Whole of life discipleship

Student reflecting in the middle of rice transplanting

The concept “whole of life” discipleship is foundational to what we do at JOFC. We believe that students will learn as much outside of the classroom as inside. Rice planting is a good example of what we mean by “whole of life” discipleship. Each year at planting time, we stop classes and all the staff and students go to the rice fields for a week of rice planting. By the end, we are more tired and sore than we have ever been in our lives. Surely there must be a more efficient way of growing rice. A search on Google shows that, yes, machines that can speed up the process!

However, at JOFC, we wouldn’t invest in such a machine even if we had the money. Rice-planting week is integral to the “whole of life” discipleship vision of JOFC. It is as we get muddy and dirty, hot and tired, as our bodies ache and we don’t want to do it anymore, that we see true character come out—both in the staff and the students. It is much easier to hide your true self in the classroom behind correct theological answers, than working out on the rice fields.

We don’t just send the students to do the hard manual labour while we sit at our desks preparing for our next classes. As teachers, we lead the way and set the example. The long, monotonous hours of pulling and planting provide opportune times to chat and for students and staff to open up to each other.

One worship evening at the end of another tiring rice planting day, one of the teachers stood up and openly apologised, asking forgiveness from two students whom he had spoken strongly to in the rice field. He encouraged everyone to go and seek forgiveness from anyone else if they needed to. This is what “whole of life” discipleship is about—through rice planting trials, together we see our need for humility, forgiveness, and fresh starts.