A few weeks ago, I had the privilege of sharing at the Primary chapel on the topic of creativity and creative thinking. It was so much fun for me to be able to speak with all our Primary students.

I shared with them about the breadth of creativity.

As God’s image bearers we are all capable of creativity. It is one of the ways we can contribute good to the world. Unfortunately, we often narrow our view of creativity to the area of the arts. When asking a young person if they are creative, their knee jerk response is often that they can or cannot draw well.

Yet the breadth of creativity that God has placed in His creation is innumerable.

To see the beauty of an athlete as they thread a pass no one else can see, or the creative beauty of architecture and our built environment. The creative beauty in engineering a reusable rocket or developing a process to recycle batteries. The creativity of being a good friend in the playground or being a peacemaker. Our ability to be creative and the areas of life in which we can be creative are limited only by our imagination.

It was lovely to share this truth with our Primary school.

The other error we can often slip into is that creative and critical thinking is an either/or proposition. That is, I am either a critical thinker, or a creative on, not both. Here at Green Point we recognise this to be false and that creative and critical thinking is a both/and proposition. As God’s image bearers we are can be both critical and creative thinkers. We are called to build both ways of thinking to be complete and mature co-workers in His kingdom.

Creative and critical thinking are a complementary pair and cultivating both allows students to be good problem solvers. Here at Green Point we seek to build both sets of skills in our students so that they might feel confident to tackle the problems they will inevitably face.

Building thinking skills is hard and requires ongoing persistence, determination and courage, so I will finish today with a quote from the philosopher Winnie the Pooh.

“Did you ever stop to think, and forget to start again?”

Have a blessed week in preparation for Easter.

Human Rights, religious discrimination and Christian Schools

Many of you may be aware of the ongoing dialogue that has been going on in our community around the issue of human rights, religious discrimination and Christian schools and other religious organisations. It has been underway for the last few years and is leading to several legal changes occurring across the country.

Yesterday the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) handed the Government their recommendations for changes in Commonwealth law in this space, it was called Maximising the Realisation of Human Rights: Religious Educational Institutions and Anti-Discrimination Laws 

The recommendations that have made by the commission are quite significant, particularly for Christian schools. The recommendations do not maximise the realisation of human rights and they shift the balance of those rights very significantly. Most notably the report recommends that the laws that allow Christian schools like Green Point Christian College to preference Christian staff in employment will be removed.

The broader shifts will have a significant impact on the plural and multicultural nature of our country as it will make it more difficult for various cultures to practice their religious and cultural beliefs if they cut across the dominant narrative of the time.

If this is an issue that concerns you can I ask that you consider responding in one of a few ways.

• You can sign up to this website. https://mychristianschool.au

• At this website you can also send an email to your local member using the form they have provided

• You can share a positive story that Green Point or another Christian school has had in your life or the life of your children.

• Finally, can I encourage us all to pray that God will guide the decision of our government and that a good balance will be struck. We can also pray for ongoing protection, no matter what the outcome.

Joel van Bentum
Principal