Three Ingredients to Transformation

Having grown up in a high poverty area of Los Angeles, I felt blessed over the years to be able to succeed in completing my teaching degree and later an administrative certificate that allowed me the privilege of serving families with familiar circumstances as the ones that I knew from my childhood. My mission was not just teaching math and language arts, but to touch the lives of my students and their homes so that they could envision a bright future for themselves. 

We often see the communities we serve and feel like perhaps a transformation within is needed, but how does transformation really take place?

Jeremiah 29: 11-13 tells us that God actually has plans for us. Take a moment to wrap your head around that idea. The God that hung the planets and stars in the universe, knows you intimately enough to actually make plans for you! Then He says that we can rest assured that the plans, as bumpy as they may feel at times, will lead to a future full of hope.

During these interesting times, we could probably agree that our communities are in crisis mode and in need of a major transformation. Romans 12:2 says that I should not be conformed to this world, but transformed by the renewing of my mind.  This verse tells us that with God, transformation is essential and possible through Him.  But, what is my role in this process as an educator?  What are the ingredients leading to transformation? What difference can I make?

In speaking to audiences of teachers and administrators, I came up with three essential institutional ingredients that, if they are healthy and working well, can cause transformational change in our communities in one generation’s time.

Family

The first of these ingredients is the institution of the family. Families in our community who function according to God’s plan  raise their children in a loving environment that supplies a steady dose of physical and emotional support, protection from the outside environment, and positive examples for their children. This provides an institutional ingredient that can change our communities for hope and prosperity in one generation’s time.

Faith-Based Institutions

The second institutional ingredient needed for transformation is our churches. Why our churches? Our churches have access to entire families! When our churches are functioning according to God’s plan, that is, they are preaching the good news of salvation, they are feeding the poor, giving shelter to the homeless, providing God- based counseling to their congregants, and teaming up with healthy families, our communities can change towards hope and prosperity in one generation’s time.

Educational Institutions

The third institutional ingredient needed for transformation of our communities is that of our educational institutions. Our country was founded on the idea that an educated population is less easily tossed about by empty philosophies that can hijack our understanding of the inherent principles of justice and goodness that our forefathers spoke of almost two hundred and fifty years ago. When our schools and universities provide a place where our students can feel safe to explore all that is within the academic menu, and we provide a nurturing environment with teachers and administrators leading the way as good examples for our children, then our educational system becomes an essential ingredient for community change for the good.

Each of us in the field of education has a special role and calling to create an environment that allows for shaping and renewing of the mind. One person can touch many lives in the classroom. I still remember my fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Minigan, who was patient with me and caring with her discipline. This allowed me to go home to my busy but nurturing parents who made sure that I was ready for church every Sunday morning. I got a great dose of all three ingredients that set me on my eventual path in education that allowed me to touch the lives of students just like me. These are formidable ingredients. You are just one person, but you are a key to transformation and you make a difference.