Inquiring Parents Want to Know!

Mark Strohm, Jr.
Elementary Principal
Delaware County Christian School

From my 20 plus years in School Administration I can tell you - without any doubt - there is one primary bit of information every parent wants to know from their child’s teacher. Often a parent will hear nothing in an initial teacher meeting until they get the answer to this primary question. If a parent is not satisfied they have the answer, all of our communication, every story they hear from their child, will be filtered in such a way as to discern the answer to this most important question. What does every parent want to know?

Does this teacher love my child?

I have found there are two types of teachers. Some teachers feel it is their divine calling to measure and observe students while imparting knowledge and wisdom to them. Then at the appointed time, through their educated power of observation they are to declare which students are “good” or “bad” as well as which students are “smart” and which are “not so smart.” Parents are not impressed with this “purely professional” approach and conclude that teachers espousing it lack love. Wise teachers understand their calling as an opportunity to roll up their sleeves and come alongside parents to help teach and train students. These teachers work on their skills to be a greater blessing to students. They rejoice with parents and praise God when students succeed. Failure of a child, either morally or academically is a matter of great concern. At the point of failure parents are contacted to coordinate efforts to help the child grow and learn. Genuine interest is shown in each child with an acknowledgement that all are divinely created by God with great love and concern. Parents will appreciate these teachers and recognize the love this teacher has for their child.

I suggest you put every parent at ease! Let them know right at the start of the school year how much you appreciate working with young people.

• Assure them it is a joy for you to get to know their son or daughter.
• Share with parents the call of God on your life and why you desire work as a teacher in a Christian School.
• Let parents know that it is your aim to work closely with them to minister to their child.
• Clearly communicate that you want parents to contact you if they hear something is wrong and that you will work together with them through thick and thin. Trust me on this one - you can take the time up front or you can spend loads of time later trying to repair a parent’s perception.
  

Make it obvious that you love each child and are excited to work alongside parents, then make it doubly obvious!

Do I Belong in the Christian School?

Is it so hard to believe that the omnipresent God of the universe knew exactly what He was doing when He placed you and me in Christian school education?

In an article entitled, Do I Belong in the Christian School, Christian school superintendent Karen Winter asks the above question and challenges readers to understand the calling they have received and to appreciate the privilege and responsibility of being involved in Christian school ministry.

Click here to read the full text of this article.

As you read this article, be reminded:

“. . . doing God’s will is a matter of simple obedience and walking in that conviction each day—especially those days that bring challenges and momentary discouragement. We fulfill God’s will when we walk in complete, dedicated confidence that God called us into Christian education. We fulfill God’s will when we remain fully committed.”

“There is no greater privilege or honor than serving in Christian education. It’s not for the fainthearted but for the steadfast, visionary Christian educator who will help determine our nation’s future. This exceptional career is for the faithful educators who hear God’s call and then respond by walking in persistent obedience as they anticipate the most exciting real-life transformations imaginable. Christian education is for those who are determined to make the greatest impact in the lives of students. I can’t imagine anything greater than serving in a Christian school and making it my personal commitment for an entire lifetime.”

As you begin another school year, may you be committed to making a difference in the lives of your students . . . and “serve where God has called [you], despite the obstacles and difficult challenges that arise.”

Have a great 2008-2009!

From the President. . .

Dr. Timothy Sierer, MACSA President
The Christian Academy ~ Brookhaven, PA

In just a few short weeks the hallways of each of your respective schools will be buzzing with the sounds of returning students for the ’08-’09 school year. It is difficult to believe that the summer has come and gone. The start of another school year presents us with tremendous opportunities to influence your students for Jesus Christ. During the course of this year it will be your privilege, as teachers in the Christian classroom, to help your students gain a better grasp of the character of God. This understanding develops as a result of the studying of His Word and the various academic disciplines that make up your curriculum.

The job of a Christian school teacher is huge. Not only are you attempting to adequately train your students academically, but you are also seeking to sow the seeds of God’s Word into their lives. Seeds that in God’s timing will bring about a transformation of the heart. This ‘sowing’ comes at a time when there is a great battle for the hearts and minds of the students in your classrooms. Without a doubt, you are fighting against a culture that has in many ways captured the hearts and minds of the students in your school. With that knowledge it would be very easy to become discouraged about the prospects for the future. However, you serve a God who is greater than the worldly forces that work against you.

As a classroom teacher, the start of any year brings with it new challenges as you learn to know the individual needs of each student. What reassurance comes with the knowledge that God has purposefully placed in your class those students for whom you are uniquely qualified to teach. As you review your class lists know that each student has been placed there by an omniscient God who is fully aware of each child’s needs even before the first day of school. Moreover, each child has been placed there because you are uniquely qualified to meet those needs. What peace comes as a result of knowing that you serve a God that cares about each minute detail of our lives as to ‘match’ your students with you for a specific purpose. With that knowledge, you can face whatever comes your way this year because you know that your God is greater than any circumstance or situation.

May God truly bless you as you invest into the spiritual, and intellectual, development of your students.

59 and Counting

From the President. . .
Tim Sierer

Fifty-nine and counting!!! As members of the Mid-Atlantic Christian Schools Association we praise the Lord for allowing this organization to reach such a milestone. A milestone that many organizations can only dream about. It is possible to gain a perspective on how far MACSA has come by remembering what was taking place the year MACSA was founded:

• President Harry S Truman was nearing the end of his first term in office.

• Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated in New Delhi, India.

• The Communists took over Czechoslovakia.

• The average life expectancy was 67.2 years.

• The Cleveland Indians won over the Boston Braves to claim the World Series 4 games to 2.

• The cost of a first-class stamp was $0.03.

• The "Big Bang" theory was put forth by George Gamow to explain the origin of the universe.

• The Ed Sullivan Show was the number one TV show that year while Dragnet debuted as a radio broadcast.

• The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, starring Humphrey Bogart, was a box office smash.

• Fifty-nine years ago the majority of the faculty serving in our schools was not even born.

While most of these events were appearing on the front pages of the nation's newspapers, members of the Christian community in the Mid-Atlantic region were laying the foundation for a Christian school association that would impact lives for many years. Since its inception God has blessed MACSA with opportunities to minister to the needs of hundreds of Christian schools which in turn impact thousands of young people for the name of Christ. Literally thousands of students have graduated from our member schools and are now impacting their communities for the cause of Jesus Christ. As we look over the class rosters of many of our schools we are able to see the second, and in some cases even the third, generation of families walking the hallways of our schools. Many of us enjoy the pleasure of having alumni serving as integral parts of our staff as teachers while still others serve as coaches, members of various school committees and governing Boards. God's grace, mercy and continued blessings are able to be seen in every area of His schools, and in the MACSA organization at large.

Over the years many individuals committed to furthering the cause of Christ carried out the work of building a great association. This endeavor has been a labor of love on the part of hundreds and thousands of people, past and present. As a reader of this newsletter, you have demonstrated an interest in our work and a commitment to MACSA as a whole. For that we gratefully thank you! Please continue to pray for our schools as they minister to the lives of children during the next fifty-nine years should the Lord tarry – Fifty-nine and counting!!!

"For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong…that no man should boast before God." I Cor.1:27-28

Your Preparedness Posture for Each Day

Charles Bloomfield

Several years ago, while driving to school early one morning, I had the radio tuned to Christian broadcasting and heard the night announcer signing off. His closing admonition was "Do what you can while abiding in Christ." That well-timed word struck a responsive chord in me, so much so that it headlines the form I use in my planning notebook (my 'to-do" list) to keep track of the things I need to accomplish (or at least keep myself aware of!) each day.

What we do in Christian school teaching and Christian school administration is rewarding work, but it is not easy work! The job descriptions ("position profiles") for teaching and administration are comprehensive and demanding. Failure to give adequate attention to any point subjects our ministries and our schools to decreased effectiveness in the lives of our students and their families, and even failure. And then there are the numerous unplanned things during the day that demand our attention. (Do you ever wonder how you even manage to faithfully fulfill the tasks and responsibilities outlined in your job description?)

So it can be disconcerting to not be able to accomplish what we thought were the "must-do" things for the day. We find ourselves taking more work home at night than we planned and fretting over the pace of things—more to accomplish than it is possible to accomplish. It is often at that point where we lose our spiritual peace and begin to worry about our frailty and perceived ineffectiveness.

Does this resonate with you? We try hard to increase our output, but we are unable to see success in doing so over the long term, and besides that we're inconsistent at maintain the sustained output of additional energy. I saw this sign in a real estate office window one time: "Work smarter, not harder." While there is some truth to that admonition, there are also limits to it.

We can also find ourselves fretting about output when we forget that the unplanned things that come across our desk are, after all, by divine appointment. We forget that God has used us in those small, incidental things while commiserating over the number of things not yet checked off on our to-do lists.

The Scriptures that will come to mind as you read this undoubtedly include John 15 and 1 Corinthians 3. It was a blessed day in my early Christian experience when I discovered the truth of abiding in Christ—the John 15 passage. The last half of verse 5, "apart from me you can nothing," is a truth that needs to grip all of us. Likewise 1 Corinthians 3:10-15 where we are admonished to build on the foundation of Jesus Christ with lasting building materials and remember that the test is the quality of work we do, not the quantity (verse 13).

So let us do what we can while abiding in Christ. Live in the Word, "walk close", and trust your daily output to His working in and through you. As you do so, may you see much fruit for your labor this school year and in your continuing ministry.