A new resource for Christian teachers from the Association of Christian Teachers (ACT)
When I first started working for ACT, it didn’t take me long to realise that Christian teachers up and down the country were asking many of the same questions I had wrestled with when I was in the classroom.
I loved teaching. I loved my pupils and colleagues, my subject, English, and I loved Jesus. I wanted to be a good witness in my workplace, but I was often unsure how my colleagues and line managers might respond. I wanted to answer my pupils’ questions honestly, without manipulating lessons or abusing my position.
Alongside these questions, I was concerned about the mental health crisis among pupils, the exhaustion and burnout experienced by colleagues, and an increasingly difficult cultural climate in which many of my Christian convictions felt at odds with the prevailing narrative.
Over the years, I’ve continued to hear these same questions from teachers across the country. How can I remain faithful to my beliefs when teaching parts of the curriculum I find problematic? Can I talk about Jesus in my lessons or set up a Christian lunchtime club? How should I respond to questions about gender and identity? And how can I navigate difficult conversations with my line manager?
It became clear that teachers needed something they could return to: a resource offering sound guidance, practical wisdom and spiritual encouragement.
That’s why we created Living for Jesus in Education.
Here are three reasons to read it.
1. Understand your rights and responsibilities
As a Christian teacher, you want to serve your pupils well, fulfil your professional responsibilities and remain faithful to Jesus. But knowing how to navigate the boundaries between your faith and your professional role can sometimes feel difficult.
Living for Jesus in Education brings together biblical encouragement and practical guidance to help you understand your legal rights and responsibilities. It addresses the questions teachers are asking about expressing their beliefs, responding to challenging situations and navigating potentially difficult conversations with colleagues and school leaders.
Whether you are unsure how to respond to a particular situation or simply want to be better prepared for the challenges ahead, this resource can help you approach your work with greater clarity and confidence.
2. Find wisdom for the everyday challenges of school life
Faithfulness in education isn't simply about knowing what you can and can't do. It's about learning how to respond wisely, build good relationships and make the most of opportunities to serve others and bear witness to Christ.
From navigating disagreements with colleagues and teaching sensitive curriculum content to supporting pupils and exploring opportunities for Christian fellowship, the resource offers practical suggestions for the situations teachers encounter in their everyday work.
You don't need to have all the answers, and you don't need to navigate these challenges alone. Our hope is that this resource will help you feel better equipped to respond with wisdom, grace and courage, whatever your particular role or school context.
3. Rediscover the bigger purpose of Christian education
Perhaps the most important reason to read this resource is that it invites us to think more deeply about why education matters in the first place.
Working in education is more than a job. It is an opportunity to serve our neighbours and contribute to God's purposes for his world. A biblical understanding of education can shape everything we do: from delivering the curriculum and building relationships with families to helping young people grow in knowledge, wisdom and character.
There is a further challenge for us as Christian educators: to rethink the barriers we may have constructed, perhaps unconsciously and incrementally, between Christian formation and our thinking about education itself.
For many years, I lived, perhaps without fully realising it, as though God did not exist or did not practically matter in education. I would feel a small sense of victory when I managed to introduce some Christian context into an English lesson, raise moral questions when studying Gothic literature or help with a lunchtime club. These were worthwhile things, but they were a long way from allowing a Christian understanding of the world to shape the very purpose and practice of education.
A friend once described the Christian foundations of our nation's educational heritage as the eggs and sugar, rather than the cherry on top. It captures the issue beautifully. Christianity was never intended to be an optional extra added to an otherwise secular understanding of education. It shaped the very foundations of how we understood knowledge, human nature, character and the purpose of learning.
Living for Jesus in Education seeks to begin a conversation about how we can recover this vision and put it into practice within the realities of contemporary education.
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We pray that Living for Jesus in Education will help you grow in knowledge, wisdom and confidence as you seek to follow Jesus in your workplace. Whether you are an experienced teacher or just beginning your career, we hope it will encourage you to see your work afresh and equip you to serve faithfully.
You don't have to navigate the challenges of being a Christian in education alone.
Living for Jesus in Education is produced by the Association of Christian Teachers (ACT), in partnership with the Lawyers’ Christian Fellowship and the Evangelical Alliance.
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