Christian Education & the Kingdom of God

A few years ago, we were challenged to revision how to teach Bible at CSCS. In that process, I became convinced that it was not that we need a completely new and regenerate Bible Department, but that we need a new and regenerate view of “why Christian education”, “why Bible” and “why we emphasize Spiritual Life” (or Student Ministries as we call it at our school).

I believe that a revolution needs to happen in our perspectives of ourselves as a school; as individuals at the school; or our students and their parents; of our position in this city, state, nation and world; and in the realm of Christian education.

The perspective that I feel we need to have can be described in a “we should not be” perspective or in a “should be” perspective”. I will attempt to project a positive vision of what we could be rather than a vision that appears to be reactionary to what we currently are.

Since we are Christian schools we need to look at things from the perspective of Christ—the One whom we follow and are equipping and empowering our students to follow. Jesus Christ taught us to pray that God’s Kingdom would come and His will would be done on this earth as it is in heaven. Our overall prayer for our Christian schools, as institutions and as bodies of believers, needs to be that God’s Kingdom would come and His will would be done on earth in our day, in each student’s life and in every class that graduates from our schools. Our prayer and ambition in and through our Christian schools is that God’s Kingdom would come and His will be done in all the policies, operations, budgets, curricula and decisions at that our schools make so that His will would be done in our lives and in the lives of our students; and that we as individuals and an institution would be His instrument through which God’s Kingdom comes and His will is done in our cities, around our states, throughout the country and to the ends of the earth.

Jesus, before leaving this earth gave His followers some instructions on how to see His Kingdom come and His will be done on earth as it is in heaven. He said this:

• All authority and power has been given to Me and you will receive that power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. You are to go and be My witnesses to all the earth, beginning in Jerusalem, then Judea and Samaria and ultimately to the ends of the earth. You are to preach the Good News to everyone, making disciples of those who believe and baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach them to obey everything that I’ve commanded you. And be sure of this: I am always with you and will work with you until the very end of this age. --A combination of translations
  

I believe that our Christian school can play a more instrumental role in the advancing of God’s Kingdom and will on this earth without changing many of the programs, but in rather changing perspectives and filters. I believe that if we filter our current policies, budgets, programs, curricula—everything—through such a filter that it will truly make our school distinct in the Christian Education community, in the competitive community of education in the region and in the Kingdom of God. I suggest that we say the following:

• In order that the Kingdom of God may come and the will of God be done in our day, in this generation, both in our lives and around the world, we will make disciples of our students and empower them with spiritual programs that are age appropriate, academically sound, and biblically consistent. They will be taught by biblically spiritual men and women who are academically, relationally and culturally prepared to teach them at each level. We will then provide complementary programs of excellent education as well as quality athletics, fine arts and training in leadership, service and ministry. We will do this so that upon completion of a students time at our school, our students will be young men and women who are skilled, empowered and prepared to continue to advance the Kingdom of God and His will for them individually and their generation and to the ends of the earth.