Christian Education

My life has been influenced, informed, and molded by Christian education. As a student, I greatly benefited from Christian education. And since beginning Lancaster Baptist School in 1989, I have labored as a teacher, parent, administrator, and pastor to weave the mind of Christ and a Christian worldview throughout the educational process.

Ready or not, it’s that time again. August means the start of another school year is right around the corner. This time of year always raises questions in the hearts and minds of many; including, how should I educate my child? Unfortunately, there is not a blanket answer to this question.

The education of our children is a grave responsibility for every parent. For years, Anna and I have counseled Christian parents to either homeschool their children or to have them in a quality Christian school. I tell people that one of the primary reasons our children are serving the Lord today is because we kept them out of public school and gave them a Christian education.

What approach produces results? How can I be a successful teacher? Consider five attributes exhibited by Gamaliel. In Acts 5:34–39, he stood, he spoke, and he swayed a difficult crowd!

As we begin the fall semester here in Lancaster, I’m reminded of the irreplaceable benefits of an on-campus Bible college experience. Here are a few:

I love spring! After cold, harsh weather, the sun shines warmly on us. Spring is preparation for growth. People are preparing their gardens by pulling the weeds that have grown during the winter months. We are tilling the soil, adding nutrients to help those seeds, which will be planted, to grow into plants.

I think of teachers much like I do of nurses—heroes. Like nursing, teaching is an unsung job that requires tremendous amounts of personal investment in other people’s lives. And, also like nursing, teaching has the potential to make a tremendous difference as well.

In a Christian school, children are able to learn biblical philosophy in a godly and safe environment. The worldly philosophy that is constantly bombarding the family needs to be suppressed by the biblically-sound philosophy taught through a Christian curriculum by godly teachers.

Many years ago, my wife Anna and I made a commitment to train up our children for the Lord with a strong biblical Christian worldview. Because Christian schools weren’t readily available in the Las Vegas area, we opted to educate our children at home.

Be prepared yourself. You should be there to greet them; you should not be doing lesson plans, etc. as students arrive.

Whether you are a kindergarten teacher or a parent of a kindergarten aged child you know that they are very malleable and are always learning about their surroundings. We should take advantage of this impressionable time to teach children their ABC’s.

Have you ever heard someone say, “God gave us two ears and one mouth so that we would listen more than we speak!”

I often tell parents, “Christian education doesn’t cost—it pays.” I believe this is true, not only for parents, but also for the local church that invests labor in building the Christian school as a ministry of the church.

Teachers have the responsibility and privilege of impacting lives for eternity. While many cower at this task, there are ways to leave a lasting impact on your students in the years to come. Here are some practical tips for developing the next generation:

Did God assign the state or the parents to educate children? In the Old Testament, God placed the responsibility of child rearing and development on the parents in Deuteronomy 6. In the New Testament, God reiterates how important the role of the parent is in Ephesians 6. Not once does the Bible speak of the state’s involvement in the education of a child.

There are five major influences on our students: home, school, church, TV, and peers. When you consider the time that a child spends with each of these throughout his lifetime, the school and the home definitely have the potential to be the most powerful. Thus, these two institutions must talk to each other, must work together, and must coordinate efforts.

As a principal, there are several traits I look for in teachers, and I would like to share seven of them with you:

You have heard the saying, “failing to plan is planning to fail.” There are no teachers or administrators who want to fail, but we must take time to plan out our year, our months, our days, and our school hours or we will fail. Learn to get in the routine of planning and making sure the “big rocks” get scheduled so everyone succeeds!

Parents are counting on us as teachers to support them in the training of their children, God’s gifts to them. Anything we can do to improve our communication efforts with them will encourage them to communicate with us. The overall result—students will succeed in your classroom!

Slow learners are not non-learners! They must be taught and they so want to learn and succeed! A few adjustments in their learning process can make a big difference!