Principal's Message

Matthew 5 - Blessed are those

The College strives to nurture students into graduates who will make a difference in the world. This goal requires of them not just a strong academic foundation, but also the cultivation of character. What a tremendously lofty vision this is, but I love aiming high because, as Zig Ziglar once said, “if you aim at nothing then you are sure to hit it.” So how do we nurture students who will change the world? The answer is by helping them be confident in their identity in Christ, aware of their gifts and talents, and preparing them to meet the challenges of living and applying the Gospel in an ever changing world. In this way, graduates will not only be equipped academically, but have a consistency of character necessary to enable their community to flourish.

I wonder, however, if we would agree on what constitutes the correct consistency of character. Margaret Diddams, reflecting on her definition of character, says she was,

fond of repeating the well-known quote attributed to D.L. Moody that “character is what you are in the dark.” My thinking was that character should be so fixed that we would act in a consistent manner even without the accolades or threats of others.

Interestingly Diddams goes on to note that consistency of character fosters and improves both work outcomes and the flourishing of people. In short, Diddams says that people of character are necessary for a community to flourish. Arguably this would mean that equally people of character are required if they are to change the world in a way in which it and those around them flourish. 

But what does this look like in a practical sense? An example of this would be learning to be humbly right. I was once told that it is harder to gracefully receive an apology than to give one, and I think this is true especially when you have been wrongly accused or blamed when you are right.

I quite like the story of the man who sits down in the airport and pulls out his newspaper. You will just have to trust me that there was a time long ago when people read physical newspapers, airlines flew their planes, and you could be within 1.5m of other people. Anyway, the guy sorts himself out, settles down to wait for his plane and starts slowly nibbling through his bag of chips. 

At some point, the man watches, much to his shock, the woman sitting beside him reach over and take a chip. The man sits there slowly fuming as the women continue to brazenly eat her way through his bag of chips. Finally, he can take no more. As he stands and packs up in preparation to storm away in a huff, the man lets fly, letting the woman know just how he feels about her stealing his chips, including the message that he would happily have shared with her had she just asked. The woman sits aghast as the man storms off to his new seat in another part of the lounge. 

Eventually, the boarding call is made and as the man goes looking for his boarding pass in his carry-on bag he sees his bag of chips sitting safely, if not a little squashed, in his bag. With nothing else but to apologise, the man heads back over to the woman.

I wonder how that whole apology scene went? My hope is that despite the embarrassment caused, the man’s apology was sincere and the woman accepted gracefully even though she was right. I wonder what the impact on those around them would be to see this interaction go well, particularly when the woman would be entitled to tell the guy in no uncertain terms to ‘go jump’.

My hope is that our graduates, should they ever find themselves in the woman’s shoes, would choose to be forgiving and gracious. Similarly, my hope is that our graduates would choose to go and sincerely apologise should they find themselves in the man’s shoes. I suspect that as they interact with the world, choosing to be peacemakers exhibiting a character of honesty, grace, mercy and forgiveness, they will be well on their way to making a huge difference in the lives of those around them, as well as the communities in which they live.

Andrew Manning

Principal

Pray for Bayside

Please pray for our Senior Secondary students as they undertake Head Start sessions  over the coming week in preparation for 2021.

Pray for teaching staff as they finalise school reports, and put in place plans for the end of this year and the start of the next.

Please pray for our new 2021 students as they prepare to join us next year.

Pray in thanks for the easing of restrictions that allows us to now host more transition and orientation sessions, albeit in small groups.