On my way to work I walk past a building site that fascinates me. It’s a huge shed, the size of a three storey building. Inside the shed, they are building a 3.2 kilometre tunnel under the city to connect two electricity substations. The shed provides ‘acoustic housing’; I guess that means it keeps  the noise inside because this project will run nonstop for the next four years.

I don’t really know what happens inside because the huge roller doors are always closed. All I can hear is a light rumble of machinery. But this morning, all the doors were open and I could see inside to an enormous earth moving machine, a very deep hole, walls lined with shiny material, and people working on other machines. Two men in hard hats and High Vis gear are standing at one of the doors talking.

I was completely intrigued. I wondered what it would be like to walk into this foreign environment and explore. I am sure that I could learn a lot about how to build a tunnel just by looking around and talking to those men in hard hats. But of course, I would not be welcome.  The two men at the door would stop me before I even crossed the threshold. No matter how fascinated I am by what is happening inside I am not welcome.

Imagine for a moment a family who has walked past your church on several occasions. They are intrigued about what happens inside, but it’s all new to them. The doors are usually closed when they walk past. Sometimes they can see that lights are on and even hear the muffled sound of music.

One day they walk past and the doors are wide open. There are two people standing at the door talking. They want to enter, but they don’t know if they will be welcome and they’re not sure they’ll know how to behave when they go in.
In his book, The Educational Imagination: On the Design and Evaluation of School Programs, Elliot Eisner explains that there are three curriculums that schools need to be aware that they teach: the explicit, the implicit and the null curriculum. The explicit curriculum is the intentionally presented teachings of that school. The implicit curriculum is what a school teaches because of the kind of place it is; for example, the physical characteristics of the building, how the day is organised, and the way people relate to each other. Finally, the null curriculum refers to what schools choose not to teach; it is the things that are left out.

The idea of these three curriculums is useful for thinking about the family who is standing at the threshold of your church. Everything we do in our church is going to teach them about what it means to be a Christian. Our children’s ministry, small groups and preaching is our explicit curriculum; the environment we create and the welcome we provide is part of our implicit curriculum, and the things we choose not to do in our church is our null curriculum.

As our family ponders whether to cross the threshold into your church, they are already learning about you. The signs they read, the welcome they receive, the way that people relate to each other, and the facilities they see for their children, are all quietly teaching them about your church and Christian faith.

What do you think your church is teaching this family?