Nurturing and Reflective Teachers:

A Christian Approach for the 21st Century

In this final chapter, Holtrop raises a number of issues as he draws together the themes of the book. In essence, he calls for Christian teachers and educators, in their various contexts and through their various concerns, to be authentic. He rightly notes the expectations and pressures being increasingly placed upon school and teachers – and responds: "The central question for the Christian teacher and Christian teacher educators is how can we be authentically Christian about all this?" This is the perennial question for Christians in all fields of endeavor, one that grows all the more vital as Western society moves further from its Judeo-Christian base.

The challenge for readers of this book (in particular) is to translate the need to be "biblically faithful but also socially relevant and culturally significant" into what happens in their everyday dealings with students. Our prayer is that, as Holtrop suggests, we will respond with "the only answer to the educational challenges at the threshold of a new age" – that we will reach out to our students "with love, nurture, and understanding of their essence as bearers of the image-of-God: their potential, their uniquely created creativity, their dignity and worth as daughters and sons of God."