In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us. — Titus 2:7-8
The New Testament of the Bible contains twenty-seven books. One of these books is a letter written by the Apostle Paul to one of his helpers he was mentoring in the faith. The book is named after the person Paul was writing to - Titus.
In the middle of Paul’s letter to Titus, Paul reminds him, and all of us reading the letter, to be an example by doing good so people could not say anything bad about him. We are all encouraged to be a good example to others. As I write this, I am reminded again how important it is for us to be good examples for the young people in our care. In fact, it seems strange to think anyone would want to be a bad example for our young people.
Being a good example for my own children was something that used to worry me. Our children pick up the values and teaching we show much easier than the things we just tell them to do.
The Bible verses I started with from the book of Titus mention two specific ways to do good and show the young people in our care the right way to live:
Show integrity
Speak seriously and soundly
Integrity is one of our school values. Integrity is doing what is right because you know it is right or, in other words, do what is right, even when no one is watching. Sometimes our actions don’t line up with what we believe.
Speak seriously and soundly - do our young people know we mean what we say, or do they see a disconnect between our actions and our words.
When our eldest child was born, I remember someone telling us that the best way to turn children off church is to get them to church late consistently. You could comfortably count on one hand the times we have been late to church in over twenty years. As parents, we want to be good examples.
As teachers, we can show our students we don’t take our subjects seriously if we are constantly late.
As parents, we show how important subjects are by our conversations around them. I spoke to a parent at a school I was at a few years ago now. They were complaining about their child hating maths and doing poorly in maths at school. It turns out the parent had made a lot of comments to their child about how they, in turn, hated maths and did badly at school. Not a good example.
Let’s speak positively about all areas of the school to our young people and always act with integrity. It will give them the best shot at success at school. At Emmanuel, we can make a huge difference in the lives of our students.
Scott Winkler — Principal
