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A culture of Christian worldview

Last fortnight I wrote about how important culture is at Nowra Christian School. I promised in this Bytes article to expand on the topic, addressing how people from a wide range of theological beliefs can sit comfortably in a school adhering to a Christian worldview. 

Fundamentally, Nowra Christian School adheres to the belief that Jesus is the Son of the only God, come into the world to redeem the people of the world through his death on the cross and give new life through his resurrection. We recognise that not all members of our school community believe this and there are many theological positions amongst our school community.

If it was true that everybody’ truths are correct, this would not be a problem. But this belief does not sit well with a Christian worldview. Either there is the God of the Christian church or there isn’t. Either Jesus is God, or he isn’t, irrespective of what I believe.

In the Bible, Paul acknowledges that he could be right about his faith, or her could be wrong in what he believes. In his letter to the Corinthian church, he says: 

‘If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.’ 

1 Corinthians 15:19 (ESV)

That is, Paul is writing that if he is wrong about his hope in Christ, then he has made a profound mistake. Either he is right, or he is wrong about his hope in Jesus. Now Paul is convicted that he is right and he lives this out in his life, but he acknowledges that there is absolute truth.

So how can families who do not adhere to a Christian Worldview sit comfortably at Nowra Christian School. There are two points to note.

Firstly, the message of Jesus found in the Bible, is for people to decide for themselves whether or not to accept it. It’s not something that everybody needs to agree to. As a school, we believe it to be true and so we adhere to that and tell people about Jesus, but the decision is absolutely an individual’s decision to make. In fact, we want our students to be critical thinkers, capable of weighing up the truth of an argument rather than irrationally hold to beliefs they do not understand. And so, by way of example, my son (not at school), who is a Christian, has a best friend who has rejected the message of Christianity. It does not stop them from being best friends. They hang out together because they get on and have similar interests. Not everybody has to believe the same thing for tolerance and respect to coexist. At Nowra Christian School, we want all members of our community to be tolerant and respectful, regardless of other’s beliefs, and to be inclusive of people who think differently to themselves.

Secondly, the message of how we should live as Christians is a message that all members of our community can agree with. This is because the Bible teaches that all people are made in the image of God. And if all people are made in the image of God, then they have an inherent worth and should be treated with dignity and respect. And so, all the character traits that we long for in ourselves and in our children are character traits that we teach at NCS. They include characteristics such as kindness, gentleness, respect, self-control, humility, integrity, gratitude, tolerance, forgiveness, patience, compassion, love, honesty. I could go on. Each of these character traits have been modelled to us by Jesus, and they stem from a position of believing that other people are worthy of being treated well because they are made in the image of God. They are good character traits, and worthy of adoption by all people.

Regardless of our theological beliefs, all members of our community can exist side-by-side, rationally debating what we believe and yet still treating each other with respect and tolerance. And the character traits that the Bible teaches are traits that are valued not just by Christians but people who hold to other beliefs. We’re not a perfect community but we are a community that seeks to improve and to relate well to all people. I hope and pray this is your experience at Nowra Christian School.