Maddie MacMath

INTR 614: Curriculum Development

Dr. Cheri Pierson
Spring 2017
Reflection 1: Philosophy of Ministry and Education
For my undergraduate Christian Education degree, I had to write a comprehensive paper
encapsulating my philosophy of ministry. Despite the fact that I took the class as a sophomore,
unsure of the trajectory of my life post-Wheaton, I had already begun attempting to articulate just
what a life of serving the Lord might look like for me. At the time, I was unsure of the specifics
of my calling and had yet to uncover a passion for teaching, specifically teaching English as a
second language. Yet, my overarching purpose still holds true. I began the fifteen-page paper
with a quote from A. W. Tozer, written in The Pursuit of God: let every man abide in the calling
wherein he is called and his work will be as sacred as the work of the ministry. It is not what a
man does that determines whether his work is sacred or secular, it is why he does it (Tozer 127).
Here, Tozer is getting at what I see as one of the overall, driving principles of my life. Regardless
of what Im doing, whether teaching English, raising children, or something entirely different,
and regardless of where Im doing it, whether in the States, in a refugee camp in the Middle East,
or secularized cities in Europe, what matters is where my heart is in it. Obviously, I feel some
sort of call to teach English, specifically with refugees in a cross-national context. However,
Im not merely in this program because of some illusive sense of call; I genuinely love
teaching, I cant imagine not being involved, in some way, with marginalized people, and seeing
students excitement over little progress is more life-giving than most other things. Ive found a
passion in teaching, a passion worth pouring my all into, and whether it feels important,
powerful, and transformational, or mundane and insignificant, theres a sense of value and
holiness in the motive behind the pursuit. The motive being seeing and glorifying the Living,

Triune God. While being an English teacher may be a part of my identity, at the end of the day,
Im ultimately found in being the beloved of Christ. That makes everything that I do, no matter
how small, on some level, sacred.
In Donald Snows book English Teaching as Christian Mission, he talks extensively
about the dichotomy between teaching English as a profession and as a platform for vocational
ministry. Theres a visible tension there; one that has not always been done well in the history of
missiology. Ive come to the conclusion that at the end of the day, I want to be the best English
teacher I can be, irrespective of anything else. I dont say that lightly or without the assumption
that my faith in Jesus Christ will undoubtedly and often subconsciously permeate everything that
I do; my love for God is the thread by which everything else in my life is woven together and
theres a level at which that is inseparable. However, I dont see teaching as a means to an end of
prostelyzation. Honestly, I think that is a harmful schema that has infiltrated more than one
Christian vocation. Living our lives on the premise that the only meaningful work is that which
is tied to conversions and visible results seems to indicate a comprehensive lack in our view of
Kingdom work actually entails.
Its easy to remain in the theoretical when it comes to looking at both a philosophy of
ministry and a philosophy of education. For the sake of a reflection paper, it sounds meaningful
and poetic to talk about the crossover between the secular and sacred, regardless of what is
initially perceived as life-changing work. However, the real questions lie in what actually
happens when the rubber meets the literal, not proverbial, road. Ive seen the aforementioned
principles at work in the very detailed, mundane tasks that are required of the ESL teacher. The
first semester of my undergraduate senior year, I teacher aided in one of World Reliefs ESL
classes. I watched my teacher spend hours preparing activities, worksheets, and examples.

Personally, even writing lesson plans for the youth group that I pastor of has given me a sense of
just how much work goes into a 50-minute plan that students will ultimately struggle to
remember. If you find yourself reflecting on any of these specific, necessary preparatory tasks for
too long, it can quickly become a mental battle: what is the point? If the emphasis is on work that
feels important and transformational, work that fits a typical mold for what ministry is supposed
to feel like, teachers are going to find themselves burned out and disillusioned rather quickly.
Even beyond merely teaching, if we have such a high emphasis on what specific work can be
deemed spiritual, versus why all work can be meaningful, there are very few things in life that
will feel fulfilling. Cutting out letters and putting together tracing sheets become meaningless, if
not soulless tasks. Its important for me to begin living into this principle now, as I wash dishes
for my housemates, send out reminder emails to youth parents, and write hypothetical units, in
preparation for a future of doing the same sort of unglamorous tasks in a classroom someday.
To highlight some of the ways I hope to structure the unglamorous tasks for the sake of
learning, Ive articulated a simple purpose statement on my portfolio website: "Part of my overall
teaching methodology is an emphasis on creating a learner-centered classroom. Theres value in
the experiences of each student. Teaching requires patience and repetition; there should be space
for students to both succeed and fail with increasing confidence in their English proficiency. So
much of success in a language is predicated on feelings of accomplishment and autonomy in
mastery. The goal is to have the students excited to come back to class the next day and inspired
to practice their newly acquired skills at home." Ive found these revolving principles of
narrative, immersion, confidence, and community to be integral pieces that I want incorporated
in any future classroom setting. While students may not walk away remembering the specific
activities revolving around reading, writing, speaking, and listening, my hope is that they would

remember the overarching feeling and learning that happened in Ms. MacMaths classroom: that
they felt known, heard, free to both succeed and fail, and better equipped to use English as their
second language.