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In the United States today, there are a wide variety of different kinds of education available: public, private, charter, residential, homeschooling, Christian, secular, etc. As a professor at a Christian university (Dordt University), people have often asked me why I decided to work at a Christian university and why anyone would consider sending their children to a Christian school. My goal here is to provide a brief answer to those questions, while more detailed answers can be found in the resources listed here. What is the purpose of Christian education? Why would parents consider Christian education for their children, whether that come in the form of Christian schools or Christian homeschooling?
In answering these questions, we will not be addressing the political dimensions of Christian education. We will not be addressing how government funds should or should not be distributed to public, private, or Christian schools. We will not be addressing what sort of governmental exceptions should or should not be allowed for Christian schools. We also will not be addressing whether Christian homeschooling or Christian schools are a better form of Christian education. And we do not seek to criticize anyone’s decisions about how they were educated or how they have chosen to educate their children. Instead, the primary focus of this article is to answer the following questions: What is the nature, purpose, and importance of Christian education? Is there a biblical basis and call for Christian education?
To answer these questions, it is important to first dispel many common misconceptions surrounding Christian education. The purpose of Christian education is NOT:
To append prayer, Bible reading, and Bible classes to a traditional secular education.
To be the same thing as a traditional secular education plus a campus ministry.
To create a wonderful community of like-minded people.
To shelter students in a Christian bubble so that they never learn about other viewpoints and never engage with unbelievers.
To indoctrinate students in the ideas of one particular political party.
To be a safe haven from immorality present in other schools.
To be a place where all the rich, privileged, white, or smart kids can gather together.
To teach students how to be social justice warriors.
To take good students away from the public schools or siphon away governmental funds from the public schools so that they suffer or close.
These misconceptions often arise from the fact that many Christian schools have mistakenly made one of the above points their ultimate purpose. However, we should not be too quick to reject the entire idea of Christian education simply because some Christian schools have failed to properly understand the purpose of Christian education.
So what is the purpose of Christian education? Simply put, the purpose of Christian education is to exercise generational covenantal faithfulness to God. In doing so, the purpose of Christian education is to set forth the universe in the light of God’s word. We will explore the biblical basis for each of these points in more detail below.
The first reason parents might consider providing a Christian education for their children is based on the fact that God calls us to engage in generational covenantal obedience. God calls us, as well as our children and grandchildren, to keep covenant with Him to a thousand generations (Genesis 17:7,9, Exodus 20:6, 1 Chronicles 16:15-17, Psalm 105:8-10). God owns everything we have (Zechariah 14:20-21), including our children who have been set apart, consecrated, and belong to Him (1 Corinthians 7:14). God expects that the relationship He has with each of us will be communicated to our children so that they will walk in His ways and belong to Him (Psalm 22:30-31, 71:18, 78:4-6, 102:18, 145:4, Isaiah 38:19, Joel 1:3). After all, our relationship with the Lord is not purely individualistic but one that should be shared with future generations. God accomplishes this through the means of our covenant responsibility to raise our children in the way they should go (Genesis 18:19, Proverbs 22:6, Ephesians 6:4).
So how do we keep covenant with God to a thousand generations? We do this by following the first and greatest commandment: love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind (Deuteronomy 6:5, Matthew 22:37, Mark 12:30, Luke 10:27). Everything within us should be given over in covenantal fidelity to God. But what is the first and foremost indication that we love God in this way? Scripture teaches that the way in which we raise our children is the outward and public display of our covenant loyalty to the Lord (Deuteronomy 4:9-10, 6:6-9, 11:18-21, 31:12-13, 32:46). Our children belong to the Lord, so the way they are raised should teach them to see the world in the light of God’s word. The way they are raised should teach them to see everything they do as under the Lordship of Jesus Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Colossians 2:3). Since all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are deposited in Christ, this includes mathematics, literature, history, science, politics, athletics, and much more.
Why is it important to raise children in a way where they see every area according to God’s word? Children are easily influenced by what teachers say, tossed about by every new teaching (Ephesians 4:14). When students grow up, they will be like their teachers, learning to think, solve problems, and live by the standards that their teachers communicate and exemplify in their own lives (Luke 6:40). While by God’s grace there are a number of Christian students who attend secular schools and are not blown about by every new teaching, we should make decisions based on the general principle taught in the Bible rather than exceptions to that general principle. Martin Luther warned against this when he said, “I am much afraid that the universities will prove to be the great gates of hell, unless they diligently labour in explaining the Holy Scriptures, and engraving them in the hearts of youth. I advise no one to place his child where the Scriptures do not reign paramount. Every institution in which men are not unceasingly occupied with the Word of God must become corrupt.” [1]
In summary, then, the task of Christian education is to develop the minds and hearts of our children in generational covenantal obedience so that they will learn how to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ in every area of study (2 Corinthians 10:5).
Another reason parents might consider providing a Christian education for their children is because they recognize the fact that all education is inherently religious and is not neutral. Life is not divided into a sacred realm and a secular/neutral realm. One common misconception is that if both Christians and unbelievers happen to believe the same thing or do the same thing, the thing they believe or do is neutral (like 2+2=4 or driving a car). Secular education incorrectly teaches students that Christianity is limited to a narrow, private, spiritual area of life (prayer, Bible reading, church, etc.). But God created everything, so He is Lord over every area of life, including education (Colossians 1:18). As Abraham Kuyper put it, “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: ‘Mine!’” [2]
The doctrine of creation teaches that everything is unified under the sovereign disposition and creative power of God, so knowledge cannot be divided between secular learning and sacred learning. Scripture teaches that all knowledge about any subject whatsoever is deposited in Christ (Colossians 2:3). Every thought about any subject whatsoever should be taken captive to the obedience of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5). Genuine knowledge of any subject whatsoever begins with reverence and submission to the Lord (Proverbs 1:7). And ultimately everything, including education, should be done for the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31, Colossians 3:17).
Furthermore, the absolute and unqualified demands that the Lord Jesus Christ exerts upon our lives makes neutrality in education impossible. Jesus teaches that it is impossible for education to serve two masters: it will either serve the god of logic, reason, science, etc. or the living and true God as its ultimate authority (Matthew 6:24, Luke 16:13). If education is not with Jesus, it is against Him (Matthew 12:30, Mark 9:40, Luke 11:23, James 4:4), and Jesus does not appreciate an allegedly neutral approach to education (Revelation 3:15-16). Ultimately God calls us to not think in the way that unbelievers do, who are enemies in their minds and are darkened in their understanding (Romans 1:21,28, 2 Corinthians 4:4, Ephesians 4:17-18, Colossians 1:21).
In every area of study, secular education teaches a worldview and outlook that is contrary to the way God would have us view and see the world:
Creation: Secular education presents every area of study, including science, from the standpoint that God did not create the heavens and the earth.
Fall: Instead of teaching that humanity’s problems are due to sin, secular education teaches that humanity’s problems come from psychological, environmental, parental, economic, chemical, or other factors.
Redemption: Instead of teaching that humanity’s problems are solved through God’s grace in dying for our sins and changing our hearts so we can obey Him, secular education uses messianic language to teach that the solution to humanity’s problems comes through education, enlightenment, innovation, political reform, etc.
Restoration: Rather than teach that Jesus will return and one day make all things new, secular education teaches either that our struggles will perpetually exist or that restoration will come in the form of a utopia ushered in by humans.
In contrast to secular education, the purpose of Christian education and Christian universities is to set forth the universe in the light of God’s word. The term “university” is a combination of the words “unity” and “diversity”, referring to an institution that seeks to unify the diversity of departments and areas of study. Since the unity and diversity we see in the world are a reflection of God Himself (unity in one being, diversity in three persons), the Christian university seeks to unify each area of study in the light of the Christian worldview under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. In contrast, secular universities have a different ultimate authority in each area of study and are therefore multiversities, or institutions marked by educational polytheism.
One mission statement that articulates the purpose of Christian education well is that of Covenant College: “The mission of Covenant College is to explore and express the preeminence of Jesus Christ in all things.” [3] Another vision statement that also articulates this outlook well is that of Dordt University: “An education that is Christian not merely in the sense that devotional exercises are appended to the ordinary work of the college, but in the larger and deeper sense that all the class work, all of the students’ intellectual, emotional, and imaginative activities shall be permeated with the spirit and teaching of Christianity.” [4]
Given this general purpose and vision, what are some practical ways in which Christian education sets forth the universe in the light of God’s word?
Engineering: Christian education teaches that engineering is one of the ways in which we can fulfill the cultural mandate and steward the earth (Genesis 1:28), over against secular views of engineering which see it as a way in which we can seek progress for its own sake (technicism or the tower of Babel).
Mathematics: Christian education teaches that the absolute, universal, and unchanging properties of mathematics derive from the character of God as the absolute, omnipresent, and unchanging Creator of the universe (Malachi 3:6).
Science: Christian education teaches that scientific theories and laws are a description of the normal, consistent, and repeatable ways in which God continually upholds the universe by the word of His power (Hebrews 1:3).
Philosophy: Christian education teaches that truth is whatever conforms to the mind of God so that philosophy studies how to think God’s thoughts after Him in a consistent, systematic, and holistic way, viewing the world the way He would have us view it by taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5).
History: Christian education teaches history through the lens of God’s providence as “His story”: creation, fall, redemption, restoration (history is not cyclical, enigmatic, or fatalistic, but linear).
In these ways and many more, Christian education seeks to be biblically faithful by setting forth the universe in the light of God’s word. In doing so, Christian education exercises generational covenantal faithfulness to God. [5]
References
[1] Martin Luther, To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation Concerning the Reform of the Christian Estate, 1520.
[2] Abraham Kuyper, inaugural address at the dedication of the Free University of Amsterdam, 1880.
[3] https://covenant.edu/about/who/index.html
[4] https://www.dordt.edu/about-dordt/mission-vision-history
[5] The structure of this article was inspired by the following two lectures by Gregory L. Bahnsen: “Keeping Covenant with God” and “The Myth of Neutrality”