Each year my church hosts a missions conference. Growing up as a missionary kid, I always have loved missions conferences. Each year as I hear the stories of the missionaries, see their pictures, and observe how God is working around the world– well, let’s just say I am usually ready to pack up and go to the mission field! This past year I was also reading a book by Katie Davis Majors who went to Uganda and adopted 13 girls as a young single woman…so it was probably fortunate that I had a contract and a group of kiddos that needed me right here to keep me from booking an airplane ticket and heading across the world!
Most weeks don’t find me in Uganda or Peru – they find me in a regular classroom in North Carolina. I walk into my classroom each morning and see the mess. I see my students bickering with each other. I feel the slump of discouragement over an afternoon of lessons that were boring & fell flat. I see the lesson plans, the emails, the grading…and sometimes, I wish that I , too, could go to the other side of the world and do great & exciting things for God!
Despite all of the awesome inspirational teaching posters & t-shirts about the impact of teachers, most days I don’t feel like I am doing anything particularly “great” in my classroom. Yes, I know I am helping to train the next generation – that maybe I could even be teaching a future president of the United States – but, right now, I can’t even get him to memorize his 4 times table….so yeah, most days I’m not quite sure how much I am actually contributing to the future!
But God reminded me recently that the mission field isn’t a passport and an airplane flight away. In fact, He has graciously brought the mission field right through my classroom door! When I remember that my classroom is an opportunity to show my students Christ on a daily basis for 180 days a year, I realize that my mission field has some unique resources and experiences for doing just that!
Unique Resources
One unique resource that we have in our mission field is time. Think about how much time you spend with your students in a year. For an elementary teacher, your students are with you 7 hours a day for 180 days a year…that is 1,260 hours (by the way, that is just traditional school hours – coaching, afternoon clubs, or tutoring? Add a couple hundred more hours). I think it’s pretty safe to say that most missionaries don’t get to spend that much time in a year with those they are trying to evangelize or disciple!
You and I have approximately 1,260 hours to minister to our kids. Isn’t it amazing how that time fills up? On the one hand, it sounds like so many hours…but then you try to start fitting in all of the curriculum and realize the hours aren’t nearly enough time! We have this gift of time, but it is so easy to misuse it. We rush, rush, rush – getting our kids through the lessons, getting them to where they need to be on time, rushing…when sometimes, we need to slow down.
That student meltdown that just made you late to PE? That student who caused a delay in math class because he accidentally spilled his water bottle? The student argument that requires much time and counsel to solve out in the hallway? If you are like me, these issues can test my patience. I can easily view them as hindrances to all that we have to get accomplished in our limited hours. But when I realize that God has given me the gift of time with my students, and my ultimate goal with that time is to point them to Christ…well, no longer are those situations hindrances – they are opportunities. They are opportunities to minister to my students – perhaps in the counsel I give the arguing students or the student with the meltdown; or perhaps it is a kind & gracious response to the accident instead of snapping out in impatience. Those 1,260 hours are ultimately God’s time – so I need to surrender my to-do list & remember that His agenda is far more important than mine!
Unique Experiences
Our students get to see us at our best and our worst. They see the lessons that go splendidly. They also see our reactions when our lesson falls flat and when we are having our buttons pushed for the millionth time by that one particular student.
By the very nature of the amount of time we spend with our students, we have the unique opportunity to live life right alongside of our students. They watch how we respond to that other teacher that we aren’t particularly fond of. They watch how we respond on the bad days. They observe how we handle stress. They see how we react to their misbehavior. And as they watch us, they are learning from us. While it is an incredible opportunity, it is also an overwhelming one! It is an opportunity that should find us on our knees each morning, pleading with God to enable us to live out Christ’s example before our students.
We also get to help our students face their own difficulties. Think of some of the issues that your students are facing right now – divorce, poverty, a sick loved one, a parent who has lost a job, bullying. These are all major issues that our students are facing, and we get to help them walk through them! Even the “little” issues aren’t little to our students. While I want to go around the world and meet the “big” needs of people, I have to remember that my fourth grader’s friendship tiff, struggle with long division, or sick family pet is a very big issue to them. I can choose to lovingly listen, point them to Christ, and pray for and with them. But can I be honest? Sometimes it is easier to love people halfway around the world than the students God has placed right in my classroom. See, those people around the world are a hazy abstraction. Their problems and burdens aren’t affecting me and my day, whereas my students’ problems do affect my day and my busy to-do list. But when I show love to my students, I am showing love to Christ.
In Matthew 18, Jesus displays His special love for children. As the disciples clamor over who will be the greatest in Heaven, Christ pulls a child from the crowd. He points out the faith and humility of the child. He further goes on to say that…
Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me (Matthew 18:5)
When I love my students, I am loving God…and there is no greater thing that I can do on this earth!
Bottom Line: My Classroom is a Mission Field
Our classroom is a huge mission field. So what does this recognition mean for us?
1. Remember your purpose – you are there to glorify God. You glorify God when you love your kiddos and show Christ to them. If you are in a Christian school, you have the unique privilege to use academics to point your students’ eyes to their amazing Creator. For those in the public school, you may have to be more creative – but you are a walking testimony to those kids of what a Christian is and what kind of God you serve. When I keep the big picture in mind, many of the hindrances that I am tempted to be irritated with become opportunities.
2. Remember to love your kids: Yes, we need to get the curriculum covered. Yes, we need to juggle the crazy schedule of grading, lesson planning, conferences & meetings, and tutoring. As the pressures mount & demands scream for our time & energy, it’s easy to overlook the most important part of the job – our kids that Christ gave His life for. So, sometimes, it’s okay to get a little behind on the grading or curriculum if it means an opportunity to love our students.
3. Your work matters: I think (I hope!) everyone would heartily agree that a teacher’s work matters. But as Christian teachers, our work matters for eternity. In the daily grind of addition & subtraction facts, historical timelines, and research papers; we can so easily lose sight of this. You aren’t just teaching those kids academics or how to simply be “a good person”. You are pointing them to Christ, and what job could ever be more important than that?
So, if God is clearly calling you to go around the world – certainly get that passport & get on the next flight out! But, if God is calling you to stay right where you are in your classroom – that’s not a lesser call at all. All of us are sharing the greatest opportunity in the world – showing our amazing God to those He places in our lives.
We will not hide them from their children,
but tell to the coming generation
the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might,
and the wonders that he has done. (Ps. 78:4)