The RenewaNation Review 2015 Volume 7 Issue 2 | Page 37

We must help our youth guard their hearts! Secular options are aggressively competing for our Christian students’ time and attention both in the traditional classroom as well as online. We must do everything in our power to protect our students from these advances and ensure that kids in CHRISTIAN schools get a CHRISTIAN education. An increasing number of Christian school leaders are allowing students to take online courses from secular options that are off mission and off message because they are less expensive or even free. Doesn’t this undermine and devalue what school leaders work so hard to accomplish in providing a quality Chris- tian education to their students? What would happen to your school’s enrollments if you regularly allowed students to take traditional courses at the brick and mortar public schools? Do you think the public schools might be able to recruit some of your students away from your school? If Christian students are allowed or encouraged to pursue online secular options outside of your online program, where does it end? We are called to be Christian first, Christian in every place, and Christian all the time. Sevenstar’s online curriculum is biblically integrated and should be viewed as an extension of your school’s operations. Shouldn’t we be encouraging students to take only those online courses that continue to form them as Christians, meet the high academic standards that you have set for your school, are worthy of a credit from your school, that expand God’s Kingdom, and glorify Him? The alternative is to take the path of least resistance and allow them to take the secular options available that may be less expensive or free but are not mission-aligned and do not help students grow in their faith. If the primary mission of a Christian school is to provide an authentically Christian education, then we have a great responsibility to carry out this mission and make it a priority by providing options that are in line with this mission. We must provide moral clarity to our students, at every opportunity, and be the guardians of moral order and academic achievement for the greater glory of God. By reaching for God, the all-knowing, we can resist the encroachments of our increasingly secular world. As it says in 1 Timothy 6:12, we must continue to “fight the good fight of faith” in our Christian schools to over- come the imminent danger to our faith and morals. We must continue to fortify a solid reputation for academic standards and Christian values in our schools. Sevenstar is aligned with your Christian school’s mission by delivering an online curriculum with biblical integra- tion and a Christian worldview that provides wisdom to students and reinforces their beliefs regarding their Christian faith. Sevenstar is honored to work with Christian school leaders around the world in making disciples of Christ through a global learning community that glorifies God. Let’s work together to provide outstanding online Christian education that instructs the mind and heart of each student at your school this year.  learn more at sevenstar.org 513-612-1029 37