Practical Step 3: Identify as a Christian
One of the most important faith steps you can take is to identify as a Christ-follower to others in your department and to the students in your classes.
In Class
Over the years of teaching, I've experimented with lots of ways of identifying myself as a Christ-follower.
I first took this faith step as a graduate student assistant--telling my students I was a Christian on the first day of class. I would use some words I learned from Dr. Walter Bradley: “Oh, something else important about me is that I’m a Christian, and I hope you can tell by the way I treat you in this class.”
Years later, I decided to tell my students I was a Christian midway through the semester. I wanted them to first see me as a reasonable, fun, accepting person who wasn’t the stereotypically portrayed judgmental, narrow-minded, and stuffy Christian.
Occasionally, I'd tell my students something like this on a Monday morning: “I hope everyone had a great weekend. I’d love to hear what everyone did, and how they relaxed. I had a wonderful time in church on Sunday, and I was struck by the sermon on God’s power. And since my family keeps the Sabbath, we did some special things to relax.”
Students might ask me about my “Sabbath keeping,” and I could engage my Jewish students on their traditions at that point.
When we identify ourselves as Christ-followers, we might approach it in a way that invites storytelling, even creates somewhat of a mystery. For example, this semester I might say to my English classes: “I’m Dr. Holleman, and something unique about me is that I began to follow Jesus as a freshman at the University of Virginia in 1994---the same year I switched from being a med student to an English major.”
Use a PowerPoint or Keynote Slide
A professor I know creates a compelling PowerPoint slide to introduce herself. On one particular slide, she gives her credentials, a picture of her family, and a line that says, “Jesus follower, 4 years.” Every semester, a student will ask, “What happened to you four years ago? Why did you begin to follow Jesus four years ago?”
In Your Office
Perhaps, the easiest way I can identify myself as a Christ-follower to students and fellow faculty is by the Christian books and the carefully selected posters, etc in my office. In my case, I’ll showcase the books I've written. Anyone stopping in will see that I wrote two books called “Seated with Christ” and "Guarded by Christ.” These books, prominently displayed, often generating a conversation.
Even though these books were published by a Christian publishing house rather than an academic one, the English department at Penn State graciously offered heartfelt congratulations and featured a story about my publishing on their faculty website.
There are many ways to identify publicly as a Christ-follower. It is important to find your own voice, to find what feels comfortable to you. Nevertheless, you'll find---as all of us have---that identifying as a Christian remains a faith step. But it's a step worth taking. Work to be known for who you are as a Christ-follower who wholeheartedly desires to reflect the Grandest One through excellent work as a professor.
--Heather Holleman
|