“How was Sunday school today? Did you have fun?”
This question is often the first thing parents utter after picking up their kids from Sunday School. Let’s be honest—it’s the first thing we ask when we pick our kids up from anything.
About ten years ago, I made a resolution to only ask this question of my kids when picking them up from things that merited it. A birthday party. Ice skating. The playground. For those things, fun is the whole purpose.
But why would I ask my kids if they had fun at volleyball practice? Why not ask them if they worked their hardest or improved in a particular skill? In the same way, why ask my kids if they had fun at Sunday School? After all, the point of Sunday School isn’t fun. That might be a side benefit, but the point is that they learned something about God or grew in their faith.
Our theme this semester, our final Expected Student Outcome (ESO) from the last six semesters, is that God cares about how we think, not just how we feel:
Think Critically, Creatively, and Collaboratively
In the Greatest Commandment, Jesus tells us to love him with not just our heart and soul and strength but also our mind (Mark 12:30). It’s no coincidence that David, in Psalm 139, doesn’t just ask God to “search me and know my heart,” even though that’s the part we often memorize. He also asks God to “try me and know my thoughts” (Psalm 139:23).
We are not just feeling beings who know and worship God with our hearts. We are also thinking beings who know and worship God with our minds.
As a Christian school, this is pretty important to us!
This shines through in Philippians 4:8, our theme verse for this semester:
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
For Paul, while certainly not exhaustive, this list embodies key habits of a Christian mind. And I love how these connect to the habits that we articulate in our ESO this semester:
| Our Expected Student Outcome at CHA | Habits of Mind Worthy of Praise in Phil 4:8 |
| Think Critically | Whatever is True and Pure |
| Think Creatively | Whatever is Excellent and Lovely |
| Think Collaboratively | Whatever is Just and Commendable |
Understanding what is true and what is pure is not always easy. In a world of deepfakes and constant media spin and ceaseless sales pitches from every direction, the ability to think critically with healthy skepticism and prodding questions is perhaps more needed than ever.
Thinking with excellence and producing something that is truly and uniquely lovely and compelling and inspiring requires the creativity that God has put in our minds. This isn’t just artistic or aesthetic—it’s problem solving and Gordian knot-busting. In a world where copy-cat culture is thriving, we need creative thinkers.
And being truly just and producing something that is socially meaningful to the extent that it might have a commendable impact on a community or a segment of society requires EQ, empathy, and collaboration.
I’ve said it many times: if our students are God’s workmanship, my prayer is that CHA will function as His workshop, producing Christ followers that not only love God with their hearts, but also love him with all of their minds, using their gifts to bring justice, excellence, and truth to his world.
So next time you pick up your kids from school–or Sunday school—resist the urge to ask about the entertainment value. Instead, ask them what they learned, or how they grew, or even what they might do in the name of Jesus with the new knowledge they’ve been given. Change the question, and you just might change the way they think!
—JT
