Are Christian schools facing extinction?
Friday, January 26th, 2007Today I am sitting in the lunch room at East Fork Lutheran School pondering the ever changing landscape of Christian schools. As the high school will be closing, I realize that we are losing another Christian school. Closing a school is always a very emotional experience and I have been here before as I served on the board of Covenant Christian School which closed its main K-12 programs almost eight years ago. At East Fork, however, there is an alternative. A charter school run and governed by a group of Christians with high standards and a proven educational model.
As a product of Christian schools, I have been revisiting the reasons why we have Christian schools in the first place. Don’t get me wrong I think that in most cases the continual evolution of Christian education is a good thing, but at the same time I want to go back the foundational reasons for it and make sure I understand what we are losing.
In marketing we talk about the fact that products and services change but the brand foundation does not. Translated: the ministry plan may change but the doctrine and teachings do not change. This is what is happening in Christian education, the delivery of it is changing but the reasons for it should not.
My experience with Christian schools in both Reformed and Lutheran circles has shown that reasons for Christian schools include both the creation mandate and Christ-centered education.
The creation mandate approach to Christian schools starts with the view that:
“Since God is the creator we should only learn from His perspective.”
This approach emphasizes knowledge as we see the character of God revealed in natural revelation. This goes way beyond slapping a bible verse on the top of a quiz and instead says studying infinity in Calculus teaches us something about God since He is infinite. Knowledge is important and these educators tend to have more advanced degrees than their counterparts. This view is largely embraced by evangelicals who are migrating from main-line denominations to community churches.
Christ-centered education on the other hand puts faith first as the most important purpose.
Christ-centered schools focus on distributing the means of grace in word and sacrament as the first and foremost priority–sharing law and gospel with each child.
The Christ-centered approach measures success by number of confirmands while the creation mandate approach measures the intellectual growth in the knowledge of God. The purpose is not necessarily to learn about God in natural revelation but to strengthen faith. In the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS), which runs the fourth largest parochial school system, this means that teachers are experts in religion but not necessarily experts in their subject matters and few educators in this system have advanced degrees such as a masters or a doctorate.
The big question for both:
Are Christian schools a necessity or a luxury?
People who subscribe to the creation mandate view tend to be more ready to say yes it is a necessity. I have met many in both camps that would love to have the resources to make Christian schools a non-luxury item. Parochial school systems are more committed to making this an affordable option than are the loosely-affiliated, evangelical Christian schools. The problem is resources and by resources this is not only money but skilled educators. Enter charter schools.
If you believe the creation mandate then you most likely also believe that all truth is God’s truth. This belief makes secular schools an option as long as the person’s world view is maintained. If you take a Christ-centered approach than you realize that the distribution of the means of grace for the purpose of salvation is not limited education in its classic forms: elementary, secondary, and post-secondary schools.
And so you end up where most parents are:
Give us a school that reflects our values with good families and a safe environment so we can raise our kids.
In the past, Christian schools have met the needs of people with this view in a way the public school system had been unable to do. Now with charter schools and other options, why run Christian schools? Let’s just have public schools with Christian teachers, classical curriculum, special focuses, and classroom sizes we are comfortable with.
I recall some of the prayers from the Lutheran Book of Prayer where we pray for the peace and prosperity of our nation that we might live quite, peaceful lives with the freedom to spread the gospel. Maybe that’s what we are doing here at East Fork.
Schools have become as essential to our lives as food, clothing, and shelter. This is the “Salvation Army” approach to Christian schools. Give them the basics and then give them the gospel. So now we face the challenge of resources that only a public or charter system can provide and in response we strive to create “conditions of peace” which will allow for the spread of the gospel.
I pray that this will not turn out like Joseph and the Israelites in the land of Egypt. The Israelites ended up there because of a famine and a lack of resources. God provided through Joseph a way out much like the charter option so many of us are considering. Many years later however Joseph was forgotten and the Israelites were enslaved. Egypt was part of God’s plan for the growth of His people. Charter schools may well be God’s plan for the growth of His people. In the long term we may say with Moses: “Let my people go.”
