Characteristics
of a Vibrant
Christian School
Part Two in a Series
By Jeff Keaton - Renewanation Founder & CEO
T
HROUGHOUT MY LIFETIME, I’ve had the privilege of being around
and benefiting from many Christian schools. As a child going into the third
grade, I attended my first Christian school in New Albany, Indiana. My
father started Clearfork Christian Academy as a response to his conviction that
his nine children should receive a Christian worldview education. I am deeply
grateful for my father’s insight at a time when very few children were receiving
weekday Christian education. I went on to attend several other Christian schools
as my dad moved from one ministry assignment to another. In 2002, I was privi-
leged to lead the charge to start Parkway Christian Academy in Roanoke, Virginia.
Watching PCA grow to nearly 400 students in seven years was both exhilarating
and exhausting as we tried to meet the ever increasing demands of a growing
student body. In 2007, God gave me the vision of Renewanation. Over the last
few years, I have become much better acquainted with the Christian school
movement in the United States. I have met with numbers of school boards and
administrative teams and have spoken to many groups of parents.
As I have traveled the country connecting with schools, I’ve formed some opin-
ions concerning what a healthy or vibrant Christian school looks like. All of the
schools I have visited are passionate about giving children a Christian worldview
and have great people sacrificing immensely in order to accomplish their noble
mission. However, from my perspective, the Christian school movement is facing
serious challenges in part because there are not enough vibrant Christian schools.
Too many Christian schools are just barely existing, and too many are closing
their doors every year.
At Renewanation, we believe God has called us to be a part of creating a new
Christian education movement. This movement includes Christian schools,
homeschools, and ministries reaching students in non-Christian schools. We plan
to help start many new schools as well as see many existing schools revitalized.
In Part One of Characteristics of Vibrant Christian Schools, I detailed four char-
acteristics. Vibrant Christian schools: know why they exist, have strong leader-
ship, are serious about biblical integration, and have a passion for evangelism and
discipleship. In Part Two, we’ll talk about the importance of high spiritual morale
in Christian schools.
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