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	Au Sable&#39;s Residential Program allows us to explore the connections between faith and stewardship with students from Christian schools.</p>
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	Residential programming is synonymous with overnight programs where students attend for multiple days. At Au Sable, the bulk of our residential programs occurs during the winter session and consists entirely of Christian private schools with long relationships with Au Sable. &nbsp;Not only does this mean the schools that attend are able to participate in activities like skiing and broomball that our typical day programs do not, it also means that the window to incorporate conversation about Christian environmental stewardship in our programming swings wide open.</p>
<p>
	The primary goal of environmental education is to reconnect students with the natural world. Similarly, as Christians we place emphasis on reconnecting with Christ every day. During our Residential programs, we are able to directly address both of these relationships. We help our students realize that in learning about the natural world, we are learning about our relationship to the Creator, and having a good relationship with God means having a good relationship with God&#39;s creation.</p>
<p>
	Things happen so quickly during residential programs that students are often not given a chance to breathe until they are on the bus ride home. &nbsp;Thus, scheduling time for reflection is vital. &nbsp;One activity that helps students reflect on what they are learning and how it applies to their Christian faith is a silent praise hike. &nbsp;Through this activity, students are given the opportunity to spend time hiking or snowshoeing alone in the woods. &nbsp;This quiet time is accompanied by questions they find laying on the trail. Questions that ask them to consider biblical verses like Genesis 1:26: &quot;Let us make humankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over the creatures that move along the ground.&quot;</p>
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	As the students gather at the end of the hike, we discuss the verse and what it was like to be alone in the woods. We ask them: What stands out in this verse? &nbsp;What is God&rsquo;s decree? What does it mean to rule, and what are the traits of a good ruler? With very little prodding, the students compile a lengthy list of traits that we as humans, created in God&rsquo;s image, should consider as we follow his command.</p>
<p>
	Through residential programming, the environmental education program can reflect with Christian school students on our connection between God, the natural world, and stewardship. We are bridging environmental stewardship and our Christian faith. We are reconnecting students to the natural world as we reconnect with Christ. We are training Christians to care for God&rsquo;s world.</p>
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