Caught, Not Taught: Immersing Your Students in a Biblical Worldview

LINDA: Today, I'm so excited to be joined by Dr. Roger Erdvig to talk about how we can bring the Bible into our teaching on a regular basis. Those of you that are in Christian schools, I think you're going to find this particularly relevant. But I also hope that you public school educators don't tune this conversation out because there's a lot that you can pick up and use in your life and in different areas as well.

So, Roger, thank you so much for being with us here today.

ROGER: Yeah, great to join you again, Linda.

LINDA: Can you share a little bit of your background for those that aren't familiar with you and your work?

ROGER: Sure. So currently I serve as the director for the Center of Biblical Worldview Formation at Summit Ministries in Colorado Springs. In that role, I work with schools, teachers, and leaders all over the country to help them do what we call biblical worldview immersion.

Prior to that, I served as a head of school in two different schools. And prior to that, I did a little work in pastoral ministry. I was also the founder and president of one of the first Christian coach training organizations that's for executive and life coaches. And way back in my 20s, and this is one of my favorite parts of my journey, I was a carpenter in my dad's construction business. So I just love the different seasons that God has had me in.

Beyond Biblical Integration

LINDA: Yeah, that's so neat. And you have so many different experiences to bring to the work you're doing right now. And the title of your book is Beyond Biblical Integration. Can you share a little bit about biblical integration.

 So when we think biblical integration, what do we tend to think of?

ROGER: Yeah. When most people think of biblical integration, their first thought is the column on their curriculum map. In other words, teachers all know how this works, even though we often have different means of doing it. We always have some kind of a curriculum map or a guide to use for our teaching. And particularly in Christian schools, there is usually a column at the end that says "biblical integration." Most new teachers I find and even experienced teachers look at that and they say, "Hmm. What does that actually mean?"

And where they often go is, to find some Bible verses that might correlate with this topic or this unit. And so maybe they'll go to a website that provides some resources. Or they'll go to their own well of knowledge from biblical studies in the past, and they'll find scriptural concepts that somehow connect to the topic or the unit. I think that's super important.

But I think if we're really going to nurture biblical worldview formation in our students, we actually have to go beyond that. My theory is if we only stay there, we may actually be working against what we say we're trying to do with our students.

immersing students in a biblical worldview

LINDA: Okay, so yes, the standard go-to way we might think when we don't know what to do with biblical integration is something, but there's way more there, right? So how do we move beyond just adding verses into our curriculum? What does it look like to actually immerse students in a biblical worldview?

ROGER: So immersing students in a biblical worldview is much more holistic than what we might traditionally call biblical integration. It includes that, but it goes beyond that. And what we mean is that there is a predictable and fairly common way that worldviews actually take shape in human beings.

This is a birth to maturity process and even goes all the way to the grave where we're learning to see the world the way Christ sees it and respond to the world in the way Christ sees it. So that is so much more than just having a set of truths in our mind. Though, again, I always want to clarify that it includes that, but it goes far beyond that. So we're suggesting that this model for biblical worldview formation should guide everything that we do in the classroom.

Living out truth

So it's not just what we say, but literally it's how we say it. Not just the truths we say, it's actually the truths we live. It's not just a list of things that students need to memorize. It's really a way of teaching,  a way of interacting with students that's faithful, or we might say aligned, to the model of biblical worldview formation. So that students are just kind of naturally in this process of having their worldview formed in very intentional ways.

And sometimes, and I know this can sound a little edgy, this actually happens without speaking biblical truth, in the sense of chapters and verses from the Bible.

So it's a whole way of creating an environment in our classroom. It's also the pedagogical choices we make that can align with that actual model of how biblical worldview forms.

teaching commitments from biblical worldview

LINDA: So you shared so much there for us to think about. Can you give us a little bit of an overview or where a teacher might start? What are some of the first steps in understanding this?

ROGER: Well, the whole philosophy is built on the idea that a teacher can only nurture biblical worldview formation when he or she is doing that in themselves. So really the place to start is to be very intentional about our own worldview formation. And there's many, many resources to do it from podcasts to conferences, to books.

We have plenty of resources when we're ready to say, “Yeah, I don't want to just kind of float through life.” Or when we are not quite on top of the way we’re interpreting the world and the way we’re responding to things. So there's plenty of resources for that.

And that's honestly, that's the foundation and the place to start. But when we approach our actual work as educators, we've reduced this complex concept of immersion to four simple and straightforward, teaching commitments.

1. Shape Desires

So the first teaching commitment is that we are aware that our job as teachers is to help shape the desires of students. And this should affect our pedagogy, but is often neglected in traditional school settings. This idea that we're not just victims and students are not just victims of their innate desires. We can actually help to shape their desires towards that which is right and good and true.

One of the best ways to do that is through modeling. And by that, I mean having role models who love and desire the things that we want our students to love and desire. They need to be somehow involved in our students' education and their learning. Now, that can happen remotely.

We can read great books about people whose desires are the desires we want our students to have. We can watch movies that help us to see that. The best is to actually invite role models into the classroom.

finding role models

One of the best ways a teacher can start doing this is to say "Okay, here's my topic; here's my unit. Who do I know who's living out a biblical worldview in a vocation that aligns or a hobby or something like that, that aligns with my core content for my class?" So there's many examples for that. I'll give you just one example. In elementary school, when you're doing a unit in history, go to some of the upper school history teachers and find someone that's really passionate about that subject. Then invite them into your class to guest teach. 

And for bonus points, find someone who maybe dresses up in period costumes and acts like someone from that time period. Let them share with the students about that topic or that unit from a biblical worldview perspective in a winsome and joyous way. That may seem like, "Well, yeah, every teacher does that, right? We always invite guests in."

Well, you'd be surprised, how many teachers never invite guests into their classrooms. And how many teachers never even think that right there on their campus, they have a multitude of people who are potentials to come in and serve as what I might call momentary or on the spot role models for our kids? Now, will that radically change a kid's life?

CHanging Hearts over time

You know what? Sometimes it does. Sometimes as kids, we see someone doing or saying or being something that just captures our heart, and we pursue that with everything in us.

Less dramatically so, it's a deposit into our kids' lives of desire for that which is right and good and true. Accumulated over time, consistent experiences with people who are role modeling a biblical worldview in each of the subject areas has a way of shaping us. Just like our meals that we eat every day or the sleeps we take every night. So the first teaching commitment is shaping desires.

2. Engaged Learning

The second teaching commitment, use a lot of engaged learning in the classroom. And by the way, reminder, these all align with the model of worldview formation. 

So biblical worldview formation, and this is not rocket science, is a very active process where, particularly adults, have to be really engaged in it or else weeks, months, years go by, and you haven't grown, you haven't learned.

So to have an actively developed worldview requires real engagement with what you're learning and what you're experiencing in life. Now, just imagine if we have kids that go through 13 years of school, and the primary learning they've done is teacher-centered student passive learning. The kind where they're either listening to lectures or just kind of beach balling questions and answers back with the teachers.

What's that setting them up for, for the rest of their lives? It's setting them up to think, "ell, learning is a passive thing." Well, that stymies worldview formation. We tend to engage them when they're young because we know they, quote, "need it developmentally."

But you know what? Your 10th graders, 11th and 12th graders need it developmentally too. They need to be actively engaged in their learning. So when we use the pedagogical category of active learning or engaged learning where the kids are maximally engaged cognitively, physically, emotionally with their learning, that's setting those students up for a lifetime of worldview formation.

3. Processing Learning

Number three is processing. So the secret sauce to great learning is processing what we're learning. Not coincidentally, that is also what makes for worldview formation. Picture,  later in life, a young adult experiences new things that confront their worldview or just something  they'd never seen before. The way they grow in their biblical worldview, is to take that experience,  whatever happens to them, or something they made happen, and process it through reflection, through prayer. And through most importantly and most commonly with young adults is through discussions with peers who are in the same process. That is the engine of worldview formation. 

So again, this is kind of related to the idea of engaged learning. But if we don't give our students lots of opportunity to practice processing, there's nothing saying that they're going to actually go on and process their life experiences effectively.

Now, particularly this idea of conversations with peers. We know, honestly, today's generation really has a hard time having meaningful, in-depth conversations. So when we're training our students to think about fractions or quadratic equations and share about it with their peers, we're doing worldview formation. 

In fact, I brought up math on purpose because most math teachers, maybe even listening to this podcast, say, “Yeah, but what about me? How do I do it?” When you're getting your students to talk about what they're learning, when you're having your students teach younger students what they're learning, when you have your students tutor another student in the classroom, these are all mechanisms of processing.

And if we have a kingdom mindset that we're preparing our kids for a lifetime of worldview formation, that is beyond a biblical integration. That is immersing our students in a biblical worldview.

4. study your subject area(s) from a Biblical Worldview

The fourth teaching commitment is the one that people most think about first. This idea of “How do I bring the Bible to bear on my subject area?” And yes, you must do that. So here's how we suggest getting started with that.

Find resources, and there's plenty of books, websites, and podcasts that will help you think about your subject areas from a biblical worldview perspective. We  do polls, and we ask, "How many of you have read a book about your subject area from a distinctively Christian worldview?" It's a very small minority of teachers who've done that. 

So we have to equip ourselves. And this goes back to what I said at the beginning. It all starts really with us developing our worldview as it relates to math, science, history, language, arts, world languages, home economics, whatever it is we teach. We must immerse ourselves in the biblical truths related to them. You know what happens?

Eventually, if my cup here was filled to the brim with water, as I walk around the class it's just going to spill out. Drawing from my reservoir of biblical worldview truths and concepts related to the subject area is not going to feel contrived. It's not going to feel like I rammed it in my curriculum map. It's going to be me sharing who I am.

And so that's the fourth part of biblical worldview immersion. So those four teaching commitments are what we really center on. 

Avoid the SIlo

LINDA: Wow, there's so much there and that's so helpful to hear. And one of the things that I picked up on, is that I think sometimes we think of biblical integration as a silo, right? Like you said, it's this one map. It's almost like something we add on.

But the things that you're talking about, these are good practices. It's not that this is going to take away time because I think that's another concern sometimes. “Well, I have so much curriculum. How am I going to take away time?” 

You're not taking time away from your subject. Actually, you're being a better teacher. Can you talk maybe for just a minute about that concept?

ROGER: Yeah. And I agree that the traditional model or definition of biblical integration tends towards silo-ing. It kind of makes us think "Now I'm doing my academics," and then we change gears. Now I'm doing the Bible stuff. Kids pick that up and that develops in them a mindset that there's two sides to life. There's my real life, academics, my job, my sports. And then there's, oh, yeah, the spiritual stuff. So this helps to remove all that.

Use engaged learning

Now, here's where I do often get a lot of questions like, well, everybody does engaged learning if they're worth their salt as a teacher. How is this worldview formation? Everybody wants their kids to process. Well, I would challenge that for one to say, well, not everybody uses engaged learning.

And not everybody wants their kids to process. So I would start there, like particularly in higher ed. I've taught in a couple of universities and there's often very little expectation to do anything but stand up there and lecture for three hours. So I don't agree that everybody does.

seek god's kingdom in everything

But here's the way I like to look at this. When we're doing things for the kingdom of God, it transforms everything we do. So just take a really practical example. If I'm playing the piano and I'm playing it for the glory of God in my mind and heart, and it's an act of worship. It's for his purposes.

Compare that to someone who's playing the piano right next to me for their own glory and to build their career and to become popular. We're playing the same exact notes, perhaps. We're mechanically doing the same thing. But when we do it, as scripture teaches us, with faith, it transforms. There's a dynamic there that we can't explain humanly, but it transforms even the mundane thing we might be doing.

I mentioned that I was a carpenter in my 20s. How did my work differ from the guy down the road who was a pagan carpenter, right? I was a Christian carpenter. Well, we were both doing carpentry. Hopefully we both did a great job. And I better be doing as good, if not better, than my unsaved colleagues down the road. But was there something different when I was hammering nails and cutting boards? Well, I would say absolutely unequivocally yes, because I was doing it to live out the image of God as a creator and shaping the raw materials of culture for God's glory and human flourishing.

Renewed Vision

That radically changes everything that goes on. And the Holy Spirit energizes that for his purposes in ways that I may never see. Can we look at teaching the same way?  Can we realize that even if we're using some of the very same techniques, maybe we've even borrowed them from, and I'll say this tongue in cheek, you know, the pagan teacher down the road. If they're good, right and true, and we're using them for kingdom purposes, they are radically transformed.

And so a lot of this is helping teachers get a renewed vision for what they're doing, Teaching and seeing everything they do from the monotony of grading and entering grades all the way up to when they actually are talking to kids. All of that is kingdom oriented when we are immersing that whole process in biblical worldview thinking.

LINDA: Yes, when we're doing it in concert with God, with this goal in mind, the Holy Spirit is in that and He takes that and He uses it. And that's really, really, really great. And you reminded me a little bit, I hope all of you guys listening will be joining us at our upcoming Rise Up Summit. We have a session we recorded with Jordan Raynor about how even our work that we might consider secular is sacred because of what, because we heard all the things you just said, and he goes into so much more of that. So if you need some more biblical thinking about that, then come join that session.

resources Mentioned

Can you tell people how they can best connect with you, your book, and additional resources that you have?

ROGER: Yep. The best way would be my personal website, which is  rogererdvig.com. Also, my main social media presence is on LinkedIn, so I welcome connecting on LinkedIn and I interact there quite frequently.