1

“How God Allowed My Service at

TWU To Be Part of His Story”

The 1637 Van Brummelen family Bible (the Dutch equivalent of the King James Bible)

2

My illness prevents me from being at the retreat. But a more handsome and articulate colleague has agreed to be my narrator . . .

Harro Van Brummelen

Matthew Etherington

[Just to prove that in my terrible twosmy curls were also second to none!]

3

My full name is . . .

Harro Walter Van Brummelen

4

So what?Well, the Van Brummelen part of the name is of little importance. In 1826 my great-great grandfather declared at his City Hall that from now on the family’s last name would be “van Brummelen” (“from the blackberries”) . He lived just out of town in “the blackberries wood” so everyone already for years had called the family “van brummelen.”

5

But what about that unusual first name?

Why “Harro Walter”? In 1923 on her seventeenth birthday my mother was given a new novel as a gift. The novel, Harro Walter, dealt with a young pastor of a large church in Rotterdam whose first name was Harro and whose last name was Walter.

6

The statement made by my parents . . .

Children in my family had always been named after grand- or great-grandparents. But my parents broke with that tradition. My name, Harro Walter, appeared nowhere among our ancestors. My grandmother was so furious that when she first saw me that she said that I was the ugliest baby she had ever seen.

7

So what statement did my parents make by calling me Harro Walter? As Christians, we were to:

Provide for the poor, the abused, the exploited, the ailing, and the grieving.

Bring the simple gospel of Jesus Christ to those in need.

Ensure that women have equal opportunities in life.

Faith has to affect every “square inch” of life. Therefore they supported the operation of a Christian university, a Christian political party, Christian schools, Christian media, etc.

8

Emigration & Calgary In 1953 my family emigrated to

Canada. In Halifax we received Canadian church literature as we boarded the train to Calgary.

My father declared (too quickly?) that perhaps God sent us to Canada to change what he felt was the churches’ dominant “individualistic fundamentalism” that would undermine a broad vision of the Kingdom of God.

Upon our arrival we attended and appraised many churches, but eventually settled in a Christian Reformed Church, not because of its “Dutchness,” but because of his hope that it would be most open to a “Kuyperian vision.”

9

McGill University A degree in math & physics was not the

most important aspect of my time at McGill.

After a year of wondering and wandering about my faith, I wrestled with God many nights, asking whether the “faith of my parents” was real and relevant.

God convicted me to trust Him, follow in Jesus’ footsteps, and “work out my salvation with fear and trembling.”

BUT: even for the early stages of my calling it took me several years of thinking through the implications of what that meant: God wanted me to take on that responsibility personally.

10

Teaching My first formal teaching experience

was a computer programming course for university professors while I worked on a master’s degree in computer science.

I realized I enjoyed teaching more than the research aspect of computer science, and ended up teaching math in an Ontario public high school.

However, I soon felt constricted in this large school by being forced to follow textbooks page by page, giving common assignments and joint tests.

11

Moving to a Christian school

I was attracted to a Christian high school for several reasons: First, the school had a team of teachers

interested in impacting our culture for Christ.

I was given the freedom to teach math in a cultural context, as creatively as possible.

[The school is, as far as I can tell, still the most technically and aesthetically and educationally creative one anywhere in Canada, with a student population that is ethnically and religiously diverse.]

12

Coordinator of BC’s Christian SchoolsFive years after becoming principal of the Edmonton Christian High School, God called me to move to British Columbia to become coordinator of a group of about 25 Christian schools.These nine years of leadership prepared me for my TWU vocation: Knowing the K-12 school system in BC Giving Christian curriculum and

pedagogy leadership to schools and teachers

Working with the government to implement BC’s independent school funding

Learning much about biblical servant leadership

Completing my doctorate in curriculum at UBC

13

Moving to TWU in 1986The main reasons for coming to TWU: Opportunity to develop a teacher education

program in an evangelical, inter-denominational setting

Having the freedom to base my teaching, writing, and leadership work with students and supportive colleagues based on a distinctive faith framework

Contributing to but also learning from evangelical traditions other than my own

Being part of the first Canadian Christian university, with long-term opportunities to implement grad programs

In the remainder of this presentation, I will give you a few examples of how God allowed my service at TWU to be part of His Story.

[My wife Wilma was taking her degree at TWU before my arrival at TWU.]

14

Example #1 of how God allowed my service at TWU to be part of His Story

In my first year at TWU I found that there were no suitable introductory texts for Christian approaches to teaching and learning—and yet TWU existed in order to enable students to consider, adapt, and implement biblically-based educational theory and practice. So in the summer of 1987 I wrote what was intended as a student CoursePack, initially with no plans to publish the manuscript.Now in its third edition and available in ten languages, the published text is still (to my surprise!) used all over the world, promoting Christian educational thought and praxis.

15

Example #2: Foundations of Education

Two intended learning outcomes of this course: Value the significance of the implications

of worldview perspectives on the theory and practice of teaching and learning

Appreciate the importance and complexity of educational issues such as teacher neutrality, pluralism, tolerance, moral and values education, and indoctrination

One aspect of this course was to analyze the thinking of a selection of Christian and other educators, both historical (e.g., Comenius, Charlotte Mason), and contemporary (e.g. , Paulo Freire, Nel Noddings) One surprising student

response

16

Example #3: EDUC 495: Critical Issues in Education and Culture

Arguably my favourite course at TWU is the School of Education’s IDIS 400 equivalent. Two of its intended learning outcomes:Learn why . . . A biblical view of justice can provide an

important basis for dealing with educational issues and dilemmas.

It is important to consider and deal thoughtfully with complex issues in education such as religion in the classroom, choice in education, education for indigenous students, globalization, and educating for a just and sustainable future.

17

Example #4: TWU’s Core ValuesA highlight of my time at TWU was when Guy Saffold and I headed a task force to come up with TWU’s core values. Why?First, the whole TWU community from custodians to staff to faculty became involved in the discussions, with papers written by committees, vetted widely, and then adopted by the Board. We knew what we were about!Second, our six core values are still relevant today: Obeying the authority of Scripture Faith-based and faith-affirming learning Promoting excellence Practicing servant leadership Discipleship in community Impacting culture for Christ

18

Example #5: The Supreme Court Case

TWU took up the challenge when the BC College of Teachers turned down TWU’s teacher education program because of our stance on homosexual behaviour. The case, in our view, was about a much broader issue: can faith-based institutions play a significant role in the public square while upholding their religious views? We gained widespread support when framing the issue this way, with the Supreme Court ruling 8-1 that“freedom of religion is not accommodated if the consequence of its exercise is the denial of full participation in society.”

Though tension-filled, I was glad to be able to be part of this process, as well as still being able to maintain good relations with the College of Teachers over the long run.

19

Example #6: My writings . . .

TWU gave me the freedom to research and write about topics that were important for growth in my worldview perspective. My thinking about student assessment, for instance, deepened so that in a book published last year I developed a model for assessment based on four metaphors: Assessment as blessing Assessment as grace Assessment as justice Assessment as covenant

20

Example #7: Servant Leadership

TWU enabled me to practice servant leadership in a number of ways: Designing the Educational Leadership

program of the MAL degree Being an informal leader as well as a

dean Giving leadership provincially, for

instance, by being a founder of the Association of BC Deans of Education and, in God’s divine irony, representing all BC teacher education programs as its President at the College of Teachers after the Court Case.

21

What does it all add up to? If this all sounds too good to be true: it is! My journey fell short in significant ways: Many faltering steps and insufficient insight My (stubborn Dutch) personality getting in the way:

compromise has not been my strength! Periods in my life when it was difficult to hear God’s voice Maintaining balance among my family life, my spiritual

journey, and my work (with, regrettably, often the first losing out)

YET: Like many of you who can also tell many distinctive stories, in hindsight I am deeply thankful for God’s guidance, and how He prepared me for every step along the way. That made it possible for me to serve Him, my students, and my colleagues within the framework of “holding firmly to the Word of Life . . . [so that] my service has been an offering to God.”

22

One final thought . . .TWU will always be primarily a tuition-driven teaching university. Much more than when I came in 1986, our current generation of students is a de-traditionalized one where students choose their own identity and often adopt the patterns of consumer culture. Christian identity now involves a student choosing an explicit option, one that is often not culturally supported.

This makes it all the more important that while we are a university that promotes critical thinking, at the same time we more than ever need to help students explore and be ready to choose a responsible Christian identity: our SLO discussions this coming year will be both vital and promising!