Discipline often has a negative connotation, but one West African teacher was transformed when she discovered she could discipline her students while still sharing God’s love.

“[Bemi* has] a real heart for her students and a heart for God,” said a missionary sent by Resonate Global Mission.

But Bemi also grew up in a culture where discipline is primarily negative and threatening.

“She told me the only thing she had ever seen modeled in church by her pastors, by all the spiritual leaders, was a yelling, negative, kind of frightening approach to discipline,” said the Resonate missionary.

During the training, Bemi shared that she was frustrated by the discipline in her school and that discipline is an issue many West African schools face. Sometimes, there are so many students and so few teachers that some educators teach as many as 40 to 80 students at one time. Children are often caned or spoken to degradingly—not only for disruptive or harmful behavior, but also for getting 2x2 wrong on a test.

“Are you a child of the devil?” a teacher might say to a student who lies.

Teachers have never been trained or introduced to alternative forms of discipline.

That’s why Resonate provides Educational Care training for educators like Bemi who are working with limited resources. Educational Care is a learning program of Raise Up Global Ministries facilitated by Resonate Global Mission

Earlier this year, Bemi and teachers from other schools gathered together to read scripture. Through questions facilitated by Resonate missionaries, Bemi came to a better understanding of who God is, how he sees humanity, and how he’d like his children to treat one another.

“It was like a lightbulb moment when she realized that she could accomplish the same [discipline] in a positive way,” said the Resonate missionary. “Do you know that God loves you? And do you know that he cares about what comes out of your mouth? And she got that. She was transformed. It was like a picture—you flip the page, and there’s a new person. She was so excited.”

Please pray for Bemi, her students, and her school as she applies the strategies she learned through Educational Care training. Bemi is just one of the many teachers transformed by God through this work.

“The ramifications are huge,” said the Resonate missionary. “It touches thousands and thousands and thousands of kids. God is using it as a tool to reach the next generation. These kids are growing up. They need to see a Biblical worldview in action. They need to be loved and cared for.”

*Name changed for protection.