Do believers in your church look at life through the lens of a Christian worldview? Forming a Christian worldview should be an instructional essential of every local church’s educational plan. Achieving that goal in the life of every believer may sound like an intimidating responsibility for Sunday School teachers, youth workers, and even pastors. The term “worldview” may conjure thoughts of a weighty series of lectures, necessitating familiarization with such themes as the history of philosophy, studies on comparative religions, and the analysis of contemporary culture. Those issues may seem beyond the teaching capabilities of the faithful servant of the Lord who is ministering in the church rather than in a school of higher learning.

While a higher-learning institutional approach has validity, another way to achieve this educational goal is within the reach of every church—the expositional preaching and teaching of the Bible. This expositional emphasis must be present and must remain an integral component of every Christian education setting, including the church. In simple terms, a worldview is the lens through which a person processes the world around him or her. The Bible is God’s written revelation; it is the singular standard of truth to which everything else is subject. The pastor or teacher who faithfully teaches learners the Word of God is giving them God’s lens through which to view the world.

For example, consider the worldview mind-set that a preacher or teacher develops in learners when that spiritual leader skillfully guides them through the book of Romans:

Origins: God is the source of the entire universe.

Authority: Everything is under the sovereign rule of God and is ultimately subject to Him.

Ethics: God has established the rules by which life is to function. No one is exempt from being answerable to Him for his or her actions.

Human nature: Sin has so scarred humanity that no one is inherently good.

Consequences: Every person is guilty before God because of sin, and each one faces a sentence of eternal judgment.

Mankind’s potential: No one can of him- or herself overcome personal sin; therefore everyone is on a downward spiral to destruction rather than on an upward climb toward self-improvement.

Ecology: The entire creation is straining due to the presence of sin.

Solutions: The only way out of the universal dilemma of sin and its curse is by faith in the redemption made possible through Christ’s sacrifice. God’s gift of salvation is the only eternally reliable means to right the wrongs of society.

Social activism: The church’s responsibility toward the world is not mobilization for social programs but the work of missions, carrying the gospel to those who have not heard it. “For ‘whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.’ How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things!’ . . . So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:13–17).

Geopolitics: In the past God made a covenant with the nation of Israel through which He would bless all the nations of the world. Israel is currently in a state of divine judicial blindness, but God will keep His covenant and will one day restore Israel through His divine Deliverer. All human governments derive their ultimate existence from God. Believers are to be subject to human governments.

Social interaction: Believers are to love their neighbors and to neither judge nor offend their fellow believers.

From this one book of the Bible alone, the preacher or teacher shapes learners’ views. The church is the pillar and ground of truth. By consistently preaching and teaching the whole counsel of God, your church can achieve the lofty educational goal of helping each believer develop a Christian worldview. As Paul wrote to Timothy, “Preach the word!”

This “Speaking Out for Truth” challenge coincides with John Greening’s ACTS vision for the GARBC churches, presented at the 2006 Annual Conference.