Executive Principal  

Who owns Christian education?

In answering that question, we must start with Christian parents. They receive the task from God to raise their children in accordance with God’s ways. In Deuteronomy 6 (vs 5) God tells his people (through the voice of Moses) that they are to love him with all their heart, soul and might. That’s unequivocal and it’s also passionate. In the same breath, Moses adds:

And these words that I command you today … you shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates (Deuteronomy 6: 6 – 9).

Parents are called to teach their children God’s ways, and they need to be intentional and passionate about that. They need to do it in the context of their homes first, but they are also to ensure that the teaching their children receive is consistent. That’s why we have Christian schools; in what matters most children are to receive a consistent message around the truth of God’s Word and around the significance of the gospel message and about the joy of having God as their Father. 

If parents, firstly, are the owners of Christian education, Christians (who are not parents of school aged children anymore) should be a close second. Psalm 78 speaks powerfully on that. God is insistent that his deeds are spoken about to the children, and he holds his people, collectively, to ensuring this happens. 

We will not hide them (God’s deeds) from their children but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the LORD, and his might and the wonders that he has done … that the next generation might know them (Psalm 78: 4 - 6). 

God’s work is a work of generations, and we need new generations to arise who love God and who want to serve him to build his kingdom, so that his kingdom may be fully established and Christ can return. As such, all Christians should have a positive and a strong interest in Christian education that contributes so strongly to this cause. 

Christians who are not parents (anymore) can pray for their Christian school, can serve their Christian school in diverse ways and can financially support their Christian school. It’s a beautiful way to contribute to God’s work of salvation in Jesus Christ and I would encourage all Christians to take up this task joyfully. 

In the third instance, I feel Christian education can be considered the ministry of the church.  The church has a huge task in discipling its members, also and especially its younger members. As such it needs to have an interest in the Christian school, which supports the church in its ministry, especially to young people in the different church congregations. Christian schools also offer Christian teaching to young people who are not Christians. These young people hear the stories of the Bible and come to know God as the Creator and the Saviour of the world. They come also to see how God is working out his plan of salvation and how they can be part of that. Through the work of the Holy Spirit the ministry of the Christian school can lead children and young adults to Christ, so that they may join Christian churches and become part of God’s kingdom. All this is in light of what Jesus urges upon his disciples before leaving them to rise into heaven. We see that recorded in Scripture in the gospel according to Matthew:

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28: 18 – 20).

The Christian school sits right in the middle of that. It disciples young people from Christian and non-Christian families, with a view to them becoming faithful and committed members of Christian churches.

Christian churches too own Christian education and they can give expression to this by encouraging their members to use Christian education for their children, by liaising with Christian schools in relation to their common responsibility around discipling young members, and by being strong advocates of Christian schooling amongst their members. 

Martin Luther King once famously said:“I have a dream.”His dream was related to all people being regarded equally. 

I too have a dream. It is related to Christian parents, other Christians and Christian churches, here in NW Tasmania, rallying in support of their Christian schools. What an amazing force that will be in God’s kingdom. 

Alwyn Terpstra

Executive Principal