God placed His good creation in the hands of humans to develop it and be caretakers of it. They were given this task to glorify God. Genesis 1:28
“We are called to participate in the ongoing creational work of God, to be God’s helper in executing to the end the blueprint of his masterpiece”
Wolters, 1985, p. 44
How do we help students?
- Understand the task of biblical stewardship.
- Participate in Biblical stewardship through activities.
- Practice stewardship in caring for classroom resources.
Strategies
The Bible Project “Image of God” (Collins & Mackie, n.d.) is a useful resource to help students understand the task of Biblical stewardship.
Students can participate in Biblical stewardship through activities such as using statistics and percentages; finance; and optimal design; leading students to analyse their environment; and participating in stewardship over creation.
Students can practice this task in small ways by learning to value, share, and care for classroom resources.
Where possible, the challenge is to draw out the materialistic wealth stories “told” throughout mathematics textbooks and re-story these with biblical understandings (for instance, caretaking, gratitude, and generosity) in order to challenge worldview assumptions.
Here are some tools to help students consider biblical stewardship more deeply:
-
Student Outline: Algebra – the mathematics of predictability
Mathematics (algebra, functions, and graphs) are useful tools to model relationships in God’s creation. This allows us to understand, care for, and steward God’s creation in the way He intended. Read more
-
My story: Wealth – being wise with God’s abundance
Financial knowledge allows us to be shrewd with our finances, and in turn, this provides us with even more opportunities to be generous to others in need. Read more
-
Introductory PowerPoint: Wealth – being wise with God’s abundance
God’s original intentions were blessing, provision, and abundance. All our resources (including money) belong to God; He gives them to us to look after and use wisely. Read more
-
Poster: Finance – Generosity
God gives us good things in abundance, culminating in giving His Son Jesus. He wants us to be generous with His provisions. Read more