Having said that, I am not writing as an indictment on our public educational system, nationally or locally.  There are many fine teachers and administrators in our public schools.  There are many good things going on in them to prepare students for college & career.  I am both a product of public education and taught there for eight years.  Some of my best friends teach there because they have been called there, Christian-wise and otherwise.  But that is not the point.  To call it the real world does not make sense.  Most folks, given the choice, would vacate in an instant.  Why do you think that charter schools are so popular?  It’s a public school, with a private school feel.  It’s our attempt to improve our schools . . . by providing an alternative.  It makes us feel better.

My “indictment” (with all due respect!) is more upon a Christian community that should know better.   With all that I experience, on any given Sabbath, regarding our place and progress in the Kingdom of God, how can we not claim those things in the lives of our children?  We say “Amen” to sermons preached on “growing in grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ”, we lift holy hands to choruses sung about “surrendering it all to Jesus”, and we idolize TV evangelists who call us to “position ourselves for God’s blessing and prosperity”.  Yet, when it pertains to our young people, we are satisfied with a part-time, hit or miss spiritual, educational formation.  If the truth be told, Sunday School, youth group, and VBS are not sufficient in the view of this world for our children . . . but we continue to look the other way and pretend it is.  Unreal.

Theologically speaking, and this is where we must go first, Christian education is where children will receive a biblical view of the real, real world.  Since the Fall, the world God created has not been “real”.  Jesus’ death and resurrection redeemed the world and ushered in a new order.  Throughout the Scriptures, God has given us the mandate to pass on this view of “the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power, and the wonders he has done” (Psalm 78:4).  Paul echoes this, encouraging Timothy to “continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know from whom you have learned it” (2 Timothy 3:14).  It is in this challenge, and our commitment to it as a people of God, that the future of our churches, our families, and our heritage of faith will be forged.

Secondly, it is that spiritual dynamic that actually enhances and completes the academic side.  If we honestly believe what Paul said to the Athenian intellectuals that, “For in Him (God) we live and move and have our being”,  then how can we deny what  that says about the education our kids should receive?  If we honestly agree with what Paul wrote to the Colossians that, “For by him all things were created; things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.  He is before all things, and in Christ all things hold together”, then how can we not desire that kind of academic preparation . . . in order for them to impact the culture of that real world?

The commitment to providing our youth with a real view of the real world will no doubt cost us.  I believe if we could offer a Christian school education for free our schools would be overflowing!  Yet part of the real world is that there is a cost to discipleship.  Perhaps, instead of paying for all the things we do to heighten our own spirituality, we should sacrifice all we can (I’m speaking to churches, not just parents) to see that kingdom kids get a kingdom education.  What greater place to place our economic resources than to invest in the spiritual growth, academic grounding, and social gathering that takes place in Christian education.  Oh sure, it’s not perfect, it’s not heaven . . . but it’s real.

Keeping it real,

Bill Stevens

. . . And that’s the point.  My experience being the head of a Christian school transcends salary, advanced degrees, statistical analysis, achievement, boards, policies, and development.  While those are all components of my career, it’s been about the mission, it’s been about the relationships, it’s been about the service to God, to parents, and to children.  It’s hard to explain.  One just has to experience it to experience it!  Yet over those thirty years, I have heard the same objections, arguments and rationalizations for not joining this crucial element of our childrens’ educational development in our time.   I’d like to cite these objections and (lovingly, yet deliberately) overrule each one . . .

• “Our children should be salt & light in the real world” ~ this may be the 2nd biggest objection of all time (the 1st is coming).  It may also be the toughest to overrule since it sounds so theological or biblical.  Yet, I argue (respectfully) that I do not believe Christ was speaking of young children when he made that statement during his Sermon on the Mount.  He was addressing us.  Well, actually he was drawing an analogy to the way we should live as believers no matter where we go or are, not that we seek to expose our children to the “real world” so, what, they’ll be able to stand up against the forces of darkness at age 7?   Another thought . . . what is this real world?  What does it look like?  Is being in a Christian school unreal?  Can one be salt & light here as well?  I would argue that what is experienced in a Christian school is more “real” than you might think, certainly real in terms of the education and environment that God desires for His children.  As I observe the world around me, responding to the culture, I can hardly say it’s real.  This objection takes shape from one verse of one sermon of Jesus taken out of context, while both Old and New Testaments are filled with instruction, admonition, and challenge to “BE CAREFUL” to instruct, teach, pass on, and disciple our children and our children’s children “to fear the Lord, put their trust in Him and remember all His praiseworthy deed, His power, and the wonders He has done”. That’s the image of the educational and environmental setting in which our children develop that saltiness as children of light!
• “Public school was good enough for me . . .” ~ Sadly, it wasn’t!  I too grew up (some say I haven’t!) in the state system.  I received a good education and was accepted into college.  I had friends.  Following college, I taught history and coached in a state school for seven years . . . can’t really say it was “bad”.  For me, the two points I want to make are, knowing what I know now:  1) that I wish I HAD attended a Christian school, and 2) “good enough” isn’t good enough.  My high school was huge, graduating with 650 other seniors.  It was not a godly place and most of my “real world” associations were at church and neighborhood.  Most of my good friends attended a Catholic school.  My participation in high school was limited due to it’s size and politics.  It wasn’t good enough for me in a practical sense, nor good enough in a spiritual/philosophical sense.  Jim Collins, in his classic work, Good To Great, states that “good is the enemy of great”!   Christian education is great because of its focus, its mission, its process, and its product.  Jesus also said in his Sermon on the Mount, “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well”. Establishing a biblical mindset, belief and behavior in our children is most definitely a facet of the kingdom, one that is woefully overlooked, showing in our culture and society.  Settling for “good enough” is unsettling to the glory of the kingdom God has set before us.
• “Kids from a Christian school are no different” ~ I beg to differ.  They are different.  In thirty years of unofficial, observable research I can conclude that young men and women who have been raised with that cord of three strands ARE different.  100% of them, 100% of the time?  No, certainly not.  Are students attending the state schools inferior?  Of course not.  The point being that my students in my school are different . . . different in their perspective on life, different in their responses to situations, and different in the manner they conduct themselves in the “real world”.  The whole matter for Christian education is that it is OUR responsibility as citizens of the kingdom of God is to see that they get it.  What they do with it is THEIR responsibility.  It may take longer with some, and for some others it  may bear fruit in another season.  Our sacred duty as parents and as a Church is to supply the means, the resources, and the vehicle for it to happen.  When we unite in our effort to establish God’s kingdom in the hearts and minds of the next generation . . . WOW, I can only imagine the impact, the voice, and the influence we will have on the culture for this kingdom!  The hair on my neck is standing up just thinking about it!  They ARE different.
• “Hey, my children go to Sunday School and youth activities” ~ Great.  So did I, and so did mine . . . but it wasn’t enough.  My youth pastor was a big influence on my teen years and it was my Sunday School teacher who “led me to the Lord”.  But I knew nothing of how God related or applied to my learning.  Knowing God’s perspective on Science, History, literature, and Math was foreign to me.  Speaking of foreign, I didn’t learn Bible verses in Spanish either!  There was no Christian aspect to my educational life until I went away to a CHRISTIAN college.    As fun and engaging as it was, SS and youth group was not enough.  As much as I appreciate and respect the work of youth ministries, I wish we could partner more effectively for our teens . . . for their benefit.
• “Many Christian schools are inferior” ~ Sad to say, this can be true.  Because we are a work of the kingdom, we should work to honor the King!  That means doing whatever is right, true, noble, pure, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy.  There are those that fall short of that and perhaps do more harm than good.  The Christian school movement needs to “step up” and meet the challenge of moving from good to great.  My frustration is that we need the support of the Church and the Christian community to make it so.  Without the Church, I am afraid this movement will fade away and we will be left with children being educated in the “real world” that is “good enough”.   Our schools should be the biggest and best.  Our programs should be attracting others to “come and see”.  Our staff should be the best around . . . and paid as “worthy of their hire”.  We should be the model, setting the standard for others to follow.
• “I can’t afford it” ~ This is numero uno objection for me.  I understand that it is true and real.  I wish that it were not so.  My heart’s desire is that Christian school tuition were affordable for all, because I believe it is essential for all.  Politically, I believe that parents should not have to pay taxes to support a failing educational system they do not support.  Our tax money should be able to be used for the education we desire for our children.  But that’s politics, and until “the pain of no change becomes greater than the pain of change, there will be no change”.   So where does that leave us?  I believe we do not rely on the government to support or assist us in Kingdom work.  It’s the pearl of great price, it’s the talents given by the boss, it’s what we are to seek first.  I believe that the Church is the voice, the means, and the catalyst for changing the culture and the future for the Kingdom.  If we were truly tithing folks, I believe that churches would be calling me with money they had left over to support us, I believe we would have people lined-up at the door for enrollment, and I believe we’d create that cord of three strands not easily broken!  THAT is what I believe.  Money cannot overrule the Kingdom.  But it can distract us from it.  Jesus was emphatic in his comparison . . . “hating the one and loving the other, or devoted to one and despise the other . . . for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also”. For me, and what God emphasizes throughout His Word is, it is children and the next generation that is our greatest resource, greatest legacy, and greatest gift for projecting the kingdom forward.  Where folks have sacrificed as much as they can and still need assistance, then the Christian community should rise up to bring that assistance so that “no child is left behind” from establishing their heart and mind in this kingdom perspective.  Talk about endowment!  Our Christian schools should have their barns full and able to supply . . ..

To sum it all up, I recently was sent information concerning the Manhattan Declaration.  A group of Christian leaders from every denomination, persuasion, and organization, met in NYC and drafted a declaration that proclaimed a “call to arms” around three significant issues facing the country and our culture ~ abortion, alternate life-styles, and religious liberty.  After reading this, I shouted, “THANKS BE TO GOD!”  My only thought in addition to this courageous and much needed proclamation was adding the issue of education.  Without the body of Christ seeking first the kingdom in the succeeding generations, I do not see these matters changing.  I apologize for sounding like a prophet of doom for I am not.  I apologize if I have offended any with my overruling (overbearing?) thoughts on the matter.  It’s just that our children are much too important to ignore.  For many we have certainly not ignored them in giving them all their heart’s desire.  But I want to stress that, for me, it’s coming to grips with these objections, overruling them, and focusing on what is the desire of God’s heart.  While I have been at this for thirty years, I do not think I have thirty more.  My heart’s desire is to see this revival of Christian education as an integral part of God’s kingdom in the land of the living . . . in my living.

“I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth” ~ III John 4

You see, I hear much in the media these days regarding the legacy of debt, bureaucracy, and moral vacuum we are leaving for this next generation . . . and this writer can hardly disagree.  So I have taken to using this traditional means of notification to become a renewed call for help in our need for a revival to HIGHER LEARNING.  I believe that the educational question is THE crucial issue before us as a nation, as a culture, and as a people . . . particularly the people of God.  Throughout the Old Testament, God has been quite clear in His telegraphed message regarding the training and instruction of the next generation.  ” . . . So the next generation will know the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, His power, and the wonders He has done” (Psalm 78).   “Be careful and watch yourself closely so that you do not forget . . . Teach them to your children and their children after them” (Deuteronomy 4). We have not been very faithful to that challenge and admonition, and now we must call out in distress, “Save Our Students”!

I recently attended a meeting where a state education official shared with the audience the plan to improve education in our time, raising the standard to be one of the top in the country.  The essential ingredients of this vision for excellence was, of course, the “big three” ~ more $, teacher/school accountability, and student achievement through standardized testing.  As I sat and absorbed it all, I was sad that we continue to seek the solution in purely monetary, accountability and achievement terms.  To me, it was like holding back the (oceanic) tide without any real foundational seawall . . . perhaps reminiscent to Jesus’ parable of the two builders in Matthew 7(?).

Let me be perfectly clear at this point.  There will be no significant change in both educational structure and academic achievement until we recognize and return to a Judeo-Christian basis for our student’s growth and development.  This means that since the Bible tells us that the “fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge”, and that “In him (God) we live and move and have our being”, then it seems to me to naturally follow that a child’s education must have a faith center and integration into all that we can learn.  Those Biblical principles not only give a centrality to learning, but a reference point for living.  After all, education is not just achievement but preparing for life.

While I do not expect the unbelieving world to embrace my conviction, I am quite disappointed and perplexed that, for the most part, the Christian world, evangelical Church, and even the Christian based colleges do not either!  Then again, in my Christian school experience, I have had numerous encounters with folks who did not express faith, yet “saw something” in the Christian school that they wanted or needed in their family life and children’s’ education . . . go figure.

I do not claim to be a prophet . . . and certainly not one of doom, I know that God has laid it upon my heart to sound a prophetic call in this matter.  I sense in my spirit and through my experience that it is time, in the words of Sting, for “sending out an S.O.S. to your heart!”  I believe that in the time and culture in which we live, it will be the link, the bond, and the relationship between the Church, the home, and the Christian school movement that will be a “cord of three strands that will not easily be broken”.  This can no longer be just a slogan, but a living reality in the life of the Church, our homes, and the education of the next generation.  This movement that I have been a part of for the past thirty years may not continue to exist without the other two.  Too many Christian schools are closing, too many administrators are calling it quits, and too many young people have to go or return to an educational environment that is, at best, God neutral.  That is, and should be, unacceptable to those of us that claim the Kingdom of God for our children.

The S.O.S. is to HIGHER LEARNING.  Until we really grasp the true significance of this, we will continue to view Christian education as an option, we will continue to wring our hands in frustration about the state of education in this country, and we will continue to raise succeeding generations that have not been nurtured in a Kingdom perspective of life and learning . . .

“You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one . . .”

I am approaching my sixtieth birthday, and half of those sixty trips around the sun have been in Christian education.  I have earned an advanced degree in the field and have served as a consultant to a number of Christian schools both here in the States and in Eastern Europe and Russia.  I have written numerous articles on the subject and taught seminars promoting its existence and development.  No one has to convince me of the crucial nature of our young folks receiving Christ centered instruction that provides the framework for a biblical view of God and the world.  Scripture is full of reference supporting this, both in our lives and the lives of our children.

And then along comes Deuteronomy . . . not a book one would naturally “study”.  It’s a narrative about the children of Israel, their history and the law restated.  Restating the law . . . how exciting!  The very title means, The Second Law”. Not something I could get real thrilled about, nor anticipating sinking my teeth into.  So when it came time to pick our school’s year verse, the suggestion of Deuteronomy was a stretch.  It was the Shema that did it.  I was having a conversation with one of our school moms this Spring.  She asked me, “Bill, have you selected a year verse as the theme for the coming school year?” I told her “No” and she encouraged me to read Deuteronomy, in particular chapter 6:4, and see what God would show me.  I hate when that happens.  I’m supposed to pick the year verse, not someone else . . . but I reluctantly looked at it anyway.  It has changed my perspective in many ways, too many to recount or retell here.  My summer was chiefly a time of reflecting on that verse and the surrounding thirty-four chapters.  It took me on a trip into the formation of a people of God, by God.  It told me how vital it was that we be sure that we “keep the law”, not legalistically or Pharisaical, but spiritually and generational.

What it DID was secure, confirm, and clarify for me what this ministry of Christian education is all about in the grand scheme of God’s purpose . . . PASS IT ON!  The entire book is an Old Testament prelude to the good news of Christ in the New Testament.  It’s Moses laying out the law a second time, and also stressing the call and responsibility to be sure that the next generation gets it.  “Hear (Shema), O Israel, the Lord our God, He is God alone.  Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength . . . Impress this on your children”. And from that point forward, the book proceeds to confirm that there is no greater duty and no greater work than to teach God’s children the wonders of God’s work in the lives of God’s people! This work is reemphasized in Psalm 78, where Asaph challenges the people to “tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power, and the wonders he has done . . . so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children . . .”

So why aren’t all our Christian schools filled to capacity and funded abundantly?  Because we do not see it as a priority.  It sounds nice in Scripture and we believe it is true, but relegate it to forty-five minutes on a Sunday morning, or a three day youth retreat, perhaps even a whole week of DVBS . . . all of which is good and right, just not complete.  The wonders of God that Moses and the psalmist speak of is a consistent, daily teaching that demonstrates God at work in the world, not just how we “feel” about God or “where we are in our Christian walk”.  It’s about “seeing” the laws of God, the statutes, principles, and precepts as they relate to learning and the world in which we live.

Moses knew that in quite a realistic sense.  He had been called to lead God’s people out of bondage and slavery and into the Promised Land.  An eleven day trip turned into a forty year journey . . . a journey that would see a whole generation pass, and a journey that Moses himself would not get to complete.  So passing on the “declaration of dependence” was something that, for the Israelites, lay at the very root of parenting and educating the young ones.

I believe there is no other issue, quite as important, that is before us as a Christian nation, as a body of Christ, and as the family of God than this discipling of the next generation in a biblical worldview.  I beg you to look around you . . . study the times in which we live, survey the landscape of our young people, and search inside your own heart and mind as to what God wants for his people that is echoed in Deuteronomy.  There might be a revival brewing in the reading and implications of this amazing book.  It’s worth passing on . . .

While the song is one of the protest ballads of that era, pointing out the consequences of our apparent lack of learning, it is also a phrase we might use today in reference to our students and their preoccupation with most anything . . . except their learning.  We, as parents and teachers cry, “When will these kids ever learn?”  The more I ponder this time-worn phrase (yes, they did say the same of our generation), the more I realized that more often than not, we are to blame.  It’s the system that is failing, not our students.  We, to quote from Jeremiah chapter 2, ” . . . have committed two sins:  (You) have forsaken Me, the spring of living water, and have dug (your) own cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water”. while this was Jeremiah’s stern warning to the people of Judah’s concerning their departure from God, it has implications for our discussion and call here to HIGHER LEARNING.

We actually need a call to a different learning . . . not different in form necessarily, but in function.  For years, we in education have operated under quite a pendulum swing, going from one philosophy of education to another.  We move from pole to pole in our attempt to keep up with the latest trends and techniques.  We institute the latest fad or philosophy in our attempt to reach our students, and in the end we echo the preceding age . . . “When will they ever learn?”  Perhaps it is WE that are represented in this question.

First, we have forsaken God.  A prophet in our time, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, used the same phrase in his now famous address to the West following his release from a Soviet gulag . . . “We have forsaken God”.  He had come out from under the socialistic, atheistic, totalitarian regime of Communism, and so warned us who claim to be one nation under God, to safeguard that trust so that the generations of Americans to follow would learn to keep God as their trust.  My wife and I have had the privilege of visiting Russia on a number of occasions.  Following her first visit, as our plane left the Moscow runway headed for home, she commented, “I just experienced what it looks like for a nation to forsake God!”  His Word emphatically states that we will never see the righteous forsaken, and God Himself said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you”.  It is we who have done the forsaking, we have left Him, the source from Whom we live and move and have our being.  In Him all things were created and hold together.  In this forsaking, the generations to follow bear the brunt of it.

Secondly, we then created our own devices and containers of knowledge.  Instead of planting students by streams of living water (Psalm 1), our forsaking has caused us to construct our own water vessels . . . vessels that are cracked and flawed, not holding that water.   If we cannot acknowledge the Creator of all things and in all that we can know, then we must come up with other explanations, vehicles, and systems for learning that scream for focus, purpose and meaning.  The apostle Paul, writing to young Timothy, talks of those that are “lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God ~ having a form of godliness but denying its power . . . always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth.  That sounds like a broken cistern to me!

Now taking this thinking from a spiritual/philosophical discussion to an educational one, the question now becomes, “How should they learn?”  I submit to you that this HIGHER LEARNING, to which we’ve been called, must be lived out practically in the manner of our classroom instruction.  Many parents and teachers think that students learn best by acquiring factual knowledge.  This results in a focus upon achievement (who can acquire the most?), and competition (who can remember it better?).  Rather, Christian schooling is based on several critical distinctives that cannot be overlooked in the education of Kingdom children.

• Students are being educated in responsive discipleship.  That is, viewing students as image-bearers who respond actively to God’s will for their lives and learning.  This biblical view of knowledge implies a multi-faceted engagement with creation.  So it is imperative that instruction in the Christian school classroom must be engaging . . . where students are encouraged to consider their responses to God, themselves, others, and the creation as the basis for any given subject matter and lesson.  This response is where knowledge, understanding and wisdom are formulated and come together in the heart, soul, mind, and strength of the child of God.  This is when learning truly takes place.  When will they ever learn?  When we seek to have them respond to instruction as disciples of Christ.

• Students will learn when we provide for diversity.  By diversity here, I mean in uncovering and utilizing different ways of learning.  Treating students as if they are all the same actually contradicts the essence of who we are in God.  He has created each one of us individually in personality, temperament, ability and gifting.  While we cannot instruct each student individually, we can offer varying expressions and methods of instruction that reach the various learning styles in our students.  Cynthia Tobias, in her  acclaimed work, “The Way They Learn”, breaks down learning into four basic modes.  Her pivotal point in the book (should be required reading in our Christian schools!) is that teachers, more often than not, teach from one style . . . theirs.  This means that, more often than not, they are teaching to no more than one quarter (25%) of their class, basically those that learn from that style.  So, variety of style in instruction, may be the most vital aspect of diversity in the Christian classroom.  When will they ever learn can now be rephrased as HOW will they ever learn?

• Instruction must contain diversity of cultures.  We live in an international world that is getting smaller and smaller.  Through technology, travel, and exposure, we are finding that the global society is a reality we must attend to.  Christian schools, because of their gospel emphasis, their mission perspective, and their call to “all the little children of the world”, must incorporate this global perspective in the curriculum and in the daily instruction to the whole class of students represented.  Students will learn when they see their own culture being included and when they see the richness of other cultures and expressions of this world.

• Expression must also be taught as it relates to the richness of the body of Christ.  Our children must see the full expression of worship and faith that is found in the diversity of the Church.  One of my greatest experiences was living in Eastern Europe and sharing with others of like faith in Christ, yet in the context of their language, heritage, and customs of faith.  While all students can get the opportunity to visit other places, that international proximity can be brought right into the classroom.  The draw of missionary endeavors should be a natural part of every Christian school, bringing living, breathing expression of other cultures to our students.  This will provide energy and wholeness to a Christian education.  When we speak of a truly biblical worldview, I cannot see how we can ignore this aspect of how they will learn.

So, in answer to, and in honor of Mary Travers’ eternal question, “When will they ever learn”?  I say they will learn when we learn to how to truly instruct and nurture them with a view to see the whole of life and learning from a biblical perspective.  This perspective must contain the elements spoken of here, as well as some others that you can add to this conversation as we walk toward that HIGHER LEARNING . . .

Unfortunately, for many Christians, developing a Christian worldview in children, offering a curriculum that integrates all the subjects with biblical principles, and operating with teachers who love God, love children, and love their subject are not compelling enough reasons to come.   What should be at the heart and soul of the body of Christ, that being, to establish a Godly heritage of faith and learning in the next generation, is sadly neglected for a “salt & light” posturing that has little to do with discipling children and the faith and learning process.

As we view the social, economical, political, and educational landscape of our time, it is time for the Church and its people to wake up to the fact that “our (present) struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against spiritual forces” that are seeking to undermine our very faith, while we battle each other at the expense of our children.  “They shoot at the very foundation we stand on, while we shoot at them.

Dr. Barrett Mosbacker, writing in his blog, The Christian Education Journal (christianschooljournal.com), states, “Whether we like it or not, most of our parents don’t understand the mission of developing a biblical worldview.  And if they don’t understand or appreciate it they will not make significant sacrifices for it, everything else being relatively equal.  In other words, for most of our parents, the development of a biblical worldview is an ethereal concept subservient to more ‘practical’ considerations like education quality, admission to top colleges, the breadth and depth of extra-curricular programs, a safe and nurturing environment, etc”.  I say, “How sad!”  He cites three reasons for this:

1) Most of our parents have never experienced its life changing impact.  Most of our parents were educated in public schools and public universities.  They don’t get it—at least at first.  They have no experiential context to draw upon.

2) Most of our pulpits do not explicitly endorse the value of a Christian education as an intellectual enterprise.  Christian education is not promoted as a theological or kingdom imperative.

3) The prevalence of theological ignorance and pietism.  As a rule, pietism minimizes the life of the mind while emphasizing the emotional/experiential component of the Christian life.

Again I say, “How very sad!”  We are not providing excellence in education AND a Christian education.  Christian education by definition must be excellent education.  I will state with all within me that a quality Christian education is the ‘best buy’ around.  Now I know that I am the paid employee and supposed to say these things, but I have been around the education business for over thirty years and I have seen a lot, both in this country and others.  A true Christian education is the best value in education, period.  Here’s why . . .

• Christian schools offer an excellent academic progress ~ This is a must, and I admit that some do not.  Christian education boasts training for eternity, but along the journey there, that eternal vision stops at educational study and career after high school.  Test scores should validate this, records for college acceptance should demonstrate this, and alumni should testify to this.  “Ole” Bill Gormley used to say of Christian schooling, “It’s the meat and potatoes, Bill”.

• The atmosphere is exceptional ~ If you are involved at all in the life of a Christian school, you will know that you are at home.  I hear and see it from the children, and I certainly know of it for myself.  As in everything else, our product can be “new and improved” as we seek God’s guidance for both direction and improvement, but for my money, nothing compares.

• Activities abound ~ whether it’s athletics, the arts, academics, or other student activities, there should be something for everyone.  Christian schools should be rich in student life and large in offering programs for the students.  Add to this that at the heart of all these, we seek to develop our student’s God-given gifts and talents.

• Faculty are talented and committed ~ Christian school should have a well-qualified faculty that seeks professional development and has earned advanced degrees.  This is not merely glorified Sunday School.  I always tell folks that our teachers and staff have “three loves”.  They love the Lord, love your children, and love what they teach.  Not many places can boast this cord of three strands.

On top of value, there are values . . . Christian values with the development of a biblical worldview at the core.  Christian schooling has the one thing that others may (will?) never have . . . a comprehensive and cohesive approach to child development, curriculum, and learning that places Christ, and the development of a Christian mindset as the central value.  That’s value that lasts, value that transcends co$t, and value that consumerism overlooks.  What is that worth?

That’s the real value in it all, isn’t it?  Being a part of a Christian school includes a blessing.  It’s part of our vocabulary to speak of blessing.  Our young people are blessed in their faith-learning adventure, our families are blessed by the investment in that faith-learning process, and we are blessed having you learn and grow in faith with us.  The Word proclaims, “May those who bless you be blessed”.

One of the definitions of “consume”, from which we get consumer, is “to engage fully”.  I think of this as I reflect back over the years I have been involved with Christian education.  To get the most out of our school, you must seek to be fully engaged (mentally, emotionally, spiritually, financially, AND PURPOSEFULLY).  You must believe that it is of great worth, that it is investing in the Kingdom.   If not, we turn to window-shopping for the place that gives us the most . . . costing us the least.  As a result we are “blown and tossed by the winds” of consumerism, purchasing things that only become rust & dust.

So, while we must compete in the market-place of value, We must also be steadfast and sure in the quality of the education we espouse.  We must continue to “preach and teach” the philosophy and spiritual truth that lie at the very essence of our existence.  It’s a rally cry for this day and the future of the Church, Christian family, and the heritage of both as we know them.  I may sound dogmatic, but I trust I sound convinced.  Please explain to me if there is another way . . .

I believe that this perfection tendency pervades our expectation of school.  Everyone is expecting perfection in everyone else.  I believe because of the pressures of our society, economy, and time, we are losing both patience and tolerance.  We are rushing around trying both to be in control and be efficient, and so lose a measure of the quality of life that comes from growing as people, from relationships, and from face-to-face communication.

Because education has the focus of growing young people, building relationships, and fostering communication, it cannot be perfect . . . well, not in the sense that I’ve just described.  We are dealing with people, fallen people, people that are imperfect.  Woody Allen once stated that he “could never belong to a club that would have him as a member”.  My school will never be perfect as long as I am there!  But in Christian education, we answer to a higher authority, with a loftier perspective, offering a HIGHER LEARNING, in that we work together with a common purpose ~ nurturing young people to be perfect.  Huh?

That’s right, we do want our sons & daughters to be perfect, and I wholeheartedly agree.  That’s why I’m in this business and will continue so until the Lord directs me otherwise.  But it’s not the perfection we usually expect or require, rather the perfection God desires.  That is a different definition of the word, a different perspective.  Perfect, in biblical terms, refers to wholeness . . . a great concept when applied to Christian education!  I believe that the educational perspective that we, in Christian schools, bring into the lives of young people is the most complete, well-rounded, holistic, cohesive education the universe has to offer.  We focus on the Creator God, the God who is one, God alone.  St. Paul told the scholars of Greece, “In Him (God) we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). This Creator, through the atonement of His Son, Jesus Christ on the cross, put all things (meaning everything!), in heaven and earth under his authority.  Paul again writes to the learned Colossians, “. . . all things were created by him and for him.  He is before all things and in him all things hold together” (Colossians 1:16-17). And then, through the power and counsel of the Holy Spirit, this perspective finds root in these young hearts and minds, leading them into all truth, sanctifying them by the Word of truth, and perfecting them in righteousness and truth (Paul, again in II Timothy 3:14-16).

Now I know this sound quite theological, and it is.  But more important to this discussion, it is quite educational and quite practical.  Educationally, with this biblical perspective at the center of a child’s growth and development, seeing the world and all in it as being whole, complete and connected through the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, they grow toward perfection.   The school’s philosophy, core values, objectives, curriculum, and programs will all reflect this wholeness . . . it better or it should “cease & desist” working with children.  The mandate and responsibility are too crucial.

Practically speaking, the Christian view of God and the world is to be propagated as a daily ritual in the classroom.  This “rubber meeting the road” is vital to the students’ “getting it”!  The God fearing, Jesus modeling, Spirit-led Christian educator must see to it that both the planned instruction and the “a-ha” moments of the day seek to unify the knowledge, concepts, facts & figures, atmosphere, camaraderie, and discipline around this wholeness of being.   Julika, a dear friend and head of a Christian school in Miskolc, Hungary told me, “If we cannot consciously remember to do this, then we should just go to the street corner and sell newspapers!”

Now, do we do this perfectly?  No.  That perfection is reserved for eternity.  But as my wife so often reminds me, we are rehearsing here on earth for the real thing.  We “see through a glass darkly” in so much of how we view things of this world, but God has given us a perspective, a set of spectacles if you will, that assist us in seeing the world from His vantage point.  We in Christian schools are the opticians of a child’s educational world.  We work with myopic, imperfect vision.  Then we fit and fashion glasses that begin to bring their vision into clearer focus, in order for them to rightly discern the culture in which they live.

Wow!  That’s asking a lot of teachers and schools.  Whatdayathink, we’re perfect?

So, as we all begin this another school year, and then travel through the days ahead, let us remember our focus and refresh our thinking about our expectations and our students.  Will it be perfect?  Doubt it.  Will it be fulfilling?  Yes, by the grace of God and the love of Christ, and by the soundness (perfection) of the Spirit of God leading us forward and together in the development of this next generation toward perfection . . ..

Bill Stevens

(17th century prayer from the British House of Commons)

There is no indication from her writing of Ms. Kessler’s spiritual orientation, as she is writing from a very holistic perspective of “spirituality” in the classroom that encompasses all religious thought and beyond the scope of mere “religion”. Her point about the quality of relationships speaks volumes to where young people are today, the questions they are asking (or not asking!), and our listening and responding to them.

There is just no getting around it . . . kids are looking for deep relationships and deep connections. While they may not use the word, it seems to me that their lives are focused on finding significance. This search for significance, especially in relationships, is not limited to just with their peers or the “opposite sex”. It is significance in life across the board . . . with self, with others, with community, with their lineage, with the world, and (ultimately) with a “higher power”.

A truly Christian education will seek to nourish in students a Biblical perspective that allows them to “plow through this adolescent mess” so that they can “effectively integrate Biblical truth into their daily lives and impact the culture for Christ”. A truly Christian education will strive to develop an outlook on life that will stress these various relationships and help young people find their significance as a created individual with “Godly connections.” The Apostle Paul, addressing the intellectually elite in Athens, stated that, “In Him (Christ) we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28).

What better environment can we give to our children than one that fosters these deep relationships and connections so that they see life as a whole; created by God in harmony with oneself, with each other, with the various communities of life, and with God’s world? Sadly, all students do not necessarily “see” the significance as they make their way through all this . . . but it is still our God-given responsibility to see that they receive it and are nurtured in it.

I thought it interesting that Oswald Chambers would use Luke 2:52 as a reference point for this particular devotional . . . “and Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man”. It seems as if even the Son of God, in taking on our humanity, developed those deep connections and relationships as the basis for his own faith and learning process as a child. That is significant.

William F. Stevens
Head of School
Wilmington Christian School

Webster defines crucial as, “important or essential as resolving a crisis.” When I consider this, in light of what we do in Christian schooling, and what I see in the world around me, I can’t help but come to this conclusion . . . that the Christian education of our children is essential to resolving the crisis that we now see in education and, to reclaiming the future of our churches.

It only takes ten minutes of watching CNN or Fox News to see that our country needs a biblical worldview with which to approach and respond to the issues around us. A Christian education is not just “glorified Sunday School,” but rather a holistic approach to viewing life, faith, and learning. Every subject taught has its foundation in the Word of God (2 Timothy 3:14-17), and teaches a perspective that God has established from the foundation of this world. In his recent studies, noted Christian researcher, George Barna states, “It appears that most Americans have not thought very much about the most pressing spiritual issues they face.” Certainly this statement brings a sense of the “crucial” to the Christian education of this next generation!

A second crucially significant factor is the educational, psychological, social, and spiritual development of young people. Our children (from Kindergarten to young adulthood) need a frame of reference to their learning. I strongly believe that the current lack of stability and security in the hearts and minds of our young people is this lack of a “reference point” to learning. For too long our educational system has become piecemeal and compartmentalized, without a cohesive, driving, unifying force. God provided this in His Son. Bruce Lockerbie, in his book on Christian education, refers to this as the “cosmic center”. He cites the illustration of how he suffers dizziness when watching the mesmerizing rotation of a merry-go-round. Lockerbie asks the carousel operator how he stands it all day long? The man responds by taking him to where he views things, from the center! It makes all the difference in one’s perspective. Without a center that (Who) holds all things together, kids will not build that holistic framework that God, Himself, deemed crucial to our knowledge, wisdom, and understanding (Psalm 34:11; Proverbs 24:3-4).

Probably the most crucially compelling argument for Christian education is in the word itself. Crucial has its root in “crux,” or “cross.” It’s where we get crucifix and crucify. WOW! That brings two closing thoughts to my mind. First, I can boldly say that education is at a crossroads. We can keep looking at education in the same old, same old manner (“public school was good enough for me, it’ll be good enough for my kids”), or we can make Christian education a priority, both in our church mission, and in our individual family commitment. It’s costly to move in this direction, but it’s also crucial if we are to make any real change and secure any real future for our children’s sake, and the sake of the “children yet to be born” (Psalm 78).

In this expanded view of “crucial” that references the cross, it doesn’t take a big leap to conclude that what makes Christian education vital is Christ, and what He accomplished for us on the Cross. Not only is our salvation secured and our eternity is sealed, but, our here and now is held together (Colossians 1: 15-20). Mrs. Stevens and I have had a “rough” four years. Between cancer and heart disease, we have certainly seen the crucial side of life as it relates to our faith. Probably the central point in this “rocky journey” has been the people and ministry of Christian education, in Schenectady, in Eastern Europe, and here in Wilmington, that has made the crucial difference for us! It is through the Cross of Christ, and the centrality of it in our perspective that has made all the difference in our worldview. So we too, have been enriched and encouraged (at age 58!) from a Christian education . . . why not our kids?

As we reflect upon the world around us, and the state of affairs we’ve gotten ourselves into, the “crucialness” (new word?) of a Christian education in the generation to come may well stand as the closest relative of the Christian Church. Just think of the voice with which the Church would speak in the marketplace of ideas, having such a crucial ally as the Christian schooling of our youth!

No longer an option . . .
Mr. Stevens