Join Dr. Roger Erdvig and Dr. Maggie Pope, Director and Associate Director of Worldview Education at Summit, as they serve educators by sharing expert ideas and resources related to biblical worldview formation.
In This Issue:
- Educator Matters: When Taylor Swift Shows Up in the Christian School Classroom
- Classroom Snapshot: Assessing Worldview in the Classroom
- Brand New Resource: Biblical Worldview Immersion Train-the-Trainer
Educator Matters: When Taylor Swift Shows Up in the Christian School Classroom
Do either of the following statements sound familiar?
We will equip and develop students to effectively integrate Biblical truth and learning into their daily lives and impact the culture for Christ.
We partner with parents to develop students with Christian character and a biblical worldview, equipping them for life, learning, and leadership.
These statements are examples of the lofty mission statements that Christian schools promote. Claims like impacting culture and developing a biblical worldview are central to our calling as Christians (Matthew 26:19–20, Matthew 5:13–16). Therefore, it makes sense that Christian institutions designed to train the next generation would adopt such worthy mission statements.
But are the efforts of Christian school teachers aligned with our critical calling?
Maybe. But also, maybe not.
Our culture’s noise is loud, persistent, and persuasive. No better illustration of this exists than the Taylor Swift phenomenon. At each and every visit to a Christian school in the last two years, Taylor Swift has been there.
What began with a classroom observation to see evidence of biblical worldview immersion shifted to an awareness of a phenomenon. Eventually, it became a matter of concern. The mention of Taylor Swift by middle or high school students would be understandable. What has become so concerning is that each mention, celebration, and discussion of Taylor Swift has not been from students but from Christian school educators leading the learning process. Here are a few examples:
- A class playlist was being discussed. The teacher mentioned having to add music from “Queen Taylor.”
- An ELA teacher was reviewing the rules of capitalization. Each example was related to Taylor, her albums, or students’ favorite songs.
At a recent Educators Conference, the mention of Taylor as a poor role model for our students prompted a young teacher to approach me afterward, ready for a passionate defense of Taylor’s character and beliefs.
The list could go on. The point of this article is not to convince you that Taylor should not be celebrated or held up as a role model (though we align with many others who wholeheartedly believe this). We believe any disagreement on the topic (and many others related to culture) should be approached through meaningful processing from a biblical worldview.
Few of us have engaged in distinctively Christian processing, nor have we capitalized on the opportunities to do so in the Christian school classroom.
Effective processing is under-utilized and devalued in our culture. Group thinking and cultural peer pressure have become the dominant shaping influences on thinking. Yet, fostering our students’ biblical worldview formation is inextricably dependent upon helping them acquire and practice the skills to process their experiences, beliefs, or even pop icons in light of biblical truth.
The 5 Rs of processing help students navigate this type of distinctly Christian processing. As with all aspects of education, teachers should scaffold the process in age-appropriate ways, incrementally working towards an independence that will serve students well post-graduation. The framework is progressive, with each step building upon the previous step. Depending on students’ ages, teachers may spend more time at the beginning or end of the framework, given their students’ developmental abilities.
Restate – Have students reveal what they know about the topic. This initial step may feel reminiscent of the K (or know) part of the KWL tool. The key for us as teachers is to listen; there may be misconceptions or untruths, but listen actively and compassionately. Showing you are willing to listen without immediately jumping in to correct faulty perceptions establishes rapport with students, which will help in future parts of the conversation.
React – Discover the emotions underlying the topic. Emotions are a valid part of our DNA as beings made in God’s image; the Bible shows how even Christ expressed emotions while walking the earth. Understanding the emotions a student is feeling can help us better minister to our students and inform our approach to the topic. With the growing presence of social media and phones, the younger generation’s emotional response is further complicated by the threat of social disharmony and isolation. Ignoring the emotional aspects that arise can stunt our students’ processing of experiences and impact their well-being.
Revise – Next, we help revise students’ thinking to reflect the way things actually are. We want to teach our students how to hold up their perspectives and reactions against the authority of Scripture and assure them that doing so is fundamental to truth-seeking. Young people increasingly rely on unreliable news sources and tend to adopt a postmodern dependence on feelings. And although the internet can be helpful in this revision stage, students must learn to perform searches and filter out opinions disguised as truth. Teach students to dig into scripture and introduce godly, trustworthy Christian authors and speakers as they seek truth. The end goal of revising is to evaluate and adjust initial thoughts and perceptions by purposefully seeking objective truth that aligns with Scripture.
Recognize – Seek to recognize the issue’s importance. We ask: “Why does this matter?” “How is it significant?” ”How much time should we devote to this?” Up to this point, we’ve been disassembling ideas. However, during this stage, we begin to pull things back together. We consider the initial claims, the emotional response, and the truth, and then we help students draw conclusions about the issue. In some cases, we can guide students to put issues in their proper perspective in life.
Respond – Finally, we explore how we are to engage with the topic as Christians. Students see plenty of examples of non-biblical responses to all kinds of situations, which is why this stage is critical. We must guide our students’ responses to the topic, rooting that response in biblical truth.
In fairness to Taylor Swift (and any Swiftie reading this), she is one of the most recent pop culture phenomena. In fact, we debated focusing this article on the recent TikTok interruption and the strong reactions from Christians and non-Christians of all ages. As Christians tasked with building a biblical worldview in our students, we all benefit from effectively processing the ideas promoted by culture that capture the hearts and attention of many—young and old.
Renowned Christian author C. S. Lewis stated,
I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.
As Christian educators, his words remind us that in the same way that the sun illuminates everything around us, allowing us to see the world clearly, a Christian worldview provides the framework to see, interpret, and engage all aspects of life (even Taylor Swift) through the lens of faith. How powerful for Christian educators- after all, we are in the business of understanding and interpreting!
Classroom Snapshot: Assessing Worldview in the Classroom
As we partner with educators continuing to study and refine their thinking and practices to align with the principles of biblical worldview immersion, the topic of assessment often comes up in conversation. We often get questions like:
How do we assess a student’s heart? Can we even assess their biblical worldview? Can I expect that if they aren’t saved?
That is why this month, we are excited to highlight the extraordinary work of Ms. Skiles, a first-year, out-of-field, middle school science teacher who found an approachable and authentic way of assessing biblical worldview in her content area within her first quarter in the classroom! Join us on Apple Podcast or Spotify to listen in and learn about her powerful practices for immersing content and assessing it from a biblical worldview.
Talk with us! Share a question, comment, or example of how you use the principles of biblical worldview formation in your classroom!
Visit us and share your thoughts about upcoming topics by visiting us on our Educator Facebook page.
Resource Corner
Train-the-Trainer: The Center for Biblical Worldview Formation at Summit provides world-class professional development in biblical worldview immersion. It enables teachers and other staff members to saturate all they do in the biblical worldview formation process. This equipping will soon be accessible to more schools through our new Beyond Biblical Integration Train-the-Trainer opportunity. This 3-day intensive training will be offered in the fall of 2025 on the Summit campus in beautiful Manitou Springs, Colorado. Completing this program will certify educators to provide Summit-approved training in their own schools. Space is extremely limited, so please visit our interest form for more details and to submit your contact information so you can be on the list to get our registration link when released.
Biblical Truth: Here at Summit, we understand that truth matters. That’s why we’ve identified core biblical truths that are cyclically woven throughout our Bible curriculum. Learn more about our Bible curriculum for Grades K-12.
Upcoming Biblical Worldview Immersion Conferences: Dig deeper into immersing your classroom content and methods in a biblical worldview by joining us at an upcoming educator conference. We are accepting registrations at the following location:
Summit’s Biblical Worldview Immersion Conference – Greater Atlanta Area hosted by Mount Pisgah Christian School
9875 Nesbit Ferry Road | Johns Creek, GA | 30022
June 9–10, 2025
Registration now open!
If your school is interested in hosting a regional school conference in your area, please contact us to start the conversation.