Christian Education: A Partnership of Church and School

(Comments from Westminster Christian Academy's "Back to School Night," August 9, 2009.)

Christian Education: A Partnership of Church and School

We sit here tonight ready to begin another school year. It has been another hectic summer, but it is Sunday night and we are as ready as we can be.

As the church that birthed this ministry 45 years ago, it is only right that we begin our school year Sunday evening in worship at Westminster Presbyterian Church. What has taken place between this church and this school for the past 45 years is special and important. At one time what we are currently doing as a church and a school was much more common in not only k-12 settings but in universities and colleges as well. Why?

Christians, from the beginning have maintained that because people have been endowed with reason, they will all have an urge to express their experience of faith intellectually. As Christians, we should make every effort to translate the contents of our faith into concepts or beliefs that have a correlation between God, humankind, and creation. Our presupposition in all of our thinking ought to be Christ and scripture. With these natural tendencies and are internal nature, educating one in thinking that is excellent and Christian is a natural next step.

The goal of Westminster Christian Academy is to partner with each family in providing an education that is Christ-centered, excellent and able to produce graduates who ultimately will think Christianly in all things.

Proverbs 9:10

10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.

Christianity and education have always been linked. In addition to literacy and education for the masses, Christianity is responsible for universities which began during the Middle Ages. Most of the world’s greatest universities were started by Christians for Christian purposes. The University of Oxford is the oldest university in the English-speaking world and regarded as one of the world's leading academic institutions; it gave birth to Cambridge. Cambridge University gave birth to John Harvard who gave birth to Harvard University, founded back in 1636.

According to Dr. Paul Maier, professor of ancient history at Western Michigan University, the very concept of the university “was born in the bosom of the church”. Alexander Murray, a retired history professor at Oxford University agrees. “The church had a lot to do with the birth of the university. Nearly every one of the first 123 colleges founded in the United States was established by Christians for Christian purposes.

Looking at our own past, it is impossible to miss the solid link of Christianity, education and the church. Our 45 year history is a continuation of our past Christian history. Unfortunately, most colleges and universities have since cut ties to denominations. Harvard is sadly the norm and not the exception.

Harvard's early motto was "Truth for Christ and the Church." In an early directive to its students, it laid out the purpose of all education: "Let every student be plainly instructed and consider well that the main end of his life and studies is to know God and Jesus, which is eternal life. And, therefore, to lay Christ at the bottom as the only foundation of all sound learning and knowledge.

Most of the schools that I have mentioned have severed ties to their churches and denominations long ago. We have not, and we must not. The relationship is too important. There is a correlation not to miss between churches and schools… when the relationship ends the school begins the move away from Christianity all together. Westminster church and Westminster school must stay strong. We must continue to provide education that provides students with the correlation between God, humankind and creation. We must continue to provide the foundation that equips them to think from the presupposition of truth… Jesus Christ.

I will close with a quote.

"Education is simply the soul of a society as it passes from one generation to another."
G.K. Chesterton

I believe he is referencing the impact education has on children, families, communities, states and countries and the impact Christian education can have if Christ is allowed to reign. Christian education in partnership with the church and the Christian family is capable of changing the world by its very nature. Education is a process that encultrates, indoctrinates and builds the foundation which will serve each student for their entire life. This foundation must be the solid rock of Christianity and not the sifting sand of the world.

Education in Christ… Excellence in all things… this is our collective goal, and it sounds nice, but it will only be hollow words unless accomplished through a faculty and staff that is excellent, distinctly Christian and understands this so well that they live it out on and off campus. This is our faculty and staff at Westminster Christian Academy.

This year we have many new people in our midst, and they will join us in this mission of excellence and Christ. At this time I would like to ask all of our new faculty and staff to stand. Please make a point of meeting these new people.

I would now like to ask all of our existing faculty and staff to stand. These are the people who have been educating your students with excellence for many years.

I would now like to ask our board to stand. These are the men who will lead us into the future.

This is Westminster Christian Academy. We are not a building or a field or even a classroom; we are humble people who desire to educate in the best possible way and engage students for Christ in order to change the world one student at a time.