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Everyday Christian Teaching: A Guide to Practicing Faith in the Classroom
Discover how ordinary moments in the school year can become occasions for making profound connections between faith and pedagogy.
In this encouraging and practical book, education expert David I. Smith invites Christian educators on a journey through the school year that will deepen their capacity to make thoughtful connections between their faith and their pedagogy.
Mirroring the rhythms of an academic year, the book embraces and explores the mundane moments that all teachers experience every semester. Starting the course. Setting some norms for interaction. Choosing how to frame the material. Assigning tasks. Repeating things. Pausing. Bringing things to a close. The topics are deliberately ordinary because, as Smith demonstrates, the shape of one’s teaching is mainly built from the unspectacular choices and actions that gradually shape the texture of life in the classroom. If educators want to think well about Christian faith and teaching and act well in the classroom, they need to learn to reflect well on those ordinary steps in the journey.
Everyday Christian Teaching builds on Smith’s previous book On Christian Practicing Faith in the Classroom, where he made a persuasive case for connecting faith and pedagogy. The new book aims to put this idea into practice, as Smith explains in the “Suppose we want to get better at thinking about faith and teaching together. What then? What does the road look like, and how do we walk it wisely? If we’d like to be a pilgrim, how do we make progress?” Taking up such questions with wisdom and empathy, Everyday Christian Teaching helps educators develop faith-informed insights and life-giving practices that can transform their teaching over the course of time.
In this encouraging and practical book, education expert David I. Smith invites Christian educators on a journey through the school year that will deepen their capacity to make thoughtful connections between their faith and their pedagogy.
Mirroring the rhythms of an academic year, the book embraces and explores the mundane moments that all teachers experience every semester. Starting the course. Setting some norms for interaction. Choosing how to frame the material. Assigning tasks. Repeating things. Pausing. Bringing things to a close. The topics are deliberately ordinary because, as Smith demonstrates, the shape of one’s teaching is mainly built from the unspectacular choices and actions that gradually shape the texture of life in the classroom. If educators want to think well about Christian faith and teaching and act well in the classroom, they need to learn to reflect well on those ordinary steps in the journey.
Everyday Christian Teaching builds on Smith’s previous book On Christian Practicing Faith in the Classroom, where he made a persuasive case for connecting faith and pedagogy. The new book aims to put this idea into practice, as Smith explains in the “Suppose we want to get better at thinking about faith and teaching together. What then? What does the road look like, and how do we walk it wisely? If we’d like to be a pilgrim, how do we make progress?” Taking up such questions with wisdom and empathy, Everyday Christian Teaching helps educators develop faith-informed insights and life-giving practices that can transform their teaching over the course of time.
227 pages, Paperback
Published February 20, 2025
About the author
David I. Smith
23 books37 followersI started out as a secondary school foreign language teacher in England. I quickly became intrigued by the ways in which implicit beliefs and values shaped the materials and ways of teaching that I experienced in classrooms. That theme has become my career-long research project. Most of my books have something to do with how faith gets expressed in classrooms. I now direct a research institute focused on how Christian faith relates to education as well as being involved in teacher education at Calvin College as an education professor. I serve as senior editor of the International Journal of Christianity and Education, and travel widely to work with schools and universities on faculty development. I have also been involved in shaping some online curriculum projects at http://www.whatiflearning.com and http://www.teachfastly.com.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
May 10, 2025
Phenomenal - perhaps the best book on Christian education (specifically deeper learning & formation) I’ve ever read. The vision Smith casts is irresistible and speaks to what I’ve hoped my own teaching could become some day. Smith’s work here doesn’t come off as naive or idealistic; he provides plenty of practical examples and suggestions. I’m excited not only to implement some of these strategies, but also to dig into the extended reading list at the end of the book. I highly recommend for anyone looking to strengthen their teaching as a formational practice for their students.
April 9, 2025
This is the best book on Christian teaching that I've ever read. It is practical without being prescriptive, and inspiring without being manipulative. I'm already re-reading a couple chapters and working on folding in some new approaches that Smith inspired. Highly recommend for any thoughtful Christian teachers beguiled by the intersection of those two descriptors.
April 25, 2026
The eminently practical book is rich with insights in short, powerful chapters that end with exercises to engage the reader in the application of our faith in all educational disciplines. Beginning with an invitation to wisdom as the students journey with the the teacher and quoting Parker Palmer, “I must take responsibility for my mediator role, for the way my mode of teaching exerts a slow but steady formative pressure on my students’ sense of self and world. I teach more than a body of knowledge and a set of skills. I teach a mode of relationship between the knower and the known, a way of being in the world” (p. 7), the author provides exercises throughout to encourage the reader to take action on each of the key topics, as follows:
INVITATION – Using an image from Comenius’ Orbis Pictus, Smith encourages the educator to walk the journey of wisdom with students through pilgrim practices, asking them to “learn to be wise” (p. 3).
BEGINNING – The Courage to Begin, Naming Names, Goals, Covenants and Hope, Starting the Story, and Gathering for the Journey. Smith quotes Quentin Schultze on the importance of the course syllabus, which should seek “to capture covenental practices for mutual responsibility and care…I want students to know specifically what is required of them. But I also want them to know what is required of me” (p. 27).
CONNECTING –Communion in Gift and Graces, The Performance of Duties, Learning Community Practices and Community beyond the Classroom. In writing about community, he notes “Our practices do not command grace, yet grace may work through our practices” (p. 55).
FRAMING – Speaking, Hearing, Hospitality, Coding and Beauty, Implicit Stories, and Showing and Hiding. A great quote on hearing (thanks to Walter Brueggemann) is “The alternative to listening is autonomy…I can maintain my own sense of control when I am the one speaking. In Jeremiah, God’s repeated complaint against Israel was that they failed to listen” (p. 74). As educators, this should not be our practice.
ASSIGNING – Looking for Answers, Here’s Your Assignment, Teachers and Burdens. Regarding assignments, Smith asks 3 key questions: How do you want them to engage in the assignment? How you think that engagement will help them grow? Why you think that? (p. 114).
PAUSING – Small Pauses, Pausing for Breath, Pausing for Connection, Pausing for Hospitality. Writing on the power of silence, Smith notes “I often find myself taking a half step back, unconsciously signaling space for the students to take over” (p. 127).
REPEATING – Rhythms of Imagination, Rhythms of Seeing, Rhythms of Reading. This fascinating connection of themes emphasizes the richness of doing something one has done again and again, opening up insights and deeper consideration. The author says that “Overrepetition of words and diminish their value. But educators who value delight in creation, care taken with the work of others’ s hands, and love of neighbor have good reason to repeat themselves in other idioms” (p. 162).
ENDING – Thinking Backward, Seeking Congruence, Judging and Blessing. “When endings recur, students learn to look for them. Students’ expectations about how we will finish tell us something about the story they have internalized about what their learning is for and where we are headed” (p. 174).
CLOSE – Learn to Be Wise, Go On Now. Closing with Comenius again, noting his “lavish investment in over 150 detailed woodcut images”, the text for the final picture is as follows: “Thus thou has seen in short all things that can be shewed, and hast learned the chief words of the English and Latine Tongue. Go on now and read other good Books diligently, and thou shalt become learned, wise, and godly. Remember these things: fear God, and call upon him, that he may bestow upon thee the Spirit of Wisdom” (p. 189).
Smith closes this exceptional book with a
collection of other books, websites, and references for each chapter. My selected collection of quotes here barely scratches the surface of the depths of Everyday Christian Teaching.
INVITATION – Using an image from Comenius’ Orbis Pictus, Smith encourages the educator to walk the journey of wisdom with students through pilgrim practices, asking them to “learn to be wise” (p. 3).
BEGINNING – The Courage to Begin, Naming Names, Goals, Covenants and Hope, Starting the Story, and Gathering for the Journey. Smith quotes Quentin Schultze on the importance of the course syllabus, which should seek “to capture covenental practices for mutual responsibility and care…I want students to know specifically what is required of them. But I also want them to know what is required of me” (p. 27).
CONNECTING –Communion in Gift and Graces, The Performance of Duties, Learning Community Practices and Community beyond the Classroom. In writing about community, he notes “Our practices do not command grace, yet grace may work through our practices” (p. 55).
FRAMING – Speaking, Hearing, Hospitality, Coding and Beauty, Implicit Stories, and Showing and Hiding. A great quote on hearing (thanks to Walter Brueggemann) is “The alternative to listening is autonomy…I can maintain my own sense of control when I am the one speaking. In Jeremiah, God’s repeated complaint against Israel was that they failed to listen” (p. 74). As educators, this should not be our practice.
ASSIGNING – Looking for Answers, Here’s Your Assignment, Teachers and Burdens. Regarding assignments, Smith asks 3 key questions: How do you want them to engage in the assignment? How you think that engagement will help them grow? Why you think that? (p. 114).
PAUSING – Small Pauses, Pausing for Breath, Pausing for Connection, Pausing for Hospitality. Writing on the power of silence, Smith notes “I often find myself taking a half step back, unconsciously signaling space for the students to take over” (p. 127).
REPEATING – Rhythms of Imagination, Rhythms of Seeing, Rhythms of Reading. This fascinating connection of themes emphasizes the richness of doing something one has done again and again, opening up insights and deeper consideration. The author says that “Overrepetition of words and diminish their value. But educators who value delight in creation, care taken with the work of others’ s hands, and love of neighbor have good reason to repeat themselves in other idioms” (p. 162).
ENDING – Thinking Backward, Seeking Congruence, Judging and Blessing. “When endings recur, students learn to look for them. Students’ expectations about how we will finish tell us something about the story they have internalized about what their learning is for and where we are headed” (p. 174).
CLOSE – Learn to Be Wise, Go On Now. Closing with Comenius again, noting his “lavish investment in over 150 detailed woodcut images”, the text for the final picture is as follows: “Thus thou has seen in short all things that can be shewed, and hast learned the chief words of the English and Latine Tongue. Go on now and read other good Books diligently, and thou shalt become learned, wise, and godly. Remember these things: fear God, and call upon him, that he may bestow upon thee the Spirit of Wisdom” (p. 189).
Smith closes this exceptional book with a
collection of other books, websites, and references for each chapter. My selected collection of quotes here barely scratches the surface of the depths of Everyday Christian Teaching.
July 20, 2025
This is another excellent book by David I. Smith by guiding readers to reflect on "everyday" practices in the classroom. Both private and public school educators can apply his principles, as they are not about using words to express faith but, instead, practices such as hospitality, listening attentively to authors' words, and so much more. The book should be read slowly and reflectively. Questions at the end of each chapter guide the reader in reflecting; they are also useful for small group conversation.
January 23, 2026
Immensely helpful and spiritually edifying. I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in making their faith a more present reality in the classroom. It isn't the most systematic or comprehensive work -- nor does it aim to be. What it does do, excellently, is present a series of thoughtful, practical reflections on Christian virtues, pedagogical practices, assessments, and in-class activities that help teachers better unite faith and learning. This was a beautiful and inspiring read.
October 3, 2025
This book has sufficient depth that I don't think I'll finish reading it while I'm still a teacher. What a gift this book is!
Organized around the decisions a teacher makes in course design, Everyday Christian Teaching provides examples and reflection prompts that guide the reader in thinking about how these choices may be distinctly Christian.
There's too much to implement in a semester, but this has already made a difference in my teaching this fall. Can't recommend it highly enough.
Organized around the decisions a teacher makes in course design, Everyday Christian Teaching provides examples and reflection prompts that guide the reader in thinking about how these choices may be distinctly Christian.
There's too much to implement in a semester, but this has already made a difference in my teaching this fall. Can't recommend it highly enough.
May 22, 2025
I have been reading this to determine if I recommend it for our all faculty summer read, and it has not disappointed. I'm excited to share Smith's latest book with our teachers, and to dig into it further as a facility next year. Thoughtful articulation of what it means to teach christianly. Biblical integration is not the icing on top, but the whole cake.
August 15, 2025
Books like this are so good because they cause me to burst with ideas and excitement but they are also so overwhelming because there's no way I could include or incorporate everything that it has to offer despite my deepest desires and best intentions 😅
October 24, 2025
I don't know of any other book that combines a meditative wisdom with straight forward practical tips. There are quotes worth framing in every chapter alongside to-do list items to write on post-its. It's one of the best books I've read.
February 14, 2026
This book was such a lovely, optimistic, and practical read. Smith does a beautiful job of honoring both students and teachers in this.
April 22, 2026
David has surpassed the brilliance of his previous book on Christian pedagogy, On Christian Teaching here. The brief chapters were a master stroke that invites slower reading and careful reflection, and perhaps frequent re-reading, a suggestion foreign to the time constraints many of us find ourselves pulled by at the moment. I am eager to share this with colleagues and friends alike - one of the most practical and yet thought provoking books on Christian pedagogy that I've read.
February 22, 2026
David Smith is always good but in this book, he excels himself. Smith explores how we might form a Biblical worldview in students as much through the practices of our pedagogy as in simply telling them how to think Biblically. A must for every teacher serious about forming faithful and wise students who will live for Christ. Our practices tell a story and we need to be sure the story being told is a true, good and beautiful one.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews