How Do I Instill Enthusiasm for Faith in My 10th Grade Students?

Students at Cristo Rey New York High School. (CNS photo/Chaz Muth)

Faith is not taught, it is caught. So while it’s important to present your curriculum clearly and accurately, you must also offer an enthusiastic example of a life lived in faith.

Can your students see that your own life is infused with joy and grace? Do they recognize that you are living in the peace and freedom that only God can give? While maintaining appropriate boundaries, are you honest with them about your own times of struggle and the fruits of those struggles?

Your witness will be the strongest message they carry away from your classroom. While doctrines and jargon may go in one ear and out the other, the example of a life shaped by the good news remains in the heart. Be a person of faith and trust that God will touch your students’ hearts and inspire them to respond.

RELATED: How Should I Best Share My Faith With Others?

(Originally published Sept 7, 2018)

Neela Kale is a writer and catechetical minister based in the Archdiocese of Portland. She served with the Incarnate Word Missionaries in Mexico and earned a Master of Divinity at the Jesuit School of Theology. Some of her best theological reflection happens on two wheels as she rides her bike around the hills of western Oregon.