Accepting a paid or volunteer position at Redwood Christian Schools (RCS) is to be considered with utmost prayer and thought.
It is critical to understand that by accepting any position at RCS, regardless of title or job description, the person becomes a Christian Minister, involved in the ministry of teaching. The simplest definition of being a Christian Minister at RCS is to find a need and help to meet it with the purpose of glorifying Jesus. Every Christian Minister at RCS is expected to teach our students what it means to be a Christian in both word and deed (James 1:22-25), through the way they glorify God by modeling Christ.
The truth of Luke 6:40 cannot be denied, when a student is fully trained, they will be like their teacher. Christian Ministers at RCS daily model Christ to our students. RCS desires Christian Ministers who: 1) are thoroughly committed to Jesus Christ and the truth of the Bible; 2) live out a Biblical Worldview; and 3) are wholly committed to the ministry of RCS so that they are able to train our students in the way they should go, so that when they are old, they will not depart from them (Prov. 22:6).
RCS believes that each Christian Minister is called by God to help raise up students in the ways of faith, modeling Christ through all that they do. The Christian Ministers at RCS are following in the footsteps of Jesus, our Savior, who was also a teacher. He gathered his disciples and others around him and taught with such conviction and truth that the "many who heard him were astonished, saying, 'Where did this man get all this? What is the wisdom given to him? What mighty works are wrought by his hand!'" (Mark 6:2). His apostles, likewise, were teachers and gave witness "with great power" through their words and deeds, and "gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all" (Acts 4:33).
The ministry of teaching at RCS obligates each Christian Minister to assist their students in understanding academic subjects, promote their social and emotional health, provide life skill guidance, and any other instruction that supports the Scripturally devoted Core Values and RCS Mission to equip students for daily living and eternal life. This applies not only to mathematics or science, but how the order and discipline of mathematics or science reveals the mind of God. It obligates one not only to instruct in geography and history, but to inculcate the faith by helping students know that God created all things for His own glory, and to learn that human discoveries, empires, conflicts, and social movements are measured by the divinely ordained order. The ministry of teaching at RCS requires one not only to help students acquire the skills in English Language Arts and Foreign Language, but to also understand that human language is a primary means by which students might communicate the Gospel of Jesus and the other truths contained within the sacred Scripture itself—all of which indirectly or directly disclose salvation history. Regardless of the subject, Christian Ministers at RCS instruct their students by helping them follow Paul's admonition:
"Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, do; and the God of peace will be with you." (Phil. 4:8-9 RSV)
Christian Ministers at RCS must be ever mindful that they instruct not only through rational explanation of formal subject material, but even more powerfully through word, deed, example, and shared experience. Simply put, they teach the Christian
faith by modeling Jesus. This is why all Christian Ministers, even before their first meeting with students, must subscribe to the RCS Basis and Purpose, Statement of Faith, and the job specific Teacher (Administrator, Staff, Board, or Volunteer) at Redwood Christian Schools. This is why Christian Ministers are required to display a Godly example, both at school and away from school. Christian Ministers must teach truth and avoid falsehood. "Therefore, putting away falsehood, let everyone speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members of one body. ... Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for edifying, as fits the occasion, that it may impart grace to those who hear" (Ephesians 4:25, 29).
Christian Ministers model Christ to students by providing them with Biblically sound faith experiences. They lead in prayer, praise, and instruction with love and mercy. Paul urged Christians to "Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander to be put away from you, with all malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you" (Ephesians 4:31-32). Christian Ministers also model the Christian life by being active in their own church community and by serving as an intermediary assisting their students to become active in their respective church communities so that those students might be further nurtured in faith with their family, friends and the fellowship of Christian believers around them.