Christian education in the Christian college must go beyond the mere transmission of knowledge. It must put students, teachers and administrators in constant and meaningful contact with our Creator, Sustainer and Redeemer.

Christian education must prepare us to have that kind of relationship and friendship with God, enabling us to give Him the honour and glory throughout our lifetime.

As Christian educators, Christian education must first make an impact on our lives before we can have it, through us, make any impact on the students that come under our care.

For us to have this influence we must first have a clear understanding of what is the curriculum of Christian education.

"The single most important concern of Christian education should be the integration of learning, faith, and practice in every aspect of the curriculum." (Akers, 1994)

Christian education came into existence at the very beginning when God created the world. The Garden of Eden was the first place where school curriculum was practiced. All the elements were present: students (Adam and Eve), teacher (God Himself), schoolroom (the Garden of Eden), textbook (nature), a goal (that man should develop the image and glory of God the Father), counsellors and instructors (holy angels), knowledge (God's truth), and an end (everlasting life).

After sin came in, and throughout the ages, different models of education have been put into practice, however Christian education continues to focus on the knowledge represented by God's truth, integrated in the entire process of education.

Curriculum has become on of the key concerns of today's school, and its meaning has expanded to different connotations.

Oliva (1989) suggests: the curriculum is that which is taught in school, a set of subjects, content, programme of studies, set of materials, everything that is taught both inside and outside the school and is directed by the school. It is everything that is planned by the school personnel that the individual learner experiences as a result of schooling.

Another author Unruh (1984) states that curriculum is a plan for achieving intended learning outcomes. A plan concerned with purpose, with what is to be learned and with the result of instruction.

Doll (1992) defines the curriculum of a school as the formal and informal content, and the process by which learners gain knowledge and Understanding, develop skills and alter attitudes, appreciations and values.

Curriculum is a multi-concept word. It refers to different moments, elements, persons, norms, and materials that grant life to educational process. It contemplates the teacher as well as the student, the list of content as well as the subject matter, audio visual aids as well as human aids, all the educational policies of a nation as well as the institution itself, activities planned by the school as a whole as well as activities planned by the teacher at the classroom level, individual experiences as well as group experiences.

Pennicook,(1994) suggests "every aspect, theory and practice that seeks the learning of the student is known as curriculum."

All the definitions have one common thread: students, teachers (teaching and learning), knowledge and outcome, as well as the planning process by administrators and others.

Tyler (1969) considers that there are four questions which must be answered in developing any curriculum or plan of instruction:

        1. What educational purposes should the school seek to attain?

        4. How can we determine whether these purposes are being attained?

What then shall be the character and curriculum of Christian education? Shall it be according to the wisdom of the world or according to the wisdom that is from above?

The SDA Christian institution's curriculum relates to the four questions Tyler addresses, and goes beyond them. The curriculum must, according to Rossi (1994), possess these four attributes:

        (a) service-oriented;

        (b) Christ-entered;

        (c) Bible-based; and

        (d) Kingdom-directed;

Only when we reflect and practice these designs in our curriculum, will we be providing and facilitating a complete integration of faith in the curriculum.

Galbelein 1968) elaborates this integration of faith in the curriculum by saying that it is "a thorough-going integration of Christ and the Bible with the whole institution, with all departments of study, with all kinds of student activities, and with all phases of administration".

We must never forget that Christ Himself has charge, or is ultimately in charge of our institutions.

The model of curriculum that God intended should be patterned in our SDA institutions was instituted at the beginning of the world in the Garden of Eden. Elements of this model were represented after the Fall by the school of Israel, the school of the Prophets, and the school of Jesus.

IMPORTANT FEATURES OF THE SDA CURRICULUM:

1. The curriculum of these schools was God centered It included activities such as reading of God's word, studying the knowledge of God, developing character, spiritual activities like praying, singing, church tasks, studying God's word, labour and practical experiences that provide ways of glorifying God and giving service to man.

2. By integrating faith in the curriculum God's intention was to maintain communication with His people in order to direct them and bless them.

3. SDA educational institutions must continue today the education that began in Eden. Its message, the plan of redemption, is centered on Christ. The purpose of integration of faith in the curriculum is to provide students. Faculty and the school community as a whole the opportunity to associate themselves with Christ

4. Integration of faith in the curriculum seeks to honour God's truth in all phases both in the ideological and operational levels.

5. Integration of faith in the curriculum implies that the biblical faith will be the point of view that will direct both the theoretical decisions and the experimental daily life of administrators, teachers students in the college setting.

In order for us to ensure that these features become part and parcel of our teaching, we may have to, in some cases, make a complete shift in our paradigm. By taking up the mantle of "Christian Teachers" we are commissioned by Christ to play the role of Himself as teacher, as He was the teacher in the Garden of Eden. This is indeed a High and Holy calling, and only as we understand and see our self in this role, are we practicing real Integration of Faith and Learning, or practicing the Integration of Faith in the Learning process.

Integration of Faith and Learning is a conscientious and contemplated approach to enhance learning from a God-fearing perspective, and with specific aims and aspirations so as to better equip the learner to face the world beyond school and even beyond life. (Baldeo, 1995)

White (1948) suggests that Integration of faith provides the moment, place and conditions in which Christ must be brought into all the studies, activities, and programmes that students may drink of the knowledge of God and may represent Him in character.

Integrating Faith in the curriculum implies that all planning at the administration level, decision making, defined policies, and regulations are seriously influenced by God's Words. It implies that all instructional procedures are also filtered by the message of faith, grace, love, and Christ's mission from the Bible. It implies that all evaluation actions will reflect a Christ like attitude.

This is the crux of the whole matter of Integration of Faith in the Learning Process. True Integration CANNOT take place unless we have Christian Teachers. Having an academic degree, and passing out knowledge only, cannot constitute Christian Education. May I say here that being a SDA in good and regular standing, having high level positions in your church, and then being a teacher - does not make you a Christian Teacher. You may be a teacher who is a good Christian, but that will not suffice here. I want to propose here four qualities that must be an integral part of the philosophy of the Christian teacher.

    1. The Christian Teacher sees every student that comes before him/her as souls to be saved for  God's kingdom, and so what is done in the classroom or out (the whole curriculum in practice) must be done with this background in mind.

          2. We must see every student that sit before us as having potential and capabilities that we can work on taking that student from where he/she is to where we want him/her to be.

          3. The Christian teacher shall prayerfully help students learn attitudes, skills, and subject matter that will contribute to their all round development as mature, able, and responsible persons to the praise and glory of God.

    4. The Christian teacher must be a role model in attitude, speech, and actions toward his or her students and others, where his or her sayings and doings must be conveying the same message.

The Christian Teacher Faith must be Christ-Centered. To have the philosophy of SDA Christian education in your being would mean that Christ must be the center of your life. In other words the Christian teacher must be reflecting Christ in everything that is done since everything that is done plays a critical role in the learning process. If Christ is not the focus and center of the Christian Teacher's life, he/she cannot be integrating Faith in the Learning Process.

Integrating Faith in the Learning Process is not just having a devotion and prayer before every class or even making Biblical references in your teaching. It goes much deeper than that. The need for integration comes from the deep inner desire to see souls saved for God's kingdom. This is not something you just learn overnight, this is something that one's philosophy of life must be built and molded on. The good news here is that the more we practice it, the more we become perfected in it.

Each of us at this University, MUST be exemplifying the Master Teacher in what, why how, when, where, we say or do, and in even what we do not say or do.

May God help us to continue to emulate such a philosophy in our interacting as Christian educators. Let us take stock of our lives to see if we are really on or off track. If we find ourselves lacking in some way, I pray that we would get down on our knees and let us be led by the Master Teacher Himself, so we can be instruments used, through our curriculum, to lead others to Christ.

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