“A pupil is not above his teacher; but everyone, after he has been fully trained, will be like his teacher” (Luke 6:40)
We Imitate Our Teachers
Jesus, the ultimate teacher, teaches on teaching! And He informs us that training from a teacher makes the student like his teacher. This should disabuse us from thinking that teachers simply impart knowledge. Teachers never impart only knowledge because teaching necessarily teaches the student to imitate the teacher. A teacher is typically held in high regard by the student otherwise the student would not want to sit under that teacher. And, since the teacher is in a position of authority the student typically understands the teacher to be a person worthy of imitation. Teachers are to some degree successful or else they would not have been given the privilege to teach. The fact that the teacher is placed in front of the class indicates at least modest success to the student.
So it is with master tradesmen and their apprentices. When we enter into an apprenticeship contract we are committing ourselves to teach our trade to another person, an apprentice. By enjoining that relationship we are becoming a person that will certainly be imitated by the apprentice. That is the point of the relationship after all. If there is no imitation the master has failed in his mission and so has the apprentice. We want the apprentice to imitate us showing he or she has learned their work in the trade.
Teaching the Trade & Then Some
Imitation though, is going to be more than just imitating trade-related behavior. Human relationships are not so clean and free of carry over as that. The apprentice will also be learning to imitate the master craftsman in his attitudes, morals, choice of language, and a host of personal attributes perhaps not as desirable to have imitated as either party desires. This is why we have to think about apprenticeship as discipleship. Along with communicating trade skills we are teaching the apprentice/student to be just like we are.
In every teacher-pupil relationship there are multiple elements of philosophy, personal morals, wisdom or (lack of the same), that will be communicated. Humanist-dominated universities are filled with teachers whose pupils imitate them. The pupils arrive all shiny and eager to learn but the content of the classroom is much different than what they or their parents imagined. The teachers, for the most part, will not be solid Christian people. The students learn to be, as Jesus promised, just like their teachers; that is, believers in evolution, haters of the truth, immoral, unwise, and perverse in their minds. This explains why Christian students after a couple of years at public, humanist universities turn against the faith they were taught at home. Public schools are the greatest engine of destruction ever set up to bring to ruin Christian faith and its civilization, Christendom.
Apprenticeship is a Ministry (for regular people)
All of this emphasizes the value and wonderful possibilities for Christian apprenticeship training. Teaching trade skills is a fantastic opportunity for Christian tradesmen to disciple another person in becoming productive and useful for the kingdom of God right here and now. And now, more than ever before, the fields are ripe for the harvest. This work is not limited to Christian laymen, nevertheless, it is primarily a layman’s project. The institutional church cannot create this ministry from the front of the church (and yes, this work of training apprentices is a ministry). This is work that must be taken up by faithful men and women who have a heart to disciple others.
So, here we are talking about how God’s people can change the world through discipleship and in the process tear down strongholds in the humanist forest. This is an axe to the root enterprise, in removing the overgrowth of a godless work life mentality, and planting in its place the promising seed of Christian vocation. We invite you to join us in this labor (connect to us by joining our email list below).
Our responsibility is greater than we know.
Dr. Don Schanzenbach
Craftsman, Author, Entrepreneur
and Sometime Teacher