If you have been to your familiar department store of choice lately, then you’ve seen the plethora of Back to School displays. I usually note these passively, but this year’s display hit me differently. You see this month, I will become the parent of a school-aged child for the first time. My wife Lindsay and I will be sending our oldest child, Quinn, off to kindergarten. So to say I had a different flow of emotions seeing that display would be a vast understatement. Our little girl, who will be six in September, is preparing to embark on that initial right of passage that all young people make. It is one of those first steps into independence, being on her own, and discovering who she is away from the friendly confines of the family who has reared her up to this point.

Now of course I am biased, but I believe that Quinn will do fantastic in school. She has been able to take part in a wonderful early childhood program at First Baptist Church Lumberton’s Early Childhood Ministry that has equipped her with the skills to start strong. She is inquisitive, curious, and detail-oriented. I’m not worried about her one bit. It’s her parents that I have my reservations about.

Still, I am thrilled for her to have the opportunity to start her formal education journey. Admittedly, I loved school growing up, and have continued being a student into my adult life with undergraduate, graduate, and now doctoral academic pursuits. I believe education is able to unlock doors for people, not just in financial or career paths, but also into understanding more about who God has created them to be.

For me, a life of inquiry and a life of faith go hand in hand. From the outset, God stressed the importance of teaching the community’s young people so they could grow in their faith formation (Deuteronomy 11:18-21). We hear notes about pursuing wisdom across scripture such as in the Proverbs, “Intelligent people are always ready to learn. Their ears are open for knowledge (18:15), the Psalms, “I believe in your commands; now teach me good judgment and knowledge (119:66), and in the New Testament through relationships between mentors and mentees such as the Apostle Paul with his young in the faith students like Timothy. Of course, the most prominent example of this teacher/student relationship is with Jesus and his disciples. In Jesus’ pedagogy, mostly with his parables, but also his other discourses, he was quite fond of taking the everyday experiences that people knew, like agriculture, and using them to make a point about the human condition and the truth of who God is. Doing so allowed them to expand both their knowledge of the world around them and the Spirit of God within them.

So when I consider educational opportunities, I don’t see a great disconnect between the pursuit of inquiry and the pursuit of one’s faith. Sometimes folks may try to present the two in opposition to one another, but I think failing to grow in our knowledge of the world around us stunts the potential knowledge we can gain about ourselves, and thus the diversity of ways God has created us.

For example, I worry that the growing decline of creative arts (theater, dance, visual arts, chorus, band, etc.) in so many of our schools may prevent a child from discovering the gift of music that God has implanted in them. I worry that without the necessary support of school staff like bus drivers or teaching assistants, a child may not have the chance to realize the intricacies of God’s creation as seen in photosynthesis thus discovering that they enjoy working with the soil that God made. I am frustrated that our teachers and educators often have to dig into their own pockets to purchase supplies so that a child may know the joys of telling beautiful stories, not only of fictional characters they dream up from the expanse of their God-given imaginations but possibly limiting their abilities to tell the story of the goodness of God in their own lives.

People of faith and their respective worshiping communities are uniquely situated to be great supporters of our local community schools and educators no matter the form that educational process takes. This support can go beyond just purchasing supplies but includes being supporters and advocates for the work our teachers and staff do. We can be their cheerleader when so much tries to tear them down. We can be their voice to leaders in our communities and political chambers to ensure they have what they need to do their jobs. As followers of a Lord whose earthly ministry was built around teaching, we can lift up the importance of this role, and the valiant servants who take on the mantel of educator, rather than devaluing it as something that can so easily be dismissed.

With so many of our community’s residents preparing to return to the classroom this month as students, teachers, coaches, administrators, or staff, I invite you to pray for each of them. From our community colleges on down to early childcare centers pray for them. Maybe educate yourself on the needs of our various educational communities. Take the opportunity to speak to those educators in your respective congregations or communities, and thank them for what they do. Because remember, we are all students are we not? Hopefully each day we position ourselves at the feet of our greatest teacher, Jesus of Nazareth. For as Jesus himself said, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching.” (John 14:23, NIV). May we all be faithful students of our divine teacher.