Values Education and Faith Formation: A Neat Fit or More?

Abstract

Values are ideas of merit that help determine an individual’s attitudes and actions. Therefore they are abstract ideas that manifest in concrete behaviour. In society, values are seen as the glue that enables otherwise diverse people to co-inhabit the earth and are seen in terms of behaviour. For Christians, however, values are seen in terms of character with their origin in the character of God. Therefore, the teaching of values is synonymous with teaching about God and values are something to become, rather than something to have. In a practical sense, values are absorbed through the school and classroom culture, by affirmation, by intentional inclusion in the curriculum, by clear definition and by experience. This emphasis on values education as restoration to the image of God through the influence of the Holy Spirit places enormous responsibility on Adventist teachers to authentically live God’s values and partner with God in the process of restoration,emphasising the symbiotic relationship between faith formation and values education.