Missions in the Classroom

In mid-1986 the world's population reached five billion. Because of the rapid population growth in many parts of the world (not to mention the scarcity of missions volunteers), it becomes less and less likely every day that an individual national without Christ will ever have the opportunity to hear the gospel. Obviously, there is a strong challenge to missions in those facts. Why aren't our young people hearing it?

Perhaps we Christian educators have expected the pastor and the annual missions conference to carry that responsibility along. Yet Christian teachers have a great potential for influencing students. We have opportunities to help students become attuned to the needs of the world and aware of concrete ways they can help. And we can do so naturally as we teach our regular subjects.

In several areas of the curriculum, students study other countries. Obvious examples are in upper-elementary Heritage Studies and later in world studies, geography, and world history. An upper-elementary English class is also likely to include writing of a report on a country.

Educationally, of course, the students profit much more from these studies if they can also interact with a native of the country or with a resident, such as an experienced missionary. Students drink in first-person stories, and they love to see and handle objects from the country. And what is more natural for a missionary than to tell about the spiritual side of the story? With these contacts, the country begins to seem real to the students; and they recognize that a missionary is an ordinary person after all.

Certainly any teacher can - and should - serve as a role model of the Christian who obeys the Great Commission where he is, both in soul-winning and in "teaching them to observe all things." Teachers can often provide leadership for student involvement too (an especially important matter as we see Christian school students withdrawing from contact with the unsaved). Students working in outreach activities are in a good position to respond if God calls them to the same thing in another country. Students also need to learn more about the world and about missions, perhaps partly through acquaintances with missionaries. Even an English class can help achieve these goals.

Let's look more closely at what can be done in an English class. Though grammar exercises can have helpful content for these purposes, the best opportunities come in literature and composition. In literature, some stories with settings in other countries reveal the customs and thought patterns of those lands. Other stories have helpful themes, such as a junior-high selection portraying the conflict between a girl's selfish desires and her compassion for others.

Often, on all levels, an English teacher can encourage her class to imagine their personal involvement with the characters of a story or play. How could they help this person? How could they show this other person that they care? What would they do in this situation? The goal, naturally, is an imaginative involvement in others' needs that will lead to a real interest and concern for those around them.

Many writing projects can be oriented toward missions or other aspects of outreach. For example, students of all ages, beginning usually in second grade, write letters in English class. Student interest rises greatly when the letters are real ones that will be sent. Sometimes the recipient can be a missionary, or a missionary child about the same age as the student. If the student writes to different missionary families - rather than inundating one with mail - the chances are good that the letter will be answered. The letter may even lead to a pen-pal relationship.

A research project, as already mentioned, can be about a country or a people. If enough information is available, it could even be about a mission work in a country. One key to involvement here, at least for an upper-level student, might be to ask for a brief follow-up after the project is complete. Challenge the student to write briefly about something he would do if he were a missionary in that country.

In one of the early high school years, the students likely will learn to write anecdotes. They can be asked to write an anecdote that illustrates a verse or a spiritual truth. Then, in a later writing activity, they can incorporate that same anecdote in a brief devotional. Some of the devotionals will probably be appropriate for use in class. Again, the student may be taking some spiritual steps as he progresses academically.

Two final examples concern the area of persuasive writing. Persuasion, to be sure, is a fairly high-level skill. Seniors might work with several projects. One could be the writing of a tract, either for salvation or for some other purpose. In preparing for this project, the class can analyze some skillful tracts to see what kind of organization and strategy works well. Another project in persuasion - perhaps offered as an alternate project - could be the writing of a salvation letter or a letter with some other spiritual purpose.

Such writing projects have an important advantage over merely hearing about a need or about what can be done. What a student actually does, even in class, he is more likely to go on and make a part of his life.

All these examples, of course, fit into a larger context of helping our students become better conformed to the image of Christ. Perhaps some day we will have the privilege of seeing many of our former students take their place among those who serve Him - here and around the world.

Reprinted from Balance, a publication of the School of Education, Bob Jones University. Used with permission of Bob Jones University. Please write BJU Press, for permission to reproduce this article.