40 Faces, 40 Places: A Devotional JourneySample

Dominic from Manchester

Sometimes whole-life discipleship looks like generously sharing learning with others.

My frontline is as an English teacher in a secondary school. There are times in the classroom when I feel like the Holy Spirit is doing something special. Occasionally there’s a weight to the silence after a poem is read or someone shares a story: everyone is somehow, beautifully, gathered into a shared ‘moment.’ Those moments feel sacred to me: holy, even.

I pray (though not enough) for my students, and I’ve seen relationships change, trust form, and negative patterns break and be replaced with goodwill. With some students, there are more barriers: serving them also means practicing forgiveness, building trust, and helping them to believe the world isn’t against them. There’s grace in all of that.

Education plays an important role in young people’s spiritual formation, so I try to serve God by serving my students. Sometimes, that looks like creating memorable moments in the classroom: ‘swordfights,’ top hats, and accents (of varying quality) all feature regularly. Of course, I want them to enjoy English lessons, but I also want them to spend the rest of their lives learning – because they know it's fun!

While praying near the end of a tough NQT year, I realized I’d been so focused on teaching that I’d forgotten to be a learner. My school runs a ‘Character’ program, and one of the badges is for the ‘Apprentice’ level in the ‘Learning’ category. So I pinned a badge to my lanyard to remind me I am and will always be a learner, both as a teacher and a disciple. It’s helped a lot and has been part of a few interesting conversations!

Reflection

Proverbs 11:24-25 explains that giving freely, being generous, and refreshing others are wise pursuits – benefiting the giver and the receiver.

There are many ways to do all three on our frontlines. For example, it’s clear that Dominic brings creativity and energy to his teaching role and works hard to create an environment where students can flourish – a giving, generous and refreshing environment. Ask God to show you who you can ‘generously’ refresh on your frontline today, whatever you’re doing.

Dominic also points out that a fundamental part of discipleship is to seek to keep on learning consciously. Perhaps we should all have ‘Apprentice – Learning’ badges! As you go about your daily activities today, ask God to help you notice what He’s teaching you.

Prayer

Lord, amongst my ordinary tasks today, help me be someone who gives freely, is generous, and refreshes others. Please help me stay open to Your teaching wherever I am today and whatever I’m doing. Help me learn from You – so I can do my tasks to Your glory and grow more like Your Son, day by day.