What Kind of School
Is Your School?
By Dr. Bryan Smith
O
VER THE PAST twenty years, I have visited many
Christian schools. Some are big, and some are small.
Some seem financially secure with impressive facilities;
some seem to be just barely getting by. But I have learned
through the years that things are not always as they appear.
So, for those of us in Christian education, it’s imperative that
we judge our ministries not by what others think about us
but by what Jesus knows to be true. One way to do this is to
examine ourselves by what Jesus says in Revelation 2-3.
The book of Revelation begins with seven letters to seven
churches located in the Roman province of Asia. On the one
hand, these are ancient words written to churches that have
long since perished. But, on the other hand, these words are
eternal. They are written by Jesus Himself, and they have
applicability to churches in every place and in every age.
In every generation, some churches are Ephesian, some are
Thyatiran, and some are Philadelphian. And since any truly
Christian school is like a church (it’s run by believers, seeks
to meet the needs of believers, and prepares believers to
serve Christ), Christian schools can be evaluated by these
words in Revelation 2-3.
For the sake of brevity, I’ll focus on the final two letters. I’ll
treat the last one first.
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LAODICEA CHRISTIAN ACADEMY
Jesus describes believers in Laodicea as “lukewarm” (Rev
3:16). They were not “hot,” totally devoted to the Lord. But
neither were they “cold,” entirely rejecting of who Jesus is
and what He expected from them. They were somewhere
in between. They were devoted enough to be respectable as
Christians but rebellious enough to still live as they desired.
Jesus found this half-hearted devotion sickening.
Worst of all, these believers were unaware of their desper-
ate condition. They were self-deceived. They thought they
were “rich” and “increased in goods.” But Jesus knew the
truth. He said they were “wretched, and miserable, and
poor, and blind, and naked” (v. 17).
So, Jesus called them to repent—to turn away from their
insincere devotion and find in Him the wealth they thought
they already had. This call to repentance is direct, but it is
not cruel. Jesus concludes it with some of the most tender
words in Scripture: “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock:
if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in
to him, and will sup with him, and he with me” (v. 20).
Many Christian schools are Laodicean. They are luke-
warm. Their commitment to Christ is superficial. They talk
about how much they love the Lord on their website and in