School starts next week, formally bringing with it convocation on Thursday, August 20th, and I am full of hope for the year ahead. This past week, ahead of our students’ arrival, our team had the privilege of coming together as collaborators and professional learners. I am so proud of the intentional work, thoughtful learning, and sense of shared purpose that emerged from our time together.
Growth is not something we can ask of children and skip ourselves. If we want our students to stay curious, learn, and walk with God for a lifetime, that has to start with the adults teaching them. So while our students enjoyed the last days of summer, our faculty and staff spent a full week in prayer, planning, and shared purpose, growing in three commitments that will overflow into how your child is taught this year.
Remembering our Mission
Our staff opened our time remembering who we are and who God has called us to be as a school. Our mission is the reason Denver Christian exists: to inspire and equip children of Christian parents to engage the world with Christ’s transforming power and love. Our vision, which flows from this mission, is to provide an accessible, world-class, whole-child, Christian education where students flourish every day, in every way. Together, our mission and vision are the glue of God’s call to Denver Christian that re-gathers our community back on campus each year.
We all left this week having done work on how our own learning environment fits inside that picture. While many adults mentor and teach our students, our aim is that we are not working from different playbooks. Rather, that we share a mission, a vision, and love for your child that is consistent and provides a hospitable environment for learning and growth.
Artificial Intelligence and Bearing God’s Image
We spent time thinking carefully about generative artificial intelligence, not with fear and not without discernment, but by asking what it means for us as people made in his image.
“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” Genesis 1:27 (ESV)
Technology speeds up whatever is already there, good or bad. So the real question is never just “is AI good or bad,” but what it is speeding up in us and in our kids. And one area it tries to speed up is getting to a certain answer, often skipping the curiosity. By handing back a quick answer, it can shortcut real learning, which needs wonder and struggle before the answer comes.
While appropriate use of AI depends a lot on age and stage, we committed to bringing our expertise in teaching and learning to the AI conversation, whether we are using AI in a given course or with a given age group. We also discussed four guardrails for any classroom use of AI: protect student privacy, be transparent about when it is used, verify that what it says is actually true, and use it to genuinely enhance learning outcomes intentionally.
An image bearer is not replaced by a tool. An image bearer uses a tool with wisdom. Our goal is for your child’s teachers to remain the experts in the room, using every tool in service of equipping your child to engage the world, yet wisely without losing sight of the relationship at the center of real teaching.
Teaching for Transformation
Our staff also deepened their work with Teaching for Transformation, a framework used by Christian schools worldwide to connect what students learn in math, science, literature, and history with what God has revealed in his word. We do not teach a religion class and a separate set of academic classes. We teach one story.
At the heart of this framework is a deep hope: what a teacher most hopes will be true of students because of a class, not just what grade they earn. That hope becomes the thread a teacher weaves through the year. Alongside it, teachers build a storyline, connecting the subject to the larger story God is telling in Scripture, so a unit on ecosystems or a novel study is tied to a larger story.
God speaks through his word and through the world he made. A well-taught science lesson and a well-taught Bible lesson point at the same God. This is deep, faithful work, and our staff engage seriously with it as part of their call as educators.
Welcoming New Faculty and Staff
We are excited to introduce the new faculty and staff joining our community this year. We recently introduced them all via our social media channels. This is a great place to stay connected to our community and read the bios of this exceptional group of professionals (Instagram @DenverChristian & Facebook – Denver Christian School). They have already spent this week bearing God’s image to their colleagues and being steeped in the mission and vision of Denver Christian’s work. Please introduce yourself and welcome them when you see them on campus.
Looking Ahead to Convocation
Finally, I cannot wait to welcome our families back to campus. Convocation is Thursday, August 20, one of my favorite days of the year, when our whole community gathers to worship and commit the year ahead to the Lord.
I am grateful for the privilege of leading this school alongside such a dedicated staff, and for the trust our families place in us with their children.
With hope and excitement for the year ahead,
Michael Ehrenfried
Head of School, Denver Christian School
