God's word, students, and Christian classrooms: The why and how

Abstract

With ready access to God’s Word, it is challenging and disturbing to read research declaring “that only two in ten Aussie Christians read their Bible daily” (Hughes and Pickering, 2010, para. 1) and see census data showing that Christianity is declining in the community, especially among 18-25-year-olds (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2022). Blair (2016) contends that our culture has become biblically illiterate, lacking basic biblical knowledge. Because Christian education is predicated on God’s Word, Christian schools are in a unique position to contribute to efforts to reverse the current trend of biblical illiteracy. In this chapter, we define biblical literacy and discuss why it is important in contemporary Australian society. We then outline why biblical literacy is such an important aspect of a student’s education in a Christian classroom and consider how Christian teachers can be positively engaged in this journey and quest with their students. Finally, we describe practical ideas, scenarios, and examples of biblical literacy programs currently available in Australia and the South Pacific region.