Pioneer Christian Monthly - September, 1986

 Education From A Christian Perspective
Marc De Waard

Title - Education from a Christian Perspective

Topic - Education

The Law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul.- the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple Psalm 19.7

In a Christian's pursuit for truth and knowledge, the starting point must be the Bible. Through the illumination of the Holy Spirit divine revelation is given to God's children. It is in God's Word that we are shown that we are sinful but that by God's grace we can be changed through the cross of Jesus Christ. Suddenly we can "truly see", suddenly we know that our life counts, it has meaning, it has a purpose. We, with other members of our Christian family, can love God, can work for Christ and His Bride. We find what we should and should not do in the Holy Bible.

As William N. Blake writes,

Christians are a people of the Book of books. Their very survival and continued success depends on a thorough grasp of its message. No one can ever know all that is needed from Scripture to solve all future problems. What is critical is to be able to handle Scripture and be equipped to search for those answers when problems arise.

If our quest for truth and knowledge lasts our whole life long, then we should spend a great deal of time at it as well as learn how to do it properly and well. As in learning any other thing, this search for God' s order can be done in school. And it's best to be done then for a child is most able to be developed and molded, and also trained so that when they get older they will not depart from God's ways.

The Christian church and family has for a long time in history deemed it necessary to instruct their children in and on religious teachings. With the advent of many universities in the 1600's and on, the movement of the enlightenment and scientific revolution, plus the involvement of the state in education (most notably in Prussia), the church soon took a back seat to the religious training of a child on a daily basis. In North America by the mid 1850's, proponents of a public school system were gaining clout You know the rest of the story - public education secular education became the norm. Since the 1960's, however, a change started to occur and today that change manifests itself in the "private school movement.

Since 1972 private school enrolment has been rising steadily. There were in Canada then, 14,805 public schools with 5,570,251 students, and 766 private schools with 151,595 students. By 1983-84, the number of public schools and students dropped to 14,010 schools with 4,702,869 students attending them. Meanwhile, for that same time period, there were 1,124 private schools in Canada with 230,555 student attending them.

Why was the private school movement gaining? The answers were legion and basically they can be summed up in the word " alternative". Private schools were an alternative to drugs on campus, or to declining standards; or to mass education. Private schools, and more specifically Christian schools, were an alternative to the secular humanism taught in the public schools.

Public schools, in order to appeal to all, had to teach that which was able to be for all. The teaching was reduced to only the essentials and things which were conflicting to groups of people (e.g. politics and, especially, religion) had to be deleted. By that action, public schools kept obtaining reductions in the teachings of the Christian content - no Lord's Prayer to the abolition of teaching Creationism. Thus, public schools today tell the Christian and non-Christian alike that whether or not there is a personal God, there is a body of learning that is accessible to an individual. How wrong that is and obviously Christians are becoming aware of it for the private school movement is growing; parents want their children educated from a Christian perspective. And rightly SO.

John Calvin stated that "in everything we deal with God". Is it not then our obligation to seek God in everything that we are? In everything that we do? In everything that we think? Within secular education, a fact is a fact and always will be a fact. In education with a Christian perspective, a fact is a fact but it is part of God's creation, part of God's plan. Learning is no just to learn or to take pride in one's knowledge, learning is to know what we should be doing for Him, how to do it and how we fit into the Creator's plan.

For this author, that learning needs to take place in a Christian school. Many Reformed peoples - Lutherans, Presbyterians, Christian Reformed - have seen the efficacy, the need, to have their children in a Christian school. You see, religion is not just a matter of the heart or a one-day out of seven affair. Religion, i.e., Christianity, should be a dominant influence in every area of a child's life. And Christian schools, good ones, help achieve this.

Roger Burgess, in March 1984's edition of Christian School, writes:

The spiritual dimension of life that is dealt with and addressed throughout the school program is the raison d'etre of the Christian school . . . . This spiritual dimension should not be a part of Bible class only. The Christian school is not simply a regular school where the students take a Bible course. Nor is it simply a school where all the teachers happen to be Christians. Rather, it is a school where the Christian faith is integrated into all activities. (p. 25; emphasis is my own)

Our children are born into sin and God wants hearts of stone to become hearts of flesh on fire for Him. A school with a Christian philosophy of education, with Christian teachers, teachers who desire to integrate their faith into their subject material, who are models, who know God's calling to their task and understand the seriousness of their call (James 3: 1), this is where the child's heart can be cultivated so that after the school and teacher plant and water, God can give the increase. Joseph Bayly, a famous Christian author, writes, "We couldn't conceive of God-fearing Israelites turning their children over to Canaanites for their education"4. Why then should we as Christians hand our children over to those who are not on the Lord's side? Bayly continues,

We send them four children to be educated for life in its fullest sense: the conventional subject matter, yes, but also for moral reasoning, discipline and self-discipline, goals, career guidance, sex education and social relationships and citizenship. Who is as equipped as a Bible-believing Christian for such an educating task?

Public schools, because they are not based on God and His Word, are unable to lead students to understanding and simply do not teach. Christian schools, because they are based on God and the Book of books, can teach. Both teacher and student sit at the feet of the Master-Teacher and allow Him to impart the gift of learning. Then can students learn the purpose for their lives and they sense that they have a mission - that to work for God in whatever arena He calls them to, to accomplish things for their fellow man and for the glory of their Creator.

This author is not naive enough to believe that every school that professes Christian education is necessarily doing it We do need to evaluate private schools. Nor do I say that every Christian student and teacher in the public system should immediately leave it and go to a Christian school. We can witness there. A real contribution can be made by Bible-believing Christians to reclaim public schools. However, I do feel that we send children to school to become educated, not to primarily evangelize. Until they are able to not be tossed "to and fro", until they are mature in the faith, they should not be put into a place which allows permeation of something which is far beyond them.

I would love to have a son or daughter learn His ways first at a young age so that when they are of age they have the Lord's precepts and laws, a healthy fear of Him imbedded in heart and mind, and the tools to dig into the Scriptures. My church is trying to help, my wife and I are trying to love and instruct. I hope that one day the place where my child will spend most of her time (the school) will also aid us in bringing our child to a better understanding of life, herself, and of Him who knows them intimately and calls them to a life to be lived for Him.

Please click the "Back" button of your browser to return to previous page.