The State of Christian Education

Mr. Matthew Tuckey
Administrator (Carlisle Christian Academy, PA)


We find ourselves today in very turbulent times. Our president-elect prepares to assume a historic national debt, a reeling economy, and fragile national security. Our faith faces increased skepticism fueled by divisiveness among believers, conformity to pluralism, and litigation that reaches beyond the separation of church and state to the exclusion of Christianity among reason. Among the entanglement of our world, we have hope. As I type this, Jack Bauer has returned and redemption is to be found in another twenty-four hours!

Our educational system also faces a turning point. The system is failing as measured by most national and international benchmarks. Money isn’t the issue as per student expenditures continue to rise with assessments failing to follow the upward trend. Many studies show high school graduates in the United States ill prepared to successfully engage in a global marketplace. This isn’t an insult to the many fine, qualified professionals in public education. Some of my closest friends are in public education, and I respect them greatly. The incompetency of public education is not because of the individuals involved, but rather it is due to a broken system. Increased bureaucracy or even more public money has not and will not bring resolution. This is why, for the first time in memory, we had presidential candidates calling for the dissolution of the Department of Education. It’s too heavy and is sinking under the weight of itself.

At the same time, the “product” of Christian education has also seemingly become less desirable as measured by overall enrollment. The perception of what Christian education entails varies greatly, and the spiraling economy makes discretionary money more difficult to cultivate. These two factors, among others, have contributed to an average decrease in enrollment of 12% in Pennsylvania in Christian schools over the past five years. In most markets, select Christian schools thrive, while the majority face downsizing.

In contrast, alternative educational options are skyrocketing. Home schooling is becoming more organized, supported, networked, and in turn more prevalent. Cyberschool and other distance learning formats are becoming more widespread.

So what does this mean? It’s my belief that the free market system would be a catalyst for significant, positive changes in the world of education. Even without true educational choice, parents are increasingly dissatisfied with public schooling as their mandated option and are intensively seeking other choices as shown in the expanding alternative education market. Lobbyists for school choice are gaining merit as initiatives across the nation are showing encouraging results.

Where does Christian education find itself in this evolving educational landscape? The aforementioned statistics support a theory that quality, diverse, focused Christian schools are positioned to experience significant growth while schools vying to survive simply because of the “Christian” label that they carry will fail. Parents seek choice, including non-public, religious schools; however, they will not sacrifice quality academics for thinly veiled dogma. The “church school” with a prayerful heart but with unqualified teachers, a loose curriculum, and an unstructured organizational approach will attract only the parents seeking to hide and protect their children from the evils of the world. (Warning: The humanness of the fallen world permeates the walls of these schools as well, so the protectionist mindset will be unsatisfied, leaving these schools to die on the vine).

With 85% of people in the U.S. considering them “Christians,” parents carry that belief forward as they seek educational options wherein their children develop worldview through the lens of faith. Certainly for the devout Christian, an educational option that integrates academics with faith parallels God’s call for parents to train their children in the way of the Lord. In surveys, this option is even attractive for nonpracticing “Christian” parents as they seek a holistic educational choice that incorporates the mind, body, and spirit into the instruction for their child.

It’s my belief that those schools that are able to construct themselves on the fundamental truths of the one true God while providing diverse, quality academics will continue to flourish. This means providing a consistent, moldable curriculum based on clearly stated objectives. This means benchmarking academic offerings against the leading public and non-public schools, adapting what works and remodeling what doesn’t. This means meeting students where they are at in their faith, catering to the student who has known Christ for years while equally supporting the student who is uncommitted or skeptical about a relationship with Jesus. This means tearing down denominational barriers and inviting healthy, intelligent discussion about the Christian faith. This means being authentic and transparent about our faith journeys, showing hearts that seek a dynamic relationship with Jesus as opposed to doctrinal mandates. This means loving, serving, and forgiving in a way that is softening hearts as opposed to force-feeding evangelism that is hardening hearts.

Christian schools were at their heyday in the 1980’s. Enrollments reached peak levels, and new schools opened regularly. We now see a generation that came through these schools making educational choices for their children. Too often, these alumni are apathetic to the difference that Christian school made in their lives or worse, are jaded by the experience. The negativity is due to a myriad of reasons, but is most predominantly rooted in legalism and hypocrisy.

However, like Jack Bauer, we have a new “24.” As a Christian school, we have a new opportunity to define ourselves, not by what the world calls for but by what God calls us to be. At Carlisle Christian Academy, we believe that we are called to be an educational community that seeks to know, love, and serve God. We believe that we are to pursue excellence, trying to serve our students more effectively and more efficiently tomorrow than we did today. We believe that separating academic knowledge and spiritual truth is ineffective as they are not mutually exclusive. We believe that God has called us individually to be at this school to collectively learn and grow in and through Him. We will attempt to walk alongside parents as they work to train their children up in the way that they should go. I believe that in our new “24,” parents will continue to see the inherent value in this.

So what does this mean for Christian educators worldwide?

• Embrace today like you first did when you felt God’s call to this vocation.
• Teach with passion.
• Work with parents to support their children.
• Go deeper into the student world to find what might motivate them.
• Be open to let God change and transform you so that you might have a greater impact on the impressionable lives of your students.
• Think of the most difficult parent, student, and co-worker and consider how you might change yourself or your approach to strengthen those relationships.
• Forgive instead of judge.
• Be real instead of pretending.
• Commit or recommit to being completely disposable to God in allowing Him to make your school place a true “city on a hill,” a light in your community that cannot be hidden.

A Principal's Joy

Dan Beerens
Vice President for Learning Services, Christian Schools International
Originally published on Nurturing Faith (January 16, 2009)


As a Christian school principal what is the most valuable thing for me to do in my day? I believe that principals have one of the toughest jobs going, balancing many needs, wearing many hats, and if really effective, doing the tough things of leadership as opposed to avoiding conflict and just reacting to daily fires. Given the fact that there are limited hours in the day, what is the most effective way for principals to allocate their time? This was a question I pondered each day of my eleven years as a building principal and over my 28 years in education.

I will admit that I have changed my mind on the answer to this question over the course of my career. One certainly could argue that the answer might be dealing with students, keeping parents or boards happy, raising money, or doing teacher observations. Yet, I believe that if I had to sum it up I would say it this way: The best use of time and the greatest joy of a Christian school principal is . . .

Encouraging the encouragers to nurture faith in students.

In a Christian school it is all about nurturing faith – it is why a Christian school exists. If the education delivered in a Christian school is not challenging students to see God in all things then it may as well close its doors and give up on its mission.

How is faith nurtured in students? A principal must encourage his/her teachers to pay close attention to, and assist them in, three areas:

Curriculum – how am I helping my students see God through the study of this subject? How do we see brokenness and redemption in this discipline? What is God’s intention for this aspect of his created order? How might we be a part of his plan to restore it?

Classroom – how am I modeling faith and how do my pedagogical practices encourage faith in students?

Community – is my classroom modeling Christ’s law of loving God and loving neighbors? How am I contributing to the professional community in my school? How is our school impacting our community?

The job of the principal is to be the chief carrier of the mission and vision of the school, and if he/she focuses on the three areas listed above they will be on the path to greater distinctiveness in meeting the mission and vision of their Christian school.

Now to unpack the first part of that statement “encouraging the encouragers.” The primary task of the principal is to encourage the teachers who are encouraging the students in faith encouraging learning. Teaching is a complex endeavor, one that leads to much second-guessing on the part of conscientious and sensitive teachers - likely those on your staff who are doing the best jobs already with kids. The more complex the work, the more room there is for discouragement by the teacher and the more need there is for encouragement by the principal. The effects of encouragement have been well documented in business literature by authors such as DePree and Welch. Goleman in his book, Working with Emotional Intelligence, reminds us through his citation of multiple studies that the leaders who are most effective are those who are warm, encouraging, and genuinely care for their followers. Management consultant Kevin Cashman suggests a ratio of 5 “praises” to 1 “criticism” in our interactions with those we supervise. Throughout Jesus’ ministry, his words of grace allowed others to be liberated to try again and created the ultimate environments of grace in which people could flourish.

It is the Christian school principal’s special joy to be an agent of encouragement to those who encourage and nurture faith in students.

Where is the grace? I thought this was a Christian school!

By: Märni Halvorson, Ed.D., Head of School (Covenant Day School)
As posted on The Christian School Journal

Did you know that there are more than fifty separate references to discipline in Scripture and that every one of them talks about its benefits to the one being disciplined? Further, God, our Father, goes so far as to say that the failure to exercise discipline exposes a lack of love for our children.

Look at these verses from Hebrews 12: “the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives…God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline…then you are illegitimate children and not sons.” What a counter-cultural idea that is in today’s society where we are no longer shocked by the sight of public temper tantrums or news interviews with parents who insist that there was nothing they can do about the criminal behavior of their out of control minors.

We have allowed our absolutely appropriate revulsion over all forms of child abuse to push us into the opposite ditch and an incorrect understanding of what it means to discipline.

Discipline and discipling are fraternal twins. Both are means of training or teaching -- or mentoring. Parents, and educators, who are serious about following God’s lead, will make it their goal to excel in this area.

What does “Godly discipline” look like? At Covenant Day School we believe that it should be characterized by love, wisdom, consistency and the development of habits that minimize the need for correction or reproof.

Our goal as teachers and administrators is discipling our students so that they will be spared the consequences of wrong behaviors. Every one of our students is a fallible human, and it is inevitable that there will be occasions when discipline includes a punitive element. The purpose of such discipline is to redeem the situation insofar as possible so that the student will be better equipped for faithful service to the Lord and redirected on a better life course. All of us want our children/students to be people of character and integrity; all of us want them well prepared to assume positions of responsibility. None of us wants the pain of seeing a child face the consequences of behavior that repeatedly violates the rules of the state or personal morality. The ESV version of Proverbs 12:1 puts it bluntly, “Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid.”

In our school wisdom and consistency are guides by which we try to measure our rules. We are careful to make sure that what we ask of our students is for their good and not our convenience. We try very hard to match our expectations to the age and abilities of our students and we recognize that parents are our partners in discipling and certain areas like spanking or curfew restrictions are decisions for them alone.

As a school we are blessed by a unity between home and school that is apparent in the day to day behavior of our students. The vast majority of behavioral issues are handled without fanfare in the classroom or between teacher and parent.

Occasionally, a situation arises that involves more than one student or a behavior that requires more than basic intervention. When this happens the wisdom of experienced administrators is brought to bear. What must the school do in order to redirect the student to a Godly life course, to be consistent with the school’s standards for behavior and for the encouragement of families who have entrusted their sons and daughters to us with an expectation that the school’s leaders would remain committed to principle even when their decision might be criticized?

Our first step is to pray. We seek the Lord’s guidance and direction for our decision. We know that we are fallible and that our decisions can affect a student’s future. We try to be objective. We really listen to the student’s account of the events that have brought us to this point. We want to understand the circumstances and balance grace, truth, and mercy. We know that there are times when students, especially teenagers, do foolish things, and we want to discern as best we can what actually happened and why.

We know that every decision we make sets a precedent so carefully ponder options. We meet with parents as well as with the student, and invite their input. When we make decisions, we try to look beyond the immediate future for the student involved and for the entire student body. We make a decision and inform the student involved and their parents. We refer them to their youth pastors for further mentoring and encouragement. We do all that is possible to respect the confidential nature of any corrective discipline issues, even when that means that we must respectfully decline to discuss a specific situation with the parents of other students. It is our conviction that this policy is most helpful in doing all we can to assure that our actions might reflect our concern for the future of the student who we love enough to reprove as necessary.
Because of CDS’s standards, there may be times when the consequences, from the world’s perspective, seem unfair or stern. Others will not be made aware of all the facts and sides of a situation because we do not provide details about these issues or their specific consequences. We know this puts us at risk of misunderstanding but that is less concern than failing to do what we think is honoring to God and ultimately best for students.

We strive earnestly to reach the hearts as well as the minds of our students.

We are not interested in blind conformity or obedience for appearance sake nor the ease of the faculty and staff. We want to be in actuality a school that is focused on developing disciples (or as our mission statement says, “that students would be salt and light for God’s glory”).

We desire greatly that parents would partner with us and support us in the challenging times even as we seek to come alongside students and their parents. We hope that over the years we have established a record of trust; that you have confidence in those who are partnering with you in this shepherding process. While we want the youngsters to be happy, we are even more concerned that they are growing in holiness. Our desire is to train hearts that yearn to be obedient to the Lord, even when no one is monitoring them, even when it causes hardship.

If your student is involved in a discipline situation, we ask that you, too, first pray over the situation and seek the Lord’s wisdom before acting. If your child is not involved, we ask that you model discretion for them by refusing to pass along what you may be told by your child or others. As the parent of your child, you are the spiritual leader in your home. Your child will trust and follow your lead. Help them to understand that The Lord has a purpose for all that comes into our lives, even if we have knowingly blundered. Use these situations to help your youngster understand why rules and policies should be respected, even if their purpose is not obvious at first glance.

Please join us in praying that our students will respond well to our instructing, training, and disciple-making such that there would be minimal need for discipline. Pray for our faculty and administrators to be disciplined in our own lives, to become more like Christ as we disciple our students. We are praying for you as you raise your sons and daughters in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. As we support each other, let us remember how much we need God’s grace every single day.

Product or Produce?

Dr. Barrett L. Mosbacker
Superintendendent, Briarwood Christian School (Birmingham, AL)
Full post available on The Christian School Journal

I love dessert. One of my favorites is pecan pie. When I sit down to enjoy a piece of warm pecan pie Ala Mode there are two things that I am careful to do: 1) I eat slowly savoring each mouth watering morsel and 2) I am very careful not to waste a single crumb. My dog can lick a plate clean but he has nothing over me when it comes to getting every last morsel of taste off of my plate! When it comes to my dessert, I do not waste it!

Are We Wasting Our Lives and Ministry?
Dessert is trivial when compared with one's life and ministry. One of my fears is that my efforts will be wasted. I sometimes ask myself, "in the end, will all of my hard work and long hours, the stress in dealing with upset parents and the occasional recalcitrant employee, and the energy expended in creating a world-class Christian school prove to be for naught? What if the only thing that I have achieved is the creation of a great product--superior students, excellent staff, and an outstanding school--but I have not borne fruit? What if I am doing many good things but ultimately not the essential thing? What if I am building and running a very efficient factory rather than planting and cultivating an orchard?"

If I build a great school and produce great students but those students do not grow to love and obey Christ and if they do not learn to love their neighbors--and if the fault lies with me because I failed to do what was necessary to produce spiritual fruit rather than creating a great product--then I will have ultimately failed in my calling. I will have wasted the ministry entrusted to my stewardship. That would be tragic.

To ensure that we are cultivating produce and not merely producing a product we need to be clear what produce or fruit is. What does authentic fruit look like in a Christian school?

Click here to read the full post!

POWER for Living

Every Christian is to grow spiritually. The following POWER acrostic will help you to remember the essential elements to spiritual progress.

P
Pray. The Christian who wants to grow, communicates with God through prayer. He expresses his gratitude to Him, confesses his sins, and come to Him with his requests for himself and for others. God promises to be near to all who come to Him in prayer.

O
Obey. Jesus said that our obedience to His commands is an indicator of our love for Him. We can't do it our own strength, however. That's one of the reasons He gave us the Holy Spirit. As we yield to Him, the Spirit provides the power to walk in obedience.

W
Worship. A Christian's devotion to God is to be continuous. Privately, he should worship God in his thoughts and prayers. Publicly, he should unite with fellow believers in a local assembly to bring praise to God.

E
Evangelize. The good news of the gospel is to be shared. As we tell others what Christ has done for us, we will find ourselves growing by spiritual leaps and bounds.

R
Read. The most direct source of a Christian's spiritual growth is the Bible. It must be read regularly because it is him milk and strong meat. It tells us how to live. It is God's word to us!