You may have missed it, but recently we celebrated Creation Day. Don’t worry if it slipped by without notice. September 1st doesn’t typically stand out on most Christian calendars, but in the Orthodox tradition, it marks Creation Day—a reminder that caring for God’s world is central to our faith. From September 1 to October 4, Christians worldwide are urged to pray for, reflect on, and take practical steps to steward God’s good creation. The existence of a designated period of time set aside to think about creation in Christendom indicates its importance.
The topic gained new significance about a few months ago, when I created a LinkedIn post discussing the teaching of evolution in Advanced Placement (AP) classes within Christian schools. I shared my wonderings about the wisdom of the widespread use of AP courses in Christian schools, given their historical presentation of a one-sided narrative that contradicts a biblical worldview. I also expressed concern that many Christian educators may not have been adequately prepared to teach how alternative worldviews can be examined in light of an intellectually robust biblical answer to tough questions. The response was tremendous.
By way of brief recap, the variety of responses to that post left us at the Center of Biblical Worldview Formation with some takeaways:
- People feel very strongly about AP courses, but many have not considered how they shape students’ thinking and desires.
- Even among Christians, conversations about creation and naturalistic evolution are often marked more by emotion than by reason, leaving gaps in science- and history-based evidence.
- Some schools have not equipped teachers to move beyond “because the Bible said so” to engage important topics with evidence.
- Regardless of the subject or the grade level of the audience, the opportunity to think biblically about our content is tremendous.
It is evident that creation is excellent fodder for meaningful worldview work. But how do we move from surface-level reactions to deeper formation? One helpful framework designed to work through all topics from a biblical worldview is our Model for Biblical Worldview Formation.
The model is built upon six domains:
- Heart Orientation – a love for what is biblically defined as true, right, beautiful, and good
- Cognitive Propositions – aligning one’s ideas with God’s truth about reality and learning to engage alternative worldviews with a biblical approach to engagement
- Habitual Ways – one’s manner of living
- Awareness – an awareness that an individual has a worldview and is pursuing alignment of his or her desires, thoughts, and habitual ways with the principles of God’s Word
- Ownership – owning the process of formation through intentional, continual, and active alignment with Scripture
- Processing – working through an experience with the intent of generating new understanding and commitments that can be applied in other areas of learning and life
Let’s explore practical ways to use tough topics to build worldview thinking in our classrooms in just three of these domains.
- First, the cognitive domain encourages us to engage students’ minds: exploring evidence, analyzing arguments, and weighing truth claims about creation and evolution with intellectual honesty.
High School Science: Students examine competing arguments for origins by comparing evidence presented for intelligent design vs. naturalistic evolution, then write a position paper defending a biblical perspective with scientific support.
Middle School History: During a unit on ancient civilizations, students evaluate different cultural creation accounts and compare them to the biblical narrative, highlighting what each reveals about worldview.
Elementary Math: Students explore patterns and order in multiplication tables or geometry, then discuss how mathematical order reflects God’s character as a God of truth and consistency.
- Second, ways of being remind us that caring for the created world is not just an academic idea but a lived practice—we are co-creators and stewards, called to reflect God’s goodness through how we treat his world. As we gain experience in caring for God’s world, how we see, interpret, and engage with his world can change.
High School Environmental Science: Students design a project to
reduce waste on campus, connecting stewardship of resources to Genesis 1–2.
Middle School Literature: While reading Charlotte’s Web, students reflect on how relationships and care for creation mirror God’s call to tend and keep His world.
Elementary Art: Students create artwork using recycled materials, then reflect on how creativity and stewardship can work together.
- Finally, meaningful processing invites students to go beyond surface answers by researching, discussing, and collectively building a deeper understanding together. This layered approach allows students to move from head knowledge to heart conviction to faithful action.
High School Bible/Apologetics: After a debate on creation and naturalistic evolution, students journal on what new insights they gained, what remains unresolved, and how they might respond if challenged outside of class.
Middle School Social Studies: Students research current environmental issues, then present proposals that balance human flourishing with biblical stewardship, followed by group reflection on God’s purposes for creation.
Elementary Science: After planting seeds and observing growth over time, students draw and write about what they learned about God as Creator and Sustainer of life.
As a final note, we would be remiss not to comment on the creation science debate. If Christian schools fail to teach (in a robust and intellectually satisfying way) that God is the Creator of all things and that he holds all things together, we risk losing more than just one doctrine; we risk weakening the very foundation on which students understand their identity, purpose, and calling. Genesis 1 and 2 ground us in God’s purpose, his good design, and our place within it. Culture is actively challenging these Truths, and our students will encounter competing narratives at every turn. That is why Christian educators must provide not only biblical conviction but also intellectual evidence and thoughtful engagement.
But this is not just about creation—it is about how we approach every subject we teach. Whether you are leading a lab, analyzing a poem, teaching algebra, or directing a choir, your classroom is a place where students can explore and consider the goodness, order, and beauty of God’s world.
So here’s the deeper question to consider: How does my content area uniquely reveal God’s truth, goodness, or beauty, and how can I help students see it more clearly?
By Dr. Maggie Pope