by Dick Buckingham
Administrator
There has been something heavy on my heart over the past several months and I have been ruminating about it often. It is: “Why would Christian parents who have a choice send their children to the public government schools?” Another way of putting it more pointedly…why would the godly send their children to be discipled in an ungodly system?
I know that by that very statement, some of you are already putting up a defense. You may be thinking that I am biased as a result of my position as the administrator of a Christian School. Why wouldn’t I speak negatively against the competition? Doesn’t the Chevy dealer try to convince you that a Ford just doesn’t measure up? (Everyone knows it doesn’t, but we will save that for another time!) This is not about me trying to preserve my job or increase my influence. Believe it or not, I was just like many who thought public education was just fine. After all, I attended and graduated from a public school. What affect did it have on me? The implication in that question is that public education didn’t affect me and I turned out just fine. How often I have heard parents say that very same thing as a justification that putting their children in public schools will not be a detriment to them.
The truth is, the very fact we make such a statement as that, shows that we were profoundly affected by the public education we received. The effect is that we cannot understand or discern the difference between a system that teaches a worldview where man is the main course and God is a side dish at best, and a Biblical worldview that sees God at the center of everything. We can’t see it because our own worldview has been tainted by the public education we received.
God graciously saved me when I was in junior high, so much of my formative schooling years was at a time when I was immature in the faith and biblical understanding. I was diligent about learning the truth as revealed in God’s Word, but understanding there was a different way of looking at things was the furthest from my experience, because I continued to be in the realm of public education on a daily basis. While I endeavored to integrate my faith into my school life, it was relegated to being part of the “extra-curricular” Christian club on campus meeting before or after school, and a released time Bible study held daily at the Mormon facility across the street from the school.* Unfortunately, the way I was taught to think and honestly the way I thought, was not much different from any of the other students on campus. We listened to our teachers, took what they told us as true, and applied it to our lives without ever considering what the Bible had to say about it. I was taught a secular humanist worldview which places man at the center, and around whom all things revolve.Following high school (not as a result of high school, but God’s grace) I knew I wanted to be involved at some level of ministry. I had done some music with my church youth and had enjoyed being before people and encouraging them with words of truth. My thought and assumption was that I would train for the pastorate. In pursuing this goal, I wound up attending a small seminary in Philadelphia. For the first time, I was being taught all things from a Christian worldview. As we talked about history and life from this perspective, it was like I had been viewing the world through a window filthy with the grime of the world, and it had now been flung open so that I could see easily and breathe freely the fresh air of God’s perspective of our world. My worldview was radically changed in a relatively short amount of time. My initial thought was, “every Christian should go to seminary to get their eyes opened as mine had been opened.” I still had not realized that the problem was that I had been taught a worldview as a child that was contrary to the truth.
My education in worldview perspective, though, was not over yet. After a few years serving as a youth pastor, I was given the opportunity to teach in a Christian school. I thought it a great opportunity to continue my ministerial work with youth. Little did I know that it would radically transform my life and thinking. Now I was teaching some of the very same things I had learned in high school but it was with a curriculum from a Christian publisher with a Christian worldview. Since my eyes had been opened in seminary to a correct view of the world, I could now see the potential of teaching children correctly about God and His world from the beginning. I became excited about the potential of training children in the truths of God and helping them to integrate them into their understanding in history, science, math and English. I began to see Christian teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:19, emphasis mine)Education as the way to teach and train children from Christian families with the correct worldview from the beginning, grounding them in the truths of God so that they would be strong and not waver in their faith. It was truly discipleship as Jesus had commanded in the Great Commission, “Go and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Some 30 years later, I am still serving in the ministry that I believe God called me to, seeking to teach a Biblical worldview perspective to students from Christian families. It has not been an easy road. The greatest opposition that it has faced has been from the very ones you least expect it from, Christians. I am convinced that it is at least in part because they have been trained in a secular worldview when they attended public school and they simply cannot see the difference.
Can you be honest enough with yourself to answer the following questions? Could it be that your public school education affected the way you think about the world? Could you be thinking it is harmless for your children because your own worldview has not been thoroughly transformed to a Biblical worldview?
Over the next couple of weeks I will continue to address this subject in several blog posts. I will consider some of the following concerns that I hear from parents:
- Shouldn’t our kids be salt and light in their public schools? Are we just going to abandon this important “mission field?”
- Why not public schools? What is the harm?
- The Christian school doesn’t have band, choir, drama, (you fill in the blank). Isn’t my child going to be at a disadvantage when they compete with students from public school who did?
- Does God’s Word really compel us to put our kids in Christian Schools?
*Probably needs some explanation. In our community, there is a strong Mormon presence. As a result the political powers that be in the local government and school boards allowed a provision for Mormon students to choose to leave their high school campus one period a day for “released-time seminary” as it was called. The Mormon church conveniently supplied a building usually right across the street from the high school for these students to go. Not to be outdone, the Christians in the community insisted upon nothing less than the same opportunity for their students to study God’s Word with those who elected this option. Sometimes the Mormons would even allow the Christian group to use their facility.
To learn more about Faith Christian School, please visit our website at www.faith-christian.org
To learn more about Faith Christian School, please visit our website at www.faith-christian.org
Mr. Buckingham!
We are blessed to have our grandson, Ethan Worth, as a new enrollee – 1st grader, Mrs. Gregg – at Faith. May the Lord bless your obedience!
Our daughter just shared Ethan’s 2nd Faith report card. The first subject for his grading? BIBLE! How exciting is that! This fact, plus Ethan’s brilliant progress in all studies at Faith, motivated me to, in love, exhort my church, my Christian friends, with the question you so brilliantly asked in your column above: “Why would the godly send their children to be disciplined in an ungodly system?”
Bottom Line: “And my God shall provide…”, (Phillippians 4:19) for your insightful column has provided a succinct foundation and catylst for – Please Lord! – Christ-centered dialogue on this critical question for “the church” in our nation.
Know I’ll be giving your column…above and beyond…ATTRIBUTION! And, please know, my wife and I are so privileged to pray daily for you, your staff, and students. Thank you so much, Mr. Buckingham!
Blessings,
Dallas
P.S.- I, too, am a Philadelphia “expat”…Philadelphia Inquirer. I’ve repented 😉
Thank you for your comments. We are so thrilled that Ethan has joined our Faith Family this year. He is a very special young man. We truly appreciate your encouragement and daily prayer support for this ministry!
God bless,
Meridith Borta, Elementary Principal