l l
Every Church an Educational Center
By Jeff Keaton
I
recently came across an announcement Martin Luther gave to his church members that was in some ways hilarious and , in other ways , would have gotten him thrown out of most churches today . His opening sentence was , “ I understand that this is the week for the church collection , and many of you do not want to give a thing .” He continued by saying , “ You ungrateful people should be ashamed of yourselves .” He went on to describe what their offerings were supporting with these words : “ They are first for the ministers , schoolteachers , and sacristans . The first labor for your salvation , preach to you the precious treasure of the gospel , administer the sacraments , and visit you at great personal
risk in the plague . The second train children to be good magistrates , judges , and ministers . The third care for the poor .” What I found most interesting about Luther ’ s words was the simple fact that the newly formed Protestant churches were funding school teachers who were training young men and women to become future magistrates , judges , and ministers . Thus , the education of children was a central part of the church ’ s mission . So much so that the church was paying the teachers just like they were paying the pastors . As a young pastor , it dawned on me that whoever had the most access to the hearts and minds of children was going to determine what those children ended up believing . Because we wanted to have a major influence in our students ’ lives , we took responsibility for a Christian club in every public middle or senior high school in our vast county . However , it didn ’ t take me long to figure out that our one hour per week in a Christian club and our two hours per week at church were no competition to the thirty-five to forty hours a week our students were being indoctrinated in the day to day training at school . I began to strongly believe that if we were going to truly disciple our children , we would have to start a weekday education ministry .
In my second pastorate , we launched a school . My dream of everyday discipleship became a practical reality , and it actually worked ! Today , hundreds of men and women are walking with Jesus and carrying out His plans in business , medicine , law , government , ministry , and more because we decided to make the education of children a central part of our church ministry .
Here ’ s the great news : It ’ s not as difficult or costly to launch a school today as it was twenty years ago , and there ’ s a lot more help available to walk you through the process . Whether you want to start a traditional brick-and-mortar school , a homeschool co-op , or a school entirely using iLumenEd Online Academy , Renewanation can walk you through the process . With iLumenEd Online Academy , we can relieve the burden of finding teachers , determining curriculum , and worrying about accreditation . Every church can literally start a school as long as they have a passion for giving children a biblical worldview , are willing to make facilities available , and provide adult supervision .
The path to supporting and providing some form of weekday education for students can look very different from one church to another . All churches can open their pulpits to the message that parents must take very seriously their call
30 THE RENEWANATION REVIEW