HIDDEN CURRICULUM
Five Ways We Answer Students' Most Important Questions
Who shaped you the most as a young learner?
And what was the most important thing they taught you?
Dr. Karl Barth, a Swiss theologian, pastor, and outspoken critic of the Nazi regime, had quick answers to both. His most influential teacher? Jesus. And the most important lesson?
“Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.”
Most of us don’t feel Barth’s confident simplicity. Those questions can feel weighty. Naming the most influential teacher sets a high bar. Yet that teacher was likely someone who welcomed your questions and didn’t flinch when you brought your whole, curious self into the room.
Leadership expert Peter Drucker once named Frances Hesselbein—the woman who revitalized the Girl Scouts in the ’70s and ‘80s—as the most outstanding leader he had ever known. Why?
She asks extraordinary questions and is an elite listener.
Christian school campuses are full of highly skilled question-askers: students. Their questions may not be refined or fully attentive, and their motives can wobble, but they’re always learning. They are always watching. And they take their cues from us.
John 7 gives us a rich glimpse into how Jesus Himself handled a crowd full of questions. In this chapter, He is pressed by family, friends, fans, and foes. As you lead your own community of question-askers, here are five kinds of questions Jesus faced—and the answers His life offers us as we serve today:
1. They questioned His presence (John 7:1–10)
Where is He?
Answer for us: God is always at work, doing, as John Piper puts it, 10,000 things in our lives, and we’re aware of just a handful. Help students see that Christ is never absent from their stories.
2. They questioned His identity (John 7:10–13)
Is He really the Son of God?
Answer for us: Our obedience speaks louder than our titles. C.S. Lewis reminds us that Jesus didn’t leave us the option of calling Him “just a moral teacher.” Our lives should reflect the truth of who He is.
3. They questioned His origin (John 7:14–18)
Where did he acquire all this knowledge?
Answer for us: Students may expect encyclopedic knowledge, but they are shaped most by faithful testimony—your lived-out love for Christ. Ironically, that faithfulness becomes the soil where deeper theological understanding grows.
4. They questioned His sanity (John 7:19–24)
Can he really be trusted?
Answer for us: Let the way you move through your day—your kindness, patience, joy—be evidence that His love is real and renewing. Students need to see the Fruit of the Spirit before they can name it.
5. They questioned His authority (John 7:25–29)
Is this truly the Messiah?
Answer for us: Students test boundaries because they’re looking for anchors. They crave trustworthy authority. When your life reflects humble submission to Christ, you give them a model worth following.
Christian educators—your students ask questions about Jesus every day.
And in countless small ways, we are answering them.
What a responsibility.
What a privilege.
Live out answers worthy of their questions.
Keep on, keepin’ on!
About Excel Still More
Excel Still More is a publication by Dr. Chris Hobbs offering practical wisdom and inspiration for Christian educators. Each post encourages schools and leaders to pursue excellence that honors Christ, craft culture that inspires Kingdom work, and equips graduates to make a lasting impact for Him.
A Note from Chris:
Thank you for your heart and dedication to Christian education; may the truths we explore in each of these posts strengthen your courage, deepen your service, and spark new hope in your school.
God has given us a critical role to play in our schools as we build environments where hearts are shaped, minds are renewed, and skilled hands serve with love.
Until next time, keep pointing your administrators, teachers, colleagues, students, and yourselves toward Christ, and remember: in all you do, excel still more!
*I Thessalonians 4:1, 10