My Philosophy
My teaching philosophy centers around three words.
Theology → Identity → Actions
These three build on each other and occur in sequence. In other words “Who God is, determines who I am, (because He created me in his image) and because of who I am in Christ, I should act a certain way.”
Too many times people try to change their lives by changing their actions or behaviors rather than going to the source of the actions and behaviors. These people are medicating their symptoms rather than their illness. They realize that they struggle with lying so they try to stop but in reality, underneath the surface, they are a liar and until they change their identity as a liar they will always struggle with lying. We, even in the church, struggle with sin and though we fight it, we fail because we have only attacked our sin on a surface level.
If we understand that God is the Holy, Sovereign, Creator of the world, and that he has personally formed and given life to each of us as individuals, and if we take it a step further and recognize that he has sent his son to wipe our sin clean and offer us his righteousness in return, then and only then can we understand our true identity in relationship to Christ. When we understand that we are saved, righteous children of this incredible God, and when we attach ourselves to that identity and draw close to the Father in relationship, going to church becomes less and less of a chore, and reading our Bibles becomes less and less of a purely religious exercise. Lust becomes less attractive, lying less of a temptation, and pride becomes more humbling. Our actions change from sinful actions to righteous actions because Christ has changed us at an identity level.
ecause of this my teaching philosophy is to first teach students who God really is. Teach them his character and his attributes. Once they understand who God is, they can begin to understand who they are because of Him and their actions and behaviors will follow.
Theology → Identity → Actions
These three build on each other and occur in sequence. In other words “Who God is, determines who I am, (because He created me in his image) and because of who I am in Christ, I should act a certain way.”
Too many times people try to change their lives by changing their actions or behaviors rather than going to the source of the actions and behaviors. These people are medicating their symptoms rather than their illness. They realize that they struggle with lying so they try to stop but in reality, underneath the surface, they are a liar and until they change their identity as a liar they will always struggle with lying. We, even in the church, struggle with sin and though we fight it, we fail because we have only attacked our sin on a surface level.
If we understand that God is the Holy, Sovereign, Creator of the world, and that he has personally formed and given life to each of us as individuals, and if we take it a step further and recognize that he has sent his son to wipe our sin clean and offer us his righteousness in return, then and only then can we understand our true identity in relationship to Christ. When we understand that we are saved, righteous children of this incredible God, and when we attach ourselves to that identity and draw close to the Father in relationship, going to church becomes less and less of a chore, and reading our Bibles becomes less and less of a purely religious exercise. Lust becomes less attractive, lying less of a temptation, and pride becomes more humbling. Our actions change from sinful actions to righteous actions because Christ has changed us at an identity level.
ecause of this my teaching philosophy is to first teach students who God really is. Teach them his character and his attributes. Once they understand who God is, they can begin to understand who they are because of Him and their actions and behaviors will follow.