinary things as unholy (p. 45).” As Greene goes on to assert in chapter 5, Praise and Thanksgiving, we should be full of worship, praise and thanksgiving for God’s revelation to us in His creation, which teaches us about God Himself.

Part 2, A Basic Christian Philosophy, assesses a basic Christian philosophy in these sections: A Christian Philosophy, The Word of God, Creation, Anthropology, Knowledge, Values and Beauty, and Idolatry, Dualism, and Gnosticism.

According to Greene, we cannot underestimate the value of a solid foundation in Christian education. We must begin with God’s word and a Biblical worldview if we are going to maintain the integrity and stability of Christian schooling. This worldview is best considered in terms of “A Christian Philosophy,” as worldview is more unconscious in our thinking.

In considering a Christian philosophy, Greene considers the Greek worldview, or philosophy, which states that the physical world is evil and should be transcended. We understand and see this view as Gnosticism and it is addressed in many of Paul’s New Testament letters. Greene also addresses this heresy, which stems from the Greek philosophical worldview, which plagued the early church and still threatens the Christian worldview today. Greene comparably looks at the Hebrew philosophy, which sates God is active in creation while still being transcendent and separate from His creation.

Greene emphasizes the threat that postmodernism poses the church and education. This relativism and lack of a Biblical view of truth has radically undermined a Christian and Biblical worldview. Green states, “As we enter the twenty-first century, the powerful current of postmodernism is sweeping Western thought. Postmodernism not only denies absolute truth and value but now undermines confidence in the independent existence of human personality itself (p. 70).”

In seeking out a Christian philosophy, Greene asserts that Christians are to have a holistic and comprehensive view of reality, truth, knowledge, and wisdom. Greene is emphatic in the idea that to be Christian, is to be a philosopher. He says, “The New Testament is no less emphatic that Christians are to seek and love wisdom. In this sense to be a Christian is, by definition, to be a philosopher (p. 73).” Philosophy and the pursuit of truth and knowledge is not just a secular pursuit, it is a Christian one as well. The false dualism and dichotomies that separate knowledge, wisdom, and philosophy from the gospel truths of Christianity are simply false, un-Biblical, and un-Christian. Christ is, indeed, Lord of all knowledge and of everything.

The Word of God must also be looked at as we discuss education, science and philosophy. The word of God is the Bible, but it is more than the Bible. Scriptures speak to us the words of God, and so does creation. As Eugene Peterson puts it, “The word of God constitutes the total reality in which we find ourselves.” However, many Christians have fallen back into the gnostic heresy that creation is somehow evil and does not speak of God or communicate the wisdom of God. We must get beyond this without falling into creation worship, or idolatry. Again Petersen asserts, “The total reality that we inhabit is the Word of the living God (p. 89).” As it says in Acts 17:28, “In Him we live and move and have our being.”

In a Christian worldview, the study of humanity, or anthropology, is looked at through the lens of creation, fall, and redemption. Some scholars also add restoration here as a fourth category through which to understand the human condition and hope. It is from this view of a Christian philosophy, the Word of God, creation, and anthropology that Greene launches into the study of knowledge, values and beauty, and idolatry, and dualism and Gnosticism in the remaining sections of part 2.

The next section of Reclaiming the Future of Christian Education, Content in Christian Schooling, Part 3, addresses the essence of the Christian schooling content in the following sections: Creation and Covenant, Meaning Restored to School Studies, Human Experience and School Subjects, More Aspects and School Subjects, and The Normed Subjects.

Part 4, Methods in Christian Schooling, gives the reader more practical tools and tips for Christian Education through these subsequent topics: Walking by the Spirit, The Place of Love in Learning, Hospitality in Teaching, Freedom to Teach Through Self-Knowledge, Meaningful Teaching, and Community in the Christian School.

Methods in Christian Schooling may be one of the more helpful, or at least practical, sections of Greene’s book. Stressing the importance of walking by God’s Spirit and functioning out of a place of love, hospitality, self-knowledge, and community cannot be underestimated in the makeup of what constitutes God-honoring and meaningful teaching in Christian education.

Greene states, “Christian teaching should, above all, be meaningful. This means the learning should come to be associated in the student’s mind with the knowledge of God . . . (p. 259)” Greene says, “Love and learning must go together (p. 234).” In loving God, we also love knowledge. It is in God that we learn and it is in Him that education has meaning and purpose and learning takes place holistically.

Hospitality also plays an essential role for the educator and for the learner alike. As Henri Nouwen is quoted by Greene, “When we look at teaching in terms of hospitality, we can say that the teacher is called upon to create for his students a free and fearless space where mental and emotional development can take place (Reaching Out, p. 60) (p. 237).” And as Greene himself put it, “Mutual love is the key ingredient in true community (p. 267).”

It is in this milieu of understanding the times, having a basic Christian philosophy, understanding the content of Christian schooling, and operating out of these methods, of walking by God’s Spirit and functioning out of a place of love, hospitality, and self-knowledge in education, that we will have meaningful reclamation of Christian education.

Albert Greene ends Reclaiming the Future of Christian Education with an insightful conclusion that pulls together his thoughts, ideas, concepts, and tips for reclaiming the future of Christian education. Greene states at the end of the book, that there are three goals for Christian education: “The first is reconciling, or reuniting, creation and redemption. The second is encouraging reconciled lives that give visibility to the Christian worldview of creation, fall, and redemption. The third is nurturing students in such a way that through the school studies their awe, love, praise, and service to God are deepened (p. 273).”

Stating this even more simply in his conclusion, Greene goes on to state, “The distinctive goal of Christian school is to use the curriculum as a means to help students grow in the reconciliation of creation and redemption, in their expression in life of a Christian worldview, and in their knowledge of God (p. 279).”

Also included at the end of Reclaiming The Future of Christian Education are a bibliography for further research and reference and a topical index for further study and exploration of the ideas, concepts and tips presented in the book.

Reclaiming The Future of Christian Education is a very helpful book on Christian education with philosophical and historic background of the record and philosophy of education. This book also contains very practical insights and tips on how to be better educators who help to reclaim the future of Christian education. This book has valuable contributions to the conversation about Christian education and philosophy and is well worth the investment of time and resources to read.


Bibliography

Examiner.com, this article was first published in Examiner here.

Greene, Albert E., Reclaiming The Future of Christian Education: A Transforming Vision. Purposeful Design Publications, Colorado Springs, CO. © 1998

PDF Book excerpt of Reclaiming the Future of Christian Education: http://www.acsi.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=0ntGyciRgO0%3D&tabid=897

Reclaiming the Future of Christian Education on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Reclaiming-Future-Christian-Education-Albert/dp/1583310002

Mid-Summer Prayer and Support Update

Dear Friends,

About a month ago, our first school year in Haiti drew to a close. As we reflect on the year and rest during the summer months, we are so grateful for the wonderful school, community, and students we have the privilege of serving at Quisqueya Christian School. We rejoice for the many, many answered prayers this year. And we are filled with thanksgiving for family and friends who pray for us, encourage us, and support us. Thank you so much for caring for us and encouraging us while we minister in Port-au-Prince.

The Beautiful Month of June

June has been filled with celebration and quality time with state-side friends and family. We started off in South Carolina with my, Robbie’s, side of the family. It was great to see all the kids, ranging in age from 5 to 89.



A highlight was going to the Riverbanks Zoo with my mom Sylvia and the grandkids (our niece and nephews) for a day of climbing around the high ropes course.



After heading up to Virginia, I had the privilege of being the godfather at the baptisms of our niece, Lily, and nephew, Hugo.



There have been many beautiful walks around Reston, Great Falls, DC and Manassas with Irene's mom, dad, Irene, or some combination of them. Irene has loved time with her sister, Adele, and her kids—swim lessons, time at the pool, nature walks, a trip to Great Falls, and lazy afternoons. We’ve also soaked up time with dear friends over dinner or coffee—a big improvement over Skype.



The end of June held a trip to Denver for the wedding of Marshall and Makenzie, which I had the honor and privilege of officiating. What a beautiful time of celebration and gathering together of people from all over the US, some of whom we wouldn’t have seen otherwise.



We were pleasantly surprised by an impromptu hike up Mt. Evans (a 14er) with some new friends.



Our visit finished with some much-anticipated time visiting old friends, Emily and Simon, and meeting the hansom new addition to their family, Soren.



July Plans

Now, we’re back in Virginia for a couple weeks, and will head back to South Carolina for another couple of weeks before flying back to Haiti for year #2. For friends and family in either VA or SC, we’d love to catch up while we’re here. If there would also be an opportunity for us to connect with your church or small group, we would be happy to share about Haiti and our ministry.

Prayer Support

We give thanks for many answered prayers this year:

• Spiritual growth among the students, both in first-time commitments to Christ, and ongoing discipleship of many others.
• Healing from our recent bout of malaria.
• Provision for our physical, relational, spiritual, and financial needs during this school year.

Please continue to pray for and with us:

• For our students, that they would know the truth and grace that will set them free, and be transformed by their relationship with Jesus.
• For our work, that God would use our classes, discipleship groups, and conversations to draw students to Himself.
• For our safety, that God would protect us from physical danger, discouragement, and illness.
• For the summer, that the Holy Spirit would refresh us during the break, allow us to nurture relationships with friends and family, and bring us back to Haiti in August with renewed energy.

Financial Support

We have recently partnered with Resourcing Christian Education International (RCE) in order to raise the funds we need to continue our ministry here at Quisqueya Christian School. All donations made through RCE are tax-deductible. If you feel led to support us financially, please visit:

http://www.rce-international.org/donate/credit-card-donate-page/

Under the Fund Designation drop-down menu, choose “Missionaries,” and another drop-down menu will appear with alphabetical names of missionaries. You will find our names and account number (26902) listed. You can use this website to make one-time or recurring donations, or to set up an Electronic Funds Transfer.

Thank you again for your prayers and encouragement. We are humbled by the abundance of God’s provision through the many hands of our friends and family.

Blessings,

Robbie and Irene

Robbie & Irene Pruitt

Bible Teaching  |  Discipleship  |  Counseling

Email: irenepruitt@gmail.com, stay411@msn.com

Skype: irene.pruitt, robbie.pruitt

Haiti Cell Phones: (+509) 4782-4794; (+509) 4614-7851

Blogs: www.irenepruitt.com, www.robbiepruitt.blogspot.com

U.S. Mailing Address: 221 Ridge Trail Drive, Columbia, SC 29229

Sending Mail to Haiti: 3170 Airmans Drive, #2029 QCS, Ft. Pierce, FL 34946

George Bellows at the National Gallery of Art

George Bellows. Preaching (Billy Sunday), March 1915. Crayon, pen and ink, brush and ink wash on paper. Wiggin Collection, Boston Public Library.

Preaching (Billy Sunday), Photo by CopperKettle, from flicker, © June 29, 2009

The National Gallery of Art is showing the first extensive exhibition of George Bellows' work in over three decades. This exhibition displays a wide range of art spanning Bellows’ entire imaginative career. The show will be in Washington, DC from June 10 until October 8, 2012 and then it will travel to New York and London.

According to the press release from the National Gallery of Art, “George Bellows includes some 130 paintings, drawings, and lithographs of tenement children, boxers, and the urban landscape of New York, as well as Maine seascapes, sports images, World War I subjects, family portraits, and Woodstock, NY, scenes.”

As a part of this comprehensive collection, a spectacular drawing of the evangelist Billy Sunday, Preaching, by George Bellows, is on display.

In the introductory film to the exhibit, on the lowest level of the National Gallery of Art, George Bellows is quoted, commenting on his proclivity to capture Billy Sunday in his art, as saying, “I like to paint Billy Sunday, not because I like him, but because I want to show the world what I do think of him,” Bellows is also quoted in the film saying, “Do you know, I believe Billy Sunday is the worst thing that ever happened to America? He is death to imagination, to spirituality, to art… His whole purpose is to force authority against beauty.”

Not only is George Bellows’ realism great art, it captures experience, existence, authenticity, and truth. His art is also poignant commentary, which captures the nature and condition of raw humanity and speaks volumes on the spiritual condition of humanity. His artwork is phenomenal and this collection captures a varied assortment of his art throughout the span of his career.

The George Bellows exhibition is a must see if you find yourself in Washington, DC between now and October 8th.

For further detailed information about this exhibition, see the National Museum of Art’s Online Press Kit by clicking here.

To see a slide show of some of the George Bellows exhibition from the Washington Post, click here.

To watch a video of Billy Sunday, the inspiration for George Bellows’ artwork Preaching, click here and here.

This article was originally published in Examiner.com. You can read it there by clicking here. 

Commencement Address for Quisqueya Christian School's Class of 2012

Photo of QCS's Graduation by Brittany Meadth, © June 9, 2012

Welcome friends, family, QCS alumni, board members, and staff.

And Congratulations Quisqueya Christian School’s Class of 2012!

Sr.’s, this is your first High School graduation, my fist QCS graduation, and my first graduation speech. Indeed, it is an evening of firsts.

Thank you for having me as your class speaker. It is an honor and a privilege.

Sr. Class of 2012!

Tonight we are here to celebrate you, but not just you. Tonight we are here to celebrate your accomplishments, but not just your accomplishments.

We are also here to celebrate your parent’s accomplishments in you.

Your family and friends are here to celebrate you, and to celebrate their accomplishment in you.

Quisqueya Christian School celebrates your accomplishments tonight, and we are here to celebrate QCS’s accomplishments in you.

Your teachers are here to celebrate you, and we are here to celebrate our accomplishments in you.

Most importantly, all of us are here to celebrate the accomplishments of Jesus Christ in all of you! Without God, none of us would be here, and none of us could do a thing.

To put it plainly, you did not get here alone.

Congratulations to all of you! Congratulations as well to all of you here who helped this Sr. Class get to this point and to get to this genesis of God’s next for their lives.

Sr. Class, tonight as we celebrate, we do celebrate you. And while tonight you are the focus, life is not about you.

“It's not about you.” These are the first four words in a book you may have heard about, or read, The Purpose Driven Life, by Rick Warren. When this book hit the shelves of bookstores everywhere, it was an instant best seller. The beginning words, “It's not about you,” are an affront to what the culture and the world around us teaches.

According to Christianity Today’s Leadership Journal, our world has “become increasingly me-centered.” However, life is not about you Class of 2012. It is not about you!

This graduation is also not an end. This is a beginning of great things to come.

To quote Andy Crouch, the author of Culture Making, “The essence of childhood is innocence. The essence of youth is awareness. The essence of adulthood is responsibility.” Sr.’s, you are moving from youth and entering into adulthood where many responsibilities await you.

This is a beginning.

Your class motto for this year has been, “To whom much is given, much is required.”

You may have heard a version of this in the Spider Man movie that came out in 2002. "With great power comes great responsibility,” wrote Stan Lee, the author of Spider Man. He wrote this into the Spider Man comics around 1962, but the quote is even older than this.

In Luke 12:48, Jesus spoke these words to His disciples, “For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more.”

Your class motto did not originate from you. It did not originate from QCS. It did not originate from Spider Man in the 1960’s. Your motto is from scripture and originated from our Lord Himself.

Sr. Class, you have been given so much from your parents, from your family and friends, and from Quisqueya Christian School. Most importantly, God has blessed you and has given you so much. With this level of blessing, with this level of education and with this level of opportunity, comes great responsibility.

There is a greater expectation of you now. There are greater requirements. The world needs you to influence it for Christ’s sake and for His kingdom. You are to be agents of change and transformation. The world is broken and hurting and needs to know the gospel of Jesus Christ. Sr. class, we expect greatness from you.

Sr. Class, as beloved children of God, who have been given so much, you are leaders, not future leaders, but leaders. You are leaders of your families, of your country, of your churches, and you are leaders and influencers of the world around you.

You are also leaders of culture. You are pioneers who will determine the future. To quote again from Andy Crouch, and from Culture Making, “The only way to change culture is to create culture.” If you all are to change the world, you must be creators and cultivators of the cultures around you by the power of God at work in you.

Andy Crouch addresses this “Culture Making” on his web site, and in his book Culture Making, when he says:

“It is not enough to condemn culture. Nor is it sufficient merely to critique culture or to copy culture. Most of the time, we just consume culture. But the only way to change culture is to create culture.”

“Something exciting is happening at the intersection of Christianity and culture. Christians are becoming dissatisfied with the postures they adopted toward culture in the twentieth century: condemning it, critiquing it, copying it, or just consuming it. More and more, we want to be people who cultivate: people who tend and keep what is good. And we want to be people who create: adding new cultural goods that move the horizons of the possible in places as wide as the world and as small as a home.”

In other words, do what Paul asked the Colossian church to do in Colossians 3:23-24, “Whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.”

Paul also talked about resisting conformity to this world, and shaping culture, in Romans 12:1-2, from The Message, when he said:

“So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.”

Sr. Class, my hope for you all is that you join in with God in His work, and cultivate your culture. I pray that you do not conform to this world, but be transformed by God, and become transformation agents of God in the world.

As leaders, as High School Graduates going off to higher education and going into the world, your calling is a high calling. You are called not to mimic or imitate the world around you; you are called to shape it. You are called to create culture and not merely fall into it, or be shaped by it. You can lead, or you can follow. You can shape, or be shaped. The choice is yours.

This is what Paul was telling Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:12, one of your class verses for this year. Paul said, “Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, and in purity.”

These were the elder Paul’s words to younger Timothy and they are equally as relevant to us all today. Paul was telling Timothy to lead, pioneer the way, shape the culture of the church, to serve and influence, recognizing that it is not about him, and thereby shape the world for Christ.

Paul tells Timothy to shape culture, and to live as an example in these six ways in 1 Timothy 4:12: in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, and in purity.

We will look briefly at these six ways of cultivation and influence now.

One, Paul was asserting that our words influence. As you all go out into the world, may you be an example to the world around you and shape it by speaking God’s truth and His life giving words with your speech. May your words reflect God and may they shape and influence the culture around you.

Two, your conduct also influences. As you take action, create, socialize, live, study and work, may your actions cultivate and create a culture that reflects Jesus, and makes your parents, family, friends, and QCS proud. May your conduct shape the world into a better place and make you an example of Jesus to the world.

Three, live a life of love. As you leave here and go into God’s next for you, would you love like Jesus, and sacrificially lay your life down for others in the world. May the world experience the love of Christ because of your presence and love in the world.

Four, may the Spirit of Jesus Christ be in you, flow through you, and empower you in all you do. Would the world experience the very Spirit of God through His spirit dwelling richly in you.

Five, as you leave here and move into God’s plans for your life, may your faith be an example to everyone around you. Would you step out boldly and fearlessly as men and women of faith who have put their trust in God. May your faith bring others to faith in Jesus.

Six, may you live lives of purity as examples to others of God’s righteousness. Would your purity be so evident that it contributes to Christ’s purification and restoration of His creation. May you add purity to an impure culture and world, through your obedience and submission to God and His righteousness in you.

Finally, may you remember Colossians 3:17, that “Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.”

Remember that this life is not about you. This life is about Jesus and His work. May you serve Him well and live for Him daily. As you transform, may you see the world transform as well.

May you not be copycat followers, but culture makers and cultivators. Be the leaders that Christ has created and equipped you to be.

And as Paul asserts in your final class verses in Philippians 3:13-14, and I paraphrase, “[Brothers and sisters], . . . do not count [yourselves] to have apprehended [it]; [do this one thing], [forget] those things which are behind and [reach] forward to those things which are ahead, press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

Blessing and Prayer

“Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen!” – Hebrews 13:20-21

Super Glue

Super Glue Haiti, photo by Robbie Pruitt, 
© May, 28, 2012

This article is adapted from Super Glue and a Broken World from Youth Worker. You can read this article in its entirety in Youth Worker here. 

“He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” – Colossians 1:17

Walking down the dusty, cracked, litter-ridden streets of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, fragmentation and brokenness can be seen everywhere. On the back streets, one can see thrown away bottles and containers, items broken beyond repair, and discarded and used tubes of Super Glue. Disheveled and impoverished people sell their wares on the streets. Tattered makeshift stands display everything from food to batteries, cheap phones, radios, Haitian rum, phone cards, and cigarettes. Hardware stands sell random cords, light bulbs, tools, and Super Glue. Lots and lots of Super Glue.

When walking past the vendors, one can observe some vendors selling nothing but Super Glue. Why all the Super Glue? Well, this is a great question. In this poverty-stricken place of brokenness and disrepair, people cannot afford new things. However, they can afford the twelve cents for a tube of Super Glue and the old things have to be repaired. The market is great for Super Glue in Haiti. The needs are abundant and the shattered environment is always in decline. Brokenness abounds and fixing and repairing is required daily.

Super Glue is a quick and temporary fix. Super Glue brags about being useful for all types of repairs, and on all types of materials. Super Glue mends rubber, metal, glass, plastics, ceramics, and wood—very useful in a fractured world. While Super Glue brags about being “extra strong” on its packaging, after something is broken, it is never quite the same again. Though a compromised repair is often much better than doing without, the item is weakened and the integrity of the item is damaged. It is no longer as it should be. It is no longer new. It is no longer whole. It has been broken. It is fragmented.

The abundance of Super Glue is evidence of the brokenness and total restoration is necessary. All things need to be made new again; we intuitively understand that the brokenness and fragmentation which creates the demand for Super Glue needs to come to an end.

We long for restoration in the midst of brokenness. We long for reconciliation in the presence of splintered lives and shattered dreams and realities. We long for all to be brought together and to be made new. We long for wholeness. We want all to be as it should be. We want everything to be in its right place. We long for more than Super Glue fixes.

In Colossians 1:17, Paul says that Jesus is before all things and that it is in Jesus that “all things hold together.” Paul continues the good news in Colossians 1:19-22, “For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross. And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight.”

God is reconciling all things to Himself. In Jesus, all things hold together. In Him, all things are whole. In Christ, all things are as they should be and everything is in its right place.

There will come a time when Jesus will make all things new. The world will be as it should be. We will be as we should be. The world will be whole again, complete, one, unified, as it should be. We will be whole again, complete, one, unified, as we should be. This will be no Super Glue repair. This will be no quick or temporary fix. This will be complete restoration of all things and of everyone. As John recorded in Revelation 21:5, God said, “Behold, I make all things new.” John saw a new heaven and a new earth in Revelation 21. It was coming down out of heaven from God Himself.

May we not be content with quick fixes. An eternity awaits us with newness of life. We should not settle for or be content with easy, superficial, Super Glue repairs. We should see the need for Super Glue as a product of the fall. There will come a time when Super Glue will have outlived its usefulness and it will become obsolete. Would we look to this glorious day when nothing is broken and in need of repair, when all is made new, when all is restored and reconciled as it should be, when all things are made complete again, and all things are in their right place.

This article is adapted from Super Glue and a Broken World from Youth Worker. You can read this article in its entirety in Youth Worker here. 

Bibliography

The Holy Bible : New International Version. electronic ed. Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 1996, c1984, S. Col 1:17

Radio Head, “Everything in its right place,” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrpGhEVyrk0

Chains

“Number 10,” Photo by Steve Marvell, © 2011

For a slide show lesson on these scriptures and chains, click here.

“I, Paul, write this greeting in my own hand. Remember my chains. Grace be with you.” – Colossians 4:18

“These Chains, These Chains won't break but they will Sl-i-i-i-i-i-de” – Kenna 

“But I want you to know, brethren, that the things which happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel, so that it has become evident to the whole palace guard, and to all the rest, that my chains are in Christ; and most of the brethren in the Lord, having become confident by my chains, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. Some indeed preach Christ even from envy and strife, and some also from goodwill: The former preach Christ from selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my chains; but the latter out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached; and in this I rejoice, yes, and will rejoice.” – Philippians 1:12-18

During Paul’s imprisonment in Rome, Paul writes to the church in Colosse and asks them to remember his chains. What does it mean to remember someone’s chains? What were Paul’s chains? Paul was imprisoned and chained for preaching the gospel. In Philippians 1:13, Paul describes his chains as in Christ. Paul was not held captive by Rome; His Lord held him captive. According to the Bible Knowledge Commentary, “In an effort to silence the truth, the authorities had incarcerated the one who spoke it, but their plan did not work.”

Two very different outcomes were the result of Paul’s chains according to Philippians 1:12-18. First, those who had sought to imprison Paul meant to hinder the truth of the gospel from being spread. This failed. The opposite effect occurred. People were more emboldened to speak the truth of the gospel because of Paul’s chains. Paul’s chains gave courage and liberated people. Second, Paul stated that some were seeking to harm him by “adding to the affliction of his chains.” This also failed. The gospel spread despite the destructive motives of the Romans chaining Paul to a different guard every six hours, twenty-four-seven. The gospel also spread despite people with mixed motives in their preaching, despite their agendas, and despite their adding to the difficulty of Paul’s chains by “adding affliction to his chains.” In other words, despite their adding a few more “links” to his “chains.”

We all have chains, do we not? Oftentimes in our lives, we face difficulties of all kinds. We face “metaphorical chains.” Our chains come in various shapes and sizes. For some of us, our chains are useful. For others of us, our chains weigh us down and sink us like a boat anchor. Some of us have chains that are thrown upon us against our wills. Others of us have self-imposed chains. We choose these chains. For some of us, our chains propel us toward God, into life, towards our goals, and into the future. We have chains that we like and we have chains that we do not like. For most of us, our chains communicate something about us. For some of us, our chains are burdensome and weigh us down? Our chains can be repulsive to some people. Sometimes our chains can propel others toward Jesus. Our chains weigh some of us down as others add to our afflictions. Some of us weigh others down by adding our chains to their afflictions. Most of us desperately need help with our chains.

What types of chains do you have? Are your chains bringing glory to God? Do you like your chains?

This is a profound thought, to “remember Paul’s chains.” Paul is saying that his chains are actually bringing God glory. There are benefits of his chains for God’s kingdom. Paul takes delight in his chains. The gospel is being spread because of Paul’s imprisonment. The manner in which Paul is bearing his chains in Christ is compelling to the on looking world.

In 2 Timothy 2:8-10, Paul says, “I suffer trouble as an evildoer, even to the point of chains; but the word of God is not chained. Therefore I endure all things for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.” Paul’s purpose is to see Christ magnified, and Christ is indeed magnified in Paul’s chains. The word of God is free. While Paul is chained, God’s Word cannot be chained. It is in the Word of God that we will be free; chains or no chains.

Sometimes God uses chains. They are His idea. Other times God desires our chains to be broken. May we be free of our chains, if it is within His will. Would it be true that our chains are in Christ Jesus and in Him alone. Moreover, if we find ourselves still chained, may we wear them well to His Glory. To quote Kenna, “These Chains, These Chains won't break but they will Sl-i-i-i-i-i-de.” May we break the chains that bind us through His strength, and if our chains are not to be broken, may we let them “Sl-i-i-i-i-i-de” to the glory of God and find ourselves free as we are chained in Him.

For a full length sermon on "Chains," click below:

Bibliography

The New King James Version. Nashville : Thomas Nelson, 1982, S. Php 1:12-18

Walvoord, John F. ; Zuck, Roy B. ; Dallas Theological Seminary: The Bible Knowledge Commentary : An Exposition of the Scriptures. Wheaton, IL : Victor Books, 1983-c1985, S. 2:651

Quisqueya Christian School’s 2012 Sr. Class Trip

Photo by Robbie Pruitt, © April 2012

Quisqueya Christian School’s 2012 Sr. Class Trip Description

The 2012 Sr. Class of Quisqueya Christian School spent a week exploring the south coast of Haiti on their Sr. Trip.  The trip was nineteen students and two trip leaders for six nights and seven days from April 24th-30th 2012. 

The students began their journey at Quisqueya Christian School and traveled by bus to the Transport Chic Bus Station.  From there they took another bus to Les Cayes, Haiti, where they then went by boat to Ile-a-Vache, a small island off the south coast of Haiti, and stayed three nights at the Village Vacances.  The group enjoyed times of devotion and Bible study, team building, games, free time on the beach, swimming, service projects in the community playing soccer and games with the local children, and planting fruit trees.  The group also visited an orphanage on the island that cares for disabled and handicapped children; they took a boat tour, and swam from a small sandy beach island called “Lover's Island,” which is isolated between Ile-a-Vache and the mainland of Haiti. 

The group then traveled by van to Port-Salut, Haiti where they enjoyed three nights between two hotels, the Reposoir Du Village and L’ Auberge de Rayon Vert.  Here the group continued their enjoyment of the beach and their time with one another playing games, team building, fine dining, Bible study, prayer, devotions, and swimming.  On day two at Port-Salut, the group traveled to Port-a-Piment, Haiti where they toured the caves there. 

This trip was a wonderful time of service, rest, relaxation, growth, and fellowship with one another. 

Our travel arrangements were made through Jacqui Labrom and her travel agency Voyages Lumiere.  For pictures of the trip, please visit these two albums on Facebook, click here and click here.