Shaping Culture One Classroom at a Time
Over 60 years ago, Carl F. H. Henry questioned whether evangelicals could justify having so much money invested in church buildings that were only used a couple of days per week. He wrote, “The day has now come for evangelicalism to rethink its whole building program. By tremendous outlay of funds, most church communities provide a worship structure which usually stands idle except for two Sundays services and a midweek prayer meeting, if the latter.” He then made this jarring point, “No secular steward could long be happy about such minimal use of facilities representing so disproportionate an investment. Out of the modern crisis may come a better stewardship.”[1] Henry’s suggestion for better stewardship was about more than financial stewardship. He was concerned primarily with how Christians might engage and shape the culture around them. Henry’s suggestion for better stewardship and cultural change? Christian education.
My entire formal education has taken place within the confines of Christian schools. My elementary school years were spent in a Christian school owned and operated by a local Southern Baptist church. My high school was supported and operated by a Church of Christ group around Nashville. My concern, however, as a Christian high school student was that Christian schooling could become more about Christian isolation than Christian education.
Some may accuse parents who choose to send their kids to Christian schools of attempting to merely keep “their kids” away from “those kids” and “those worldviews.” That approach, if it were true, wouldn’t be truly Christian. Others have reacted against the seeming isolationism often associated with Christian schooling, and have sent their kids as missionaries of sorts into public schools to live out and share the Gospel. Even some Christian teachers have felt this same calling, and have decided to teach in the public school system for the same reason—a very noble reason, I believe.
I have become increasingly convinced that formal Christian education may be vital to the Church’s role in the world. Christian education does not have to mean isolation or a twelve-year Sunday school curriculum. Christian education can be academically rigorous—indeed it must be!—while simultaneously Christ-centered and Christ-exalting. Furthermore, Christian education can inculcate children with a Christian worldview, and can also serve as a means for sharing the beauty of the Gospel with the world.
Christ-Centered and Academically Rigorous Education
A lady once told me that she attended a private school as a little girl, but that her parents eventually sent her to the local public school. (After several years the private school closed.) It didn’t take long at her new public school before she realized she was significantly behind the other students academically who had attended public schools their entire life. Ironically, she had not received a quality education at the school her parents had paid for while other students were being well-educated in topics like math and grammar with taxpayer funding.
In my experience, this is not likely true of most Christian schools. However, it can be a helpful reminder that Christian education must be Christ-centered and academically rigorous. It shouldn’t serve merely as a social enclave for Christian children. There is nothing contradictory between academic rigor and Christ-centeredness. Christians should offer an education that, in the words of Henry, “out-educates the secular educators.”[2] If any group of people should be interested in exploring and teaching truth, it ought to be Christians. If any teacher should be motivated to deeply invest him or herself into his or her classes and students, surely it ought to be Christians.
An Alternative, Inclusive Community
Can Christian education serve as a means of cultural influence and change? Some might contend that Christian education is not a means of evangelism. They may be concerned that admitting unbelieving students into their schools would drastically change the school’s spiritual and behavioral environment. That might be true in some cases. But I wonder if some Christian schools might be able to use a rigorous education, strong Christian teachers, and a predominately Christian student population to influence some of the brightest minds in their communities that may come from non-Christian families.[3] In other words, could this be a way of carrying out the Great Commission?
Certainly a host of issues should be considered if such an approach were adopted. For example, I am not suggesting that student expectations and rules should be relaxed in any way. But what if we could reverse the effects of an increasingly secular public school education by not just segregating “our kids,” but by welcoming unbelievers to send us their kids for an unparalleled education that sees all things including math, science, and history from a Christian perspective? What if instead of being afraid to send our kids to public schools, unbelieving parents would send their kids to Christian schools to receive a good education? And while there, they could also hear and see the Gospel lived out in the lives of those who believe and live it? Certainly it would be a massive commitment for churches, teachers, and administrators. However, it could have a cumulative effect in our cities, towns, and neighborhoods over time.[4]
Some Dilemmas
Some of the suggestions above might create certain dilemmas. First, the overall cost of operating a Christian school can be immense. Paying teachers, maintaining facilities, financing athletics, and more require a lot of money. Furthermore, for many of the families in our communities, including those who might be members of our churches, school tuition simply isn’t an option due to their already restricted budgets. Christian schools might most efficiently operate within the confines of a local church since the space is largely unused during the week, and is already being funded by the church. To help keep costs low, other local churches, local associations, or state associations might be able to help fund their schools if they see fit. These are just a few potential solutions, and there probably are more.
Second, unbelieving students will likely be inclined to act like unbelievers, and that is a hindrance to many Christian schools admitting them. Christian schools must institute whatever policies they see fit to influence their students’ behavior, and hold them accountable for those rules when necessary. If Christian schools have weekly chapel services, then unbelieving parents and students should be made aware prior to admission that chapel attendance is required. Surely we would welcome more opportunities for unbelievers to hear and experience the truth of the Gospel.
Conclusion
Maybe these suggestions raise more questions than they answer. My intent, though, is not to solve every dilemma, but to put forth the idea that Christian schools are a valuable resource that more churches and local associations ought to consider implementing. It may be a way of being better stewards of the financial investment we’ve already made into church buildings. The value gained through shaping the hearts and mind of the next generation, however, would certainly be greater than mere financial stewardship.
For those who already have Christian schools, we ought to be sure that our purpose for Christian education is about more than just keeping “our kids” away from secular ideologies and unbelieving students. Shouldn’t Christ-centeredness, academic rigor, and maybe even evangelism be at the heart of Christian education? There’s no greater service to our community and our world than allowing the truth of the Gospel to redeem and shape our students, especially the unbelieving ones.
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[1] Carl F. H. Henry, The Uneasy Conscience of Modern Fundamentalism (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1947), 70.
[2] Henry, The Uneasy Conscience, 70.
[3] I am not inclined to think that this approach would work for Christian colleges, and I am not suggesting that here.
[4] One of the reasons I don’t believe that this idea is so dangerous is because it is precisely what many churches already do through outreach programs such as community events, bus ministry, and inviting their unbelieving friends as well as their kids to attend their Sunday school classes and church services.
February 22, 2016
I have taught in a christian school for 10 years, of which time we did accept students in that were from unsaved families. For the most part it did not work well. You have conflicting world views, conflicting spiritual values and views, and the essence of discipline positive and negative were at great odds.
If I were to start a Christian school now for my church it would only be for members of my church or members of churches of like precious faith only.
It is very difficult to give Christian education to non-Christians. I understand that even the children who come from our own church family may not be saved, but there is a differing framework here than children who come from families that are not Christian.
Pastor Dave
February 22, 2016
Thank you for your insight, Dave!