For the Least of These

Over the last few years, Christian schools, along with our churches, have felt  a distinct shift in the political landscape across our nation.

The challenges we face today are not just an issue for Donvale; they impact all different varieties of Christian school. We, here at DCC, may well be OK.  Others face a perilous future.  It is not just about us – it is for all those who seek to gather school communities together where FAITH matters.

Church and government are meant to be separated in this country; it is a constitutionally described dynamic.  Limiting freedoms for those with a religious perspective, in terms of how they set up their schools, is a contradiction to the way freedom in this country has been previously described.

This is not just for us – it is for the struggling Christian school, too.  Those in precarious positions, with much smaller enrolments.  We stand by them – we want to see them have every opportunity to thrive.  Squashing the possibility that their staff can operate in fellowship in Christ together, like ours does, directly challenges their existence.

Let’s do something about this - click on this link:

https://www.alrc.gov.au/inquiry/anti-discrimination-laws/submission/survey/

(NOTE – this survey closes tomorrow – 24 February)

You will be asked questions about your experiences with, and views about, religious educational institutions.  It also explains how responses will remain completely anonymous and confidential.

Please answer as fully as you can.  Where possible, give a positive story.  Affirm as strongly as you feel you can.  If all 2000 adults (1800 parents and 200 staff) in our community did this, the beginning of a groundswell starts.

Please prayerfully consider doing this – this is your opportunity to be part of important opposition to unwanted limits that will be placed on our College, its community and operations.

Next week, I will pick up a thought shared with me by a recently returned missionary from China, someone who preached faithfully in church every Sunday, in an “approved church”, with the government set of rules on the back wall of their church building.  He said “All these rules told me how to be religious.  None of them ever affected the faith I had in Jesus, the certainty that our God reigns everywhere, all the time.”

The following text contains material from my reflections last year in late May, when this legal reform possibility first emerged – if it helps to frame your answers, don’t be shy to use some of this material.

From the beginning, Donvale’s educational vision and mission statements have spoken about growing disciples transformed by the gospel, as well as celebrating the Lordship of Christ over all of creation. Our much-loved former Deputy Principal, Harry Burggraaf, beautifully described the mission of Christian education as:

"… shaping the desires of students and teachers towards the Kingdom for the purpose of 'shalom', the integrated wholeness, well-being and harmony in every dimension of life that God intends for his creation. Transformation of heart, mind, spirit and life is the work of the Holy Spirit and the school shapes its educational experiences and settings in openness to the direction and guidance of the Spirit."

As new and emerging issues challenge us in our current cultural context, we need to continue to respond as a community, seeking our common unity borne out of a deep love for Jesus and God’s will, as mapped out in the Scriptures.  We need to be gracious and courageous. We draw on the words of 1 John 4:16-21:

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

We love because he first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.

Our schools serve many families representing many Christian denominations. We always seek to uphold our unity in Christ Jesus as far as possible. We understand that difference and diversity can bring richness to our understanding of community if we approach that diversity with respect and humility.

We celebrate together the redemption and hope we find in Jesus and make this the "main game." We celebrate the Lordship of Christ over all creation and seek to apply a biblical lens to all that we do. The affirmations are as follows:

1. We are a school that believes we are all made in the image of God. (We are “fearfully and wonderfully made" (Psalm 139) in the image of the triune God)
2. We are a school that seeks restoration and reconciliation
3. We are a school that seeks to demonstrate God’s love, justice, mercy and grace (think Micah 6:8)
4. We are a school that focuses on what unites us rather than on what may divide us 
5. We are a school that is welcoming and hospitable
6. We are a school, not a church
7. We are a school that seeks to obey the law
8. We are a school that takes duty of care as a sacred obligation
9. We are a school that seeks to better understand the lives of all people and to offer them the love God has for all
10. We claim the freedom to employ Christian staff who can authentically align themselves with our vision and mission and foundational statements.

Christian schooling is always exciting. It's necessary, important, and it's becoming increasingly attractive to an ever-increasing number of Christian parents as their preferred schooling option for their children. Why is this?

Because parents want to partner with us in a Biblically informed approach to schooling, where their child is taught by committed Christian staff from a Christian perspective. At DCC, these Christian staff are there, time and again, for every student, in the name of Jesus.

It is our deep hope that:

• Our school will be defined as a school that teaches, leads and governs from a Biblically informed worldview
• Our school will seek the path of humility and grace in everything that we think and do
• Our school will be repentant of the mistakes of the past and seek to restore relationship with all teachers, students and families who have been hurt by our actions and responses
• Our school will be committed to loving and nurturing all students in our care
• Our school will always be a safe place for all students to grow and flourish
• Our school will be hospitable and relational to all within the school community and to those beyond the school gates.

Dear Lord, may all this be so, as we, a community of believers gathered here at DCC, seek to live in the majesty of Jesus’ mighty name. Protect us, at all times, from any possibility that this could be changed.

Amen.