A Vision for the future of Christian Schools

November, 2009. One could argue that Christian education began when our Lord Jesus walked the earth. In many ways, He was the first Christian School teacher. However, Christian schooling as a movement is still relatively young. In fact, the first national network of Christian schools was formed in 1920. The founding of Christian Schools International (CSI) marked an effort to become intentional about providing an education that was thoroughly and authentically biblical. Grounded in the Reformed faith, CSI became the pioneer national organization to set out to form exemplary Christian Schools. They had a vision for Christian education that was transformational in nature - something more than Christian teachers working in a Christian environment with a dash of Bible and prayer thrown in.

Those who founded CSI believed in at least three key distinctives of Christian education.

First, they desired to provide an education that was thoroughly and intentionally taught through the lens of a biblical worldview. The pioneers saw the business of educating children about God as being of paramount importance, but they believed that education about the Creator of the Universe necessarily takes many forms. They acknowledged that God has revealed Himself in both His Scriptures (Special Revelation) and in the world He created (General Revelation). In turn, these Christian educators recognized that it was important to study both God's Word and His world - and that the study of one should not take precedence over the other except insofar as: 1) Scripture outlines the plan of salvation, and 2) Scripture must be the lens that brings the study of God's world into proper focus

Second, the founders of CSI wanted to produce schools that trained up students who would become agents of Christ's Redemption to a lost and fallen world. They wanted to create institutions that would launch graduates driven to cultural transformation using the skills attained in their educational experience. Recognizing that people are not primarily won to the Christian faith through intellectual arguments, but as the result of witnessing lives lived in service and devotion to God, the pioneers of Christian education had a vision for Christian schools that prepared students to be agents of God's shalom (His peace).

Third, the organization set out to form Christian schools that would equip students to become intelligent, discerning Christian thinkers. Recognizing the biblical calling to be salt and light in the world, our Christian school forerunners had a vision for schools that would produce well-educated Christian citizens who would be thoroughly equipped to have a voice - an educated voice - in a world that was increasingly hostile to the Christian faith.

In 1978, the Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI), in which North Hills Christian School was a charter member, was formed. While CSI produced a national organization of Reformed Christian Schools, ACSI emerged with a similar vision, but in a broader focus and context. ACSI formed the first global association of theologically conservative, but broadly evangelical Christian Schools. Today, with thousands of member schools around the globe, ACSI is arguably the strongest and most respected Christian school association in the world.

I believe the history of the Christian School movement in America is instructive for North Hills Christian School and for today's Christian school movement. The potency of the mission and vision of the pioneers is needed in twenty-first century society even more than it was needed thirty years ago, when ACSI was founded. It is certainly needed more than ninety years ago, when CSI was founded.

Today, however, more families choose Christian Schools for what they "are not" than choose them for what they "are." If families enter our doors in an effort to avoid what they see in other schools, that is okay. However, if they remain in our institutions for the same reasons as they came, we have failed to cultivate the necessary commitment to sustain our mission.

If they are to produce a sustainable vision for the future, today's Christian Schools must look to the past. It is more critical than ever that stakeholders in these institutions share a common commitment to producing students who are thoroughly equipped to engage, minister to, evangelize, and transform a broken world for the sake of the Kingdom. May it always be the case that the vision of the pioneers of the Christian Schooling movement and of the founders of NHCS will remain the very blood that pumps through the heart and veins of our institution.