“True Christian education relates
God’s Word to every aspect of life.”
3. Christian education is an ambition to do God’s will.
Because it is a lifelong process of transforming our
minds, Christian education spans “the cradle to the
grave.” We want our students to be “maladjusted” to this
world, to see the sin in themselves and in the world, and
to commit their lives to the pursuit of justice, compas-
sion, and integrity.
As students study God’s world from the perspective of the
Word, it will enable them to do God’s service. “We want to
serve our culture,” writes Harry Blamires in The Secularist
Heresy, “We want our culture to work—not because it is the
only good we can conceive, and not because we are finally
and securely at home in it—but because it is a great drama
that we have been staged in, and it is good that we should
play our parts well.”
There are those who object to Christian schools saying:
• “We want our children to be in the ‘real’ world.” What is
the “real” world for Christians? Is it a world informed
by secularism, or one dominated by the love, reconcili-
ation, and forgiveness of Jesus Christ?
• “We don’t want to abandon the public schools. We want
our children to be a witness there.” Should the youngest
members of God’s kingdom be on the front lines, or is
it wiser first to train and prepare them much like we
would care for young plants in the garden?
• “We would like to have our children in the Christian
school, but we can’t afford it.” What better stewardship of
personal and church finances than to use them for the
education of covenant children? “Wisdom is supreme;
therefore get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get
understanding” (Prov 4:7).
• “The Christian school is hypocritical.” Christian schools
do not claim to be perfect or without their share of
sinners any more than churches do. The difference with
the Christian school is the way in which it deals with
the sin, how it models restitution and accountability,
and how it encourages repentance and restoration.
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The Mission of the Christian School
The psalmist, writing to God’s people, summarizes the
mission of Christian education: “We will tell the next
generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power,
and the wonders he has done. He decreed statutes for Jacob
and established the law in Israel, which he commanded our
forefathers to teach their children, so the next generation
would know them, even the children yet to be born, and
they in turn would tell their children. Then they would put
their trust in God and would not forget his deeds but would
keep his commands” (Ps 78:4–8).
The Christian school, working together with the Christian
home and the church, exists to fulfill these scriptural prom-
ises. The Christian school longs to introduce its students to
the source of all truth. Therefore, the decision for a Christian
education is the best choice a family can make.
More than 450 years ago, Martin Luther preached a
powerful sermon encouraging his listeners to stand firm in
their faith and reminding them of the nature of the conflict:
“Christendom must have people who can beat down their
adversaries and opponents and tear off the devil’s equipment
and armor, that he may be brought into disgrace. But for this
work, powerful warriors are needed, who are thoroughly
familiar with the Scriptures and can contradict all false
interpretations and take the sword from false teachers. Each
Christian should be so armed that he himself is sure of his
belief and of the doctrine and is so equipped with the sayings
from the Word of God that he can stand up against the devil
and defend himself when men seek to lead him astray.”
This is the mission of the Christian school.
Reprinted by permission of WORLD magazine.
Jim Drexler is dean of social science and the Graduate School of Education at
Covenant College in Lookout Mountain, Georgia.