The Educational Futurists Part 2

Welcome to our fifth podcast of the school year. We hope to inspire, instruct and challenge you this year as educators whether you are teaching from home or a campus. Our goal is to equip anyone devoted to discipleship-based Christian education. I also want to remind you that while supplies last we will send you a free copies of my book, Disciplining this Generation for a Digital World, to anyone that sends us an email. I will have the details at the end of the podcast.

Two weeks we began speaking about the idea that every educator is a futurist. The first point we made is that nearly everything we teach and do with our children almost always have some future application or reason for these complicated process. Consider the abstract and difficult process of assigning meaning to shaped lines and circles. We spend hours upon hours de-codifying these shapes and symbols to these little minds all for some special future effect. We are teaching the alphabet to kindergarteners so that eventually they will be able to form words and sentences in Grade one. We teach spelling, grammar and syntax in grade two and three so that students will be reading entire books by grade four. Every step of the way the educator has an eye on the future and is preparing for it. In the middle school years we try to refine and hone their skills so that they can, not just write, but write well, preparing them for their high school years where they can take these skills and communicate concepts, beliefs and ideas. Our high school phase, our as Classical education called it, the rhetoric phase, is to shape and challenge the mind, develop disciplines of thinking that will give insight and wisdom into the world we will send these students into. Every day the educator is preparing for the future.

We are not just developing a mind we are shaping values and beliefs that become the student’s view of the world. We are shaping character and attitude so that the child will be have the proper self discipline, personal control and emotional stability to face their future. Most importantly we are introducing them to a relationship with God that we both model from our own lives and inspire in theirs. Even this is with a view to the future. Of course their ultimate future in the kingdom of God is always the most important but also their immediate future. What is God shaping them to become? What gifts and callings has God breathed into the heart of this precious person? As Christian educators we must listen for wisps spiritual signals emerging from the heart of each student. We must give distinction and meaning to these signs and wonders in the child’s experience, written work, their dreams and the little intimacies they allow us to pear into. Yes, we are to enjoy the moments and stop and appreciate the journey but every educator has a view to the future.

In our last podcast I had the privilege of interviewing Catherine Thomas, a former student and alumni of Heritage Christian School and is the reigning Miss Canada International. I became very nostalgic as we chatted about when Catherine and three other girls surrendered their lives to Christ in my Grade 10 Bible class. Catherine wining this title actuality did not surprise me. I have always believed that the future Miss Canada, political leader, innovative scientist, inventive engineer, entrepreneurial computer programmer, business leader, premier of BC is in our schools. Why shouldn’t our children serve as the leaders in culture, government, science, engineering, the trades? If we as Christian parents and educators will raise our children in stable Christian homes, be faithful to and participate in the local church, if we ensure that our children’s education is consistent with our values and beliefs, if we prayfully and wisely help inspire our children into their own relationship with God and carefully guide and navigate them through engaging the world’s system and culture, we will raise strong and stable young men and women like Catherine Thomas.

I spoke in podcast number three about, what I consider to be one of the biggest challenges as evangelical Christian educators, our bent towards apocalyptic eschatology. Not because it isn’t true but rather because it is true. Let’s explore some of our basic ideas about our view of the future of the world:

1. We believe this world to be fallen and in complete need of redemption and yet God still loves this world: John 3:16-17 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.”

2. We have a part to play as people of God in rescuing as many as possible, for as long as possible with the Gospel of the Kingdom. We can help people take citizenship in the new kingdom and, in a sense, escape this world’s destruction: Matt. 24:14 “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.”

3. The world as we know it shall go through horrific troubles and then will come to an end:  Matt. 24:21 “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.”

What often comes out of this understanding that this world, as we know it, will come to end, is an escapist mentality. We have bought into the popular idea that we will all be swept away in the rapture before anything bad really happens to us. Because we are now in the last of the last days we need to be teaching our children how to pray and read the Bible. If the Lord should tarry then our kids need to become great evangelists to bring in the last days harvest.

You might be surprised that I don’t completely disagree with this perspective. We must always prioritize teaching and bringing the kingdom of God to our own children. I am haunted with the statement Jesus made in Matt 16:26: “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” If we fail to reach our own children with Gospel of Jesus then we have failed at the most crucial point of our responsibilities as parents and educators. One friend of mine came to the Lord because his mother would never let go of him in prayer. Throughout a long rebellious period as a teen he would hear her every night praying for his soul while washing the dishes. She would confess night after night over the dish soap that she did not raise children for this world and the devil. That all of her children were taught of the Lord and they can’t escape his loving tug on their hearts to embrace his Lordship. He didn’t stand a chance.

But it is this last statement, “If the Lord should tarry then our kids need to become great evangelists to bring the last day harvest.” that I would like to focus the rest of this podcast on. I don’t think this even remotely implies an escapist mentality. Becoming a great evangelist involves much more than standing on a street corner and passing out Bible tracts. It means more than preaching to the homeless and drug addicts on Hastings Street. Too often we have portrayed this as the highest calling of evangelism, it is indeed that, but such a small and limited part of the people we are called to reach. Let me take this a step further, yes, I believe that the coming of the Lord is at hand. But I believe this the same way the Apostle Peter believed it when he said the very same thing in 1 Peter 4:7 “But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.” So this obviously this doesn’t mean, ‘run to the hills, disengage from any contact with the world and wait for Jesus to appear in the clouds.’ This wasn’t the early church’s position nor should it be ours. Is the end of all things closer today? Of course, two thousand years closer. But we need to re-evaluate our modern propensity to define “at hand” as meaning any day now or next year. Our modern day evangelical prophets have extremely short sited vision and this can work against our mission of discipleship based Christian education. If we are to raise up a generation of “great evangelists” then we have to prepare our children to engage and enter their future culture with a burning sense of mission in their hearts.

To be a great evangelist our kids will have to have a great love for those whom they are called to evangelize. I love the concept that the Apostle Paul spoke of in 2 Cor. 5:14 when he talks about why the love of Christ has overwhelmed him, “For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.” Let me paraphrase, when we have the revelation that Christ’s death was every man’s death then his love will compel us to bring this Good news to them everywhere. Any real evangelism or discipleship comes out of a deep love for the one we are trying to reach. God loved the world, he loved us, therefore he came into our world, into our culture, into our very lives. The Great Commission of Matt 28:18-19 is motivated by a deep love of the people we are called to reach. This love must translate into lives that are poured forth in service for our neighbour. In order to reach our neighbour, in order to love our neighbour we must connect to our neighbour.

Here is the Gospel of Mark’s version of this Great Commission in chapter 16 verses 15-16: "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.”

Again this commission from Jesus is not to withdraw but rather to go into all the world! Yes this means we are to go to Africa and Asia but it also means we are to go into the sub-cultures of our world as well. We are to go into law and medicine, science and engineering, business and commerce, the trades as well as the retail industry. We are to go into service clubs, sports programs, drama and music companies, beauty pageants and any other every other area of our culture that will enable us to “preach the gospel.” Paul’s statements in 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 shows that he saw the need to identify with the people was trying to reach going beyond mere borders and language into the various sub-cultures of his day. He speaks of economic, religious and moral distinctions: “to the weak I became weak,” “to the Jews I became like a Jew,” and “to those not having the law I became like one not having the law.”(NIV)

I think you can see where I am going with this. In order to reach our neighbour we must love our neighbour. In order to love our neighbour we must serve our neighbour. In order to serve our neighbour we must identify with our neighbour. In order to do this meaningfully in the future we must prepare our children to become relevant to the culture and people they are called to reach. They must have meaningful insight into ways they can make a difference in their culture and the lives of the people they are called to reach.

At risk of belabouring this point, in the story of the Good Samaritan, found in Matt. 10:29-35, the Samaritan had to have certain things going for him in order to truly love the hurting, beaten up man in the street. He first had compassion. His heart was filled with love for this stranger in the street. Our children must have a love for the fallen and beaten up people or our world. Secondly he had some medical training. The Samaritan had some first aid training and knew how to respond quickly to an emergency. He had transportation which he employed in getting this man to a place of safety and finally he had money which he paid for this man’s accommodation and any other needs. My impression is that the Samaritan was an educated businessman who used his wealth to serve his great sense of compassion. Interestingly, Jesus brings this story out when he was trying to explain how to love your neighbour. The Samaritan businessman is contrasted by two professions we would have expected to bring help to the suffering victim, a clergyman and a government official.

In order to adequately prepare our students for their role as the Samaritans of the future we have to help them in two very specific and often contrasting ways:

First we must inspire within them a true love for God, His word, His Kingdom and His Church. It is only when God is our first love that we can truly love our fellow man. As we walk with God through our life’s journey we can become everything he intends us to become. This is by far the hardest task of all. How do we help our children love God, we must model our love for God in our home, our school, our churches and the places in which our lives touch the world. Our children must see and engage a real and personal faith that is so compelling that they choose to embrace our faith and values. We have to develop devotion and love for His Word without making it a legalistic book of rules and non-relevant stories. The book has to become a place of revelation and relationship for our children and students. Merely memorizing text is not enough; we have to help it come to life. Prayer has to be more than something we do at the dinner table or at before class. It must become a living expression of our relationship with the Father. Our children will learn to pray through our example but also in authentic encounters with the Holy Spirit. Our schooling has to be full of vision and purpose as we shape these young minds and lives into who they are called to become. It has to help guide and bring out the God given gifts and point our students into their vocations. Finally our Church community has to be such that it connects our kids with their vision and purpose for their lives. They have to see it a part of their mission not just a place to meet friends. They can learn to serve others outside the home through the church. The church is the vital expression of God’s people on earth with all of our imperfections and idiosyncrasies. This is a great training ground.

The second reality we must prepare our children for is how to engage a world that is fundamentally contrary and opposed to our faith in God. The scripture often seems confusing on this issue. We are to love those in the world while we hate the system and spirit that rules the world. We have to prepare our children to make a successful impact upon a world that will one day completely pass way under the judgment of our God. We are to occupy this world until Christ returns. This idea of occupying comes from another parable of Jesus, in a story about the ten investors. This story was given to explain the attitude necessary to successfully wait for the establishment of the kingdom of God. The parable calls us to invest the gifts and resources of the kingdom until the King returns.  The King rewards those who are diligent to invest their gifts wisely. While we wait for Christ to return we have to help our children understand their gifts and teach them how to invest them. We must also balance that with a healthy respect for the evil that is in this world and give them the tools necessary to navigate these dangers.

We will continue this next week as we talk about the Educational futurist’s role. We would love to hear from you and I deeply value your comments. If you would like us to mail you a free copy of my book simply send an email to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it and let us know what type of an educator you are, home schooler, classroom teacher, school administrator, or interested parent. Please let us know how you heard about the podcast and, of course, please include your mailing address. Thank you for listening and thank you for your commitment to discipleship-based Christian education.