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What makes Christian education different?
Teaching for Transformation: How Faith Shapes Everything We Do at EC
The distinction between Christian and public education is much more than incorporating Bible stories and verses into the classroom. This was a lesson I quickly learned during my first year at Eastern Christian.
When I first walked through the doors of Eastern Christian School, after a career in public education, I was excited for something I had long hoped for: the opportunity to teach in a Christian school where my faith wasn’t something I had to leave at the classroom door. Instead, I could openly share my love for Christ and intentionally weave a biblical worldview into everything I taught.
I started that first semester full of energy with many ideas. I designed lessons with Scripture, meaningful discussions, and activities that pointed students toward God. I looked forward to helping students make connections between their faith and what they were learning.
But it wasn’t long before I realized I had approached the school year like a sprint when teaching is much more like a marathon.
Christian Education Is More Than Adding Bible Verses
While I was successfully incorporating faith into individual lessons, something was missing. I realized I was lacking a larger framework that connected those lessons into a Christ-centered vision. While I wanted my students to leave remembering Bible verses and meaningful conversations, I also wanted them to recognize God’s work in every aspect of their learning, so they could carry that perspective into their everyday lives. I knew there had to be a more intentional way to connect faith and learning.
Near the end of my first year, I was invited to be an early adopter of the Teaching for Transformation (TfT) program at EC. Along with several other teachers from across Eastern Christian School campuses, I had the opportunity to explore a framework designed to help educators create engaging, faith-filled learning experiences rooted in God’s story.
From the very first training session, I felt like I had found the missing piece.
The framework I had been seeking already existed.
Teaching for Transformation and a Christian Worldview
Even more encouraging was discovering I wasn’t alone on this journey. As our cohort met throughout the year, I was surrounded by teachers and administrators who shared the same desire: to make Christ known in everything we do. Those professional development days, sharing sessions, and overall conversations became a source of encouragement, creativity, and accountability as we grew together.
Throughout eight professional development days, we explored how Teaching for Transformation helps students connect what they learn in the classroom to God’s continuing work of creation, redemption, and restoration. Rather than simply adding a Bible verse to a lesson, TfT challenges us to build learning experiences around a “Deep Hope” – which is a purposeful vision for who we desire our students to become as followers of Christ long after they leave our classrooms.
This framework transformed the way I now approach my own teaching.
Integrating Faith and Learning in Design Tech
In my Design Tech classes, we began exploring how God is the ultimate Designer and Creator. We talked about how everything He created has purpose, beauty, and intention – and how, as people made in His image, we too are called to design and create in purposeful ways that serve others.
Rather than viewing projects as assignments to complete, students were encouraged to see them as opportunities to love and serve their neighbors through creativity.
Whether they were building stage sets for the high school musical, designing solutions to real-world problems, or creating 3D-printed models to help someone else, the question became more than “What has the teacher assigned us to make?” It became, “Who in the Eastern Christian community can we serve through design?”
Christian Learning That Leads to Service
Students began noticing needs all around them. Some created projects that helped teachers organize their whiteboard markers or whiteboards, while other students created 3D trophies for community events. Still others sought to show their appreciation for staff members by creating golf ball containers and markers, or a cup holder that clipped onto crutches.
Watching students begin to actively seek and meet the needs of others has been one of the most rewarding parts of this journey. They have started looking beyond grades and projects to see how their gifts and relationships can reflect God’s image. Those are the moments that remind me why Christian education is essential.
Teaching for Transformation Throughout EC
The joy in the journey is even greater knowing that my colleagues were doing the same through this process. Seeing how they integrated faith and service into their classrooms was astonishing, and as further blog posts will highlight, there are many amazing things happening at Eastern Christian School.
In June, a second round of training began for all staff and will continue throughout the year. While I’ve been through the training already, I’m still looking forward to learning and growing with my colleagues, and I know together we will discover even more new ways to bring this vision into every Eastern Christian classroom.
I’m incredibly grateful to be part of the Eastern Christian School community, where we understand and appreciate the distinctiveness of Christian education, and are fully committed to transforming education both for the good of the students and for the glory of God!
