Cultivating True Worship

Well, good morning, everybody.

It is good to be with you.

And looking at this room, I have to say that Christian education in the state of Arizona is alive and well.

God is doing an amazing work in Christian education right now, and we get to be a part of it.

And what an incredible blessing that is.

Well, my name is Stefan Wilson, and I have the privilege of being able to spend today with all of you. We're gonna spend a brief time together as a whole group, but then I get to spend time with groups of you over the course of the day during different breakouts, which I am very much looking forward to.

I am excited to be with all of you because I love Christian education

My kids are in Christian education

My wife works in admissions for Christian education

So we are a Christian education family

Because I believe the best education is a Christian education

And the subject that I am most passionate about when it comes to Christian education is the formation of students as worshipers of God

We are made to glorify God and all of our lives are lived before the face of God, so we should live as worshipers

And so that's what we're going to talk about today. We're going to talk about the way that we shape and cultivate worship on our school campuses.

And I want to just for a moment. I want you to consider, what do you believe is the most valuable investment that you can make as a school toward the formation of your students and families for the mission of God in this world?

As I have worked with schools across the country, I have found that there was a consistent theme that oftentimes what what schools will see, and what educators will see as the most valuable thing is the thing that is most tangible, the thing that they can see, the thing that they can actually put their hands on,

because it's really hard to use something you can't see. It's really hard to value something you can't see. And so what I would oftentimes see is that schools would put a lot of money and time into their curriculum, because I can see the curriculum.

And if somebody asks me, hey, what kind of Christian education are you going to give to my child in the school, I can just show them the curriculum.

I can just show them “Here are the books. Here's the the process, here's the scope and sequence. Here's exactly how we will give your child a Christian education,” because the content is Christian.

And so I have seen schools put loads of money and time into the curriculum because they believe that it'll provide tangible proof.

But what if I told you that the most effective tool you have in the formation of your students… is free.

What if I told you that the most impactful way that you can accomplish your mission, the most effective means of shaping your students in the Christian worldview is already available to you and requires no additional resources…

Well I am here today to tell you what that tool is and how to leverage it for the sake of the mission of your school.

But before we can talk about what that tool is, we need to talk about the purpose of Christian education.

What is the purpose of Christian education?

Why do we do what we do?

We have to start with the purpose, because that will then impact how we measure if we have achieved that purpose or not, and what tools are going to be the most effective in that purpose.

So, I will tell you the tool that is most effective, but only after we establish the reason we do what we do.

So, what is the purpose of Christian education?

Shaping true worshipers.

The purpose of Christian education is not excellent academics, though that is certainly a byproduct.

The purpose of Christian education is not to win state championships, though that can certainly be a byproduct.

The purpose of Christian education is not to have a beautiful building, though, in the in the worldview of Christianity, beauty and aesthetics is a legitimate aspect of our worship.

So yes, that can be a byproduct of it.

But the purpose of Christian education is shaping true worshipers.

John 4:23-24

So true worship, then, according to Jesus in John chapter four, is to worship with all that you are according to all that God has said.

And the purpose of Christian education is to shape true worshipers

It's not just about knowledge, but formation as people into worshipers.

We want as Christian institutions to shape our students into worshipers who live for God with all their heart, soul and might, with all that they think, with all that they are, with all that they do, with every aspect of their lives.

So the question before us is: What is the most effective tool for doing that?

How do we effectively shape true worshipers?

And this brings us to our big idea for our time together…

The most impactful tool for shaping true worship in Christian education is the culture of your school.

The most effective and the most essential tool that you have for the formation of your students and the accomplishment of your mission as a school is your school culture. The culture of your campuses is, without question, the most effective means of shaping the world view of your students.

But if it is the most effective tool for accomplishing your mission as a school, that means it is also the most effective way of undermining your mission as a school.

If I prioritize cultivating a school culture that reinforces an accomplishes our mission and fosters an environment that shapes true worship, that is an effective tool

But if I neglect the cultivation of a culture that fosters true worship, the culture of the school will actually get in the way of what we say we are trying to do.

So your school culture is either working for mission or working against the mission

There is no such thing as a neutral school culture

The reality is that right now, Christian schools are facing a crisis of culture. I have seen it on almost every campus I have walked on

Every Christian school right now is facing a crisis of culture

[Poll the room: How many of you are teaching at a school that has experienced positive numerical growth in the last five years?]

Growth is the single largest threat to your school’s mission

A lot of times, we love numerical growth because it shows that we're expanding. We're expanding our reach. We're being effective in our mission. And so we kind of we, we get excited about numerical growth.

But for me, when I see numbers begin to increase, I get a little nervous, because I say, “Okay, automatically, your culture is now at risk, because you have brought the outside in. And when the outside comes in, the inside changes unless you hold on tight to your culture.”

How growth threatens culture

Your curriculum is your curriculum - It only changes when you decide. And so it's easy to think, “Oh, we're not changing who we are because we haven't stopped teaching what we teach.

Yes, but your culture is not just what you teach, it's what you tolerate and what you celebrate. And we are constantly at risk of the cultures of our schools, while teaching the truths of the Christian worldview, tolerating and celebrating those things that would actually get us off mission.

And so what we're going to focus on in our time together is how it is that we cultivate true worship in our schools through the cultures that we cultivate.

So let's talk about culture.

Let's talk about what it is.

Let's talk about where we see it first show up,

And then let's talk about how it is that we shape it in our schools.

Culture defined

So if you were to read books on culture, as I have read many, you would find that there are as many definitions of culture as there are people trying to define it, and so I would just like to add my own definition to the mix

Culture is a group of people who live and move and have their being in accordance with shared beliefs, values and behaviors. Culture is a group of people who live and move and have their being in accordance with shared beliefs, values and behaviors.

[Break down the definition - Briefly]

So the question that we should ask now is, why should we care about cultivating the culture on our campuses? Why is it such an effective means of formation?

And the answer is that it is because it's part of God's design.

Where do we first see culture?

The first place that we see this concept of culture show up is in the garden in Genesis one and two.

Culture is is not a human invention - It is a human calling.

Culture is actually something God sorted out and he called people to participate in it in a way that would glorify Him.

In Genesis 1:26-28

God makes mankind in his image, to be his reflection

We are meant, by God’s design, to do what we see God doing, just in lesser, derivative form.

We are not gods, but we were made to reflect God.

And so where God created the world out of nothing, he then tasks those who are His reflection to create worlds within his world, to take what he made and cultivate it into more.

He tells them in Gen. 1:28, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and subdue it.”

They're being called to cultivate the earth, to take what God has made and to spread it to the ends of the earth, so the whole earth will be filled with those who reflect God to His glory. We call it the creation mandate, but it is also a cultural mandate.

It's the mandate to make sure that in your relating to one another as image bearers of God, you are cultivating an environment that reflects God, that your beliefs and values and behaviors are all commensurate with your view of God. 

It's a call cultivate so that we can all flourish together.

And then in Genesis 2:15, God places the man in the garden. And we're told that he placed the man in the garden to work it and to keep it.

Now those words, we just imagine going out and digging up some dirt, you know, just take care of the soil. No, no, no.

Those words to work and to keep are very important for us to understand the role that we have in in the creation of culture.

To work is to cultivate, to help it, to produce, to to intentionally develop, in order for this thing to be what it should be

To keep it is to guard it, to protect it.

And a thriving vulture needs both: Cultivating and protecting

So often, we do a great job of cultivating the beginning of culture, but we don't do a great job of protecting culture.

You start a Christian school and you have a vision for what you want it to be, and while it's small, you're able to to cultivate that small garden into a beautiful thing.

But as it grows, we just keep cultivating more soil and more soil and more soil.

But as the garden gets bigger and bigger and bigger, I am neglecting certain parts of it, and I'm not protecting it.

And then I look and weeds have grown up because I stopped protecting the whole thing.

He places the man in the garden to work it and to keep it, to cultivate and to protect it, so that it would be a place where true worship flourishes.

And so we then, as image bearers of God, must be sure that we are cultivating cultures in our schools where true worship can flourish and we are protecting it so that it doesn’t drift into something that actually inhibits true worship.

You have schools that have cultures that need to be cultivated and protected, and that is your calling as Christian educators, tracing all the way back to Genesis 1-2,

So now let's let's move then to talk about, okay, if a culture is a group of people who live and move and have their being in accordance with shared beliefs, values and behaviors, and if the cultivation of that culture is our calling as Christian schools, then we need to be really clear on what beliefs, values and behaviors are, so that we can make sure To answer that calling and cultivate an environment where true worship can flourish.

Beliefs-Values-Behaviors

So let's talk about beliefs, values and behaviors. We'll start with beliefs. Beliefs are those things that we hold to be true. It's the why behind everything. Beliefs are the convictions and assumptions that drive what we do as a school.

Stated or implied

Second are our values. Values are the priorities and affections that influence the outcomes we pursue.

Stated or implied

And third, we have behaviors. These are the actions and artifacts that reflect our beliefs and values.

Intended or unintended

How they all work together (Venn diagram)

In the garden

In the fall

The ideal for our schools

The way they get altered

Growth - Building - Expansion

Academic - Test scores

How does culture Shape students

Students are shaped by what they see far more than by what we say

The environment you are in gives practical meaning to what you are taught

When they don’t align - Students are shaped

When they do align - Students are shaped.

The environment doesn’t match what we say

What we teach - Informs the mind

What we tolerate - Enables the will

What we celebrate - Shapes the heart

The problem - What we teach does not match what we tolerate and celebrate

How can we shape culture

We audit out culture

Does what we say match what we see

What does what we say tell us about the beliefs and values that are acutally present in our school

What needs to change

Repentance - Change your mind

[CONCLUSION]

Let’s cultivate our school cultures to be the kind of soil that in which true worship can flourish