The Christian Teacher as Office-Bearer (Joel R. Beeke)

Table of Contents: 

Introduction: A Teacher-Valued, Christ-Centered, Reformation-Grounded Approach

1. Bearing Christ’s Prophetic Office as Teachers

2. Bearing Christ’s Priestly Office as Teachers

3. Bearing Christ’s Kingly Office as Teachers

4. Conclusion: The Beauty of Christ’s Threefold Office for Teacher

In this book, my dear brother rightly shines the spotlight on our hearts as teachers. Curriculum content, instructional strategies, pedagogical understandings, and discipline methods are important, but the most essential for the Christian teacher is to model Christ. While this treatise does provide gems of practical application, its target is the heart. Christian teachers (whether parents, schoolteachers, elders or pastors), are called to be living reflections of Christ. We are the picture our children or students witness. The impact is often lifelong, and the result can be eternal. The author insightfully examines the heartbeat of our Christian teaching under the headings of Christ’s offices: prophet, priest, and king. We all need to grow as Christian teachers in becoming Christlike prophets in teaching; as priests in sacrificing, praying, and being a blessing for; and as kings in servant leadership of, guiding, and protecting our children and students. And when overwhelmed with our own insufficiencies, this book again points us to the sufficiency of Christ. Read this short book. It clearly displays the foundation and hope of Christian education and the heart and love of a Christian teacher, which is Christ the Teacher of all Christian teachers.

–James W. Beeke

Joel Beeke is a gift to the church. He combines the rare gifts of rich depth and simplicity. This little book is a gem. Using the pattern of Christ’s three-fold office as Prophet, Priest, and King, Beeke unfolds the privileges and responsibilities of being a teacher. We will be providing this book for all our teachers at our Christian school and for our Sunday school teachers, homeschoolers, and teaching elders, as well as making it widely available to all who have the responsibility to teach. To say that it is inspirational is no exaggeration.

 –Dr. Brian Borgman