Living into God’s story isn’t a passive exercise … learning and development as learners is important to God and to the neighbors we are called to love.
Welcome back, Thunder Family!
Did these past summer months give you more opportunity to dig into a good book? We all enjoy our favorite story. Is it a movie? A novel perhaps? Maybe a Broadway play? Regardless, stories invite our senses, emotions, and mental capacities into a more compelling space. So it is with the story of God.
God’s story is this: 1) God created the world and it was good. 2) Man sinned and corrupted God’s good and perfect creation and this sin created a gap between us and our Creator. 3) God sent His son, Jesus Christ, as atonement for our sins so the gap between us and God is filled. 4) Christ’s death and resurrection filled that gap so we can now live in the freedom of knowing that our lives on this earth have eternal significance.
In summary, the story of God is: Creation, Fall, Redemption, Restoration.
“For you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.”
~1 Peter 2:9 (NIV)
Teaching for Transformation
Did you know that understanding and being invited into this (the story of God) story helps children and young adults answer life’s two biggest questions? Those questions are: Who am I? And why am I on this earth?
Denver Christian takes seriously our responsibility to help students struggle with, inquire about, and — Lord willing — find answers to these questions within the context of excellent teaching and learning experiences. One way we are doing this is executing our strategic plan in the area of faith formation by adopting a comprehensive teaching framework called “Teaching for Transformation.”
This framework helps all our staff create curriculum, lessons, and experiences that invite students to live into the story of God as they are students at Denver Christian.
Through this process we invite students to act as characters in God’s Story such as: Analytical Thinkers, Creative Makers, Community Builders, God Worshippers, and the like (these concepts are called “throughlines’).
As we invite them to practice these types of “characters” in God’s Story, we are teaching them that living into God’s story isn’t a passive exercise. Rather, their learning and development as learners is important to God and to the neighbors we are called to love.
For the 21-22 school year, our entire staff will intentionally focus professional development around the “Teaching for Transformation” strategic initiative. Look for concepts such as “Deep Hopes,” “Storylines,” and “Throughlines” coming up as part of your dinner table conversation, and join us in inviting our students to “See the Story and Live the Story.”
Kelsie Ruter teaches 2nd grade at Denver Christian. Kelsie has a Masters in Education in Teacher Leadership from Dordt University. She also has her BA in Elementary Education, Minors: Early Childhood Education and Reading also from Dordt University.