CHRISTIAN ACADEMY IN JAPAN
Christian
Academy
in Japan
Growing in Grace & Truth:
Insights from Ginny Blair, Head Librarian

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Love the Lord your God
with all your heart
and with all your soul
and with all your mind.
(Matthew 22:37)

Librarians Ruth Ingulsrud & Gina Abraham

The theme for this year is “Growing in Grace and Truth.” At CAJ we want our students to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior. We also want our students to grow in truth. We believe that all truth ultimately comes from God, that there is not a single square inch over which God is not sovereign. Therefore, we want our students to grow, and continue growing in the knowledge of the world around us, the world that God created.

One of the library’s missions is to enrich and support the students in their active learning about God’s world in their classes. We also like to enrich and support our students in their personal interests.

Therefore, we purchase non-fiction for all age levels in all subjects so that students can learn from experts about the Bible and Christianity, about science, math, history, and other subjects with age-appropriate vocabulary and facts. Nonfiction is a valuable tool for learning about God’s world, whether it is reading about a civilization that flourished a thousand years ago or how a country’s history can affect current events in that nation. Reading nonfiction enables students to discover the mysteries of the universe or gain understanding of how poverty and lack of education affects girls in the developing world. When students borrow non-fiction books to broaden or deepen their knowledge of a particular subject, they grow in truth and in the knowledge of God’s world.

We purchase fiction for all age levels in a variety of genres with age-appropriate language and topics because students enjoy reading all kinds of fiction and gain pleasure from it. But more than that, good fiction often speaks to the human condition and can contain wisdom for living. Students (and most fiction readers) often relate to characters that face similar situations that they face; that have to solve similar problems that they have to solve. Good fiction can show students how people lived and faced social issues years ago or today. It can show the aspects of the human condition that might not be readily available to the students in their lives. It can teach them empathy, enrich their vocabulary, and make them more socially aware. Even when reading works of fiction, students can learn about God’s world and all that He created, thus growing in truth and knowledge.

Books can inspire students to reach for a goal, to use their talents and skills in defense of the Gospel, to suggest a solution to a social problem, or to discover a new medicine to cure a disease.

God is pleased when his children use their minds to grow in grace and truth and for his glory.

About the Author
Ginny Blair is in her 21
st year at CAJ, though only her fifth year as the librarian. Eleven of those 20 years were spent here as a student.


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