Yesterday I read an article about how the SBC is encouraging churches to start and promote Christian Schools. You can read the article here. In fact, the Christian school that Mel taught at her first year is pictured there, and my alma-mater has some noteworthy quotes.
Mel and I are just over 3 months pregnant, but we have already spoken about schooling. Who knows what position our public schools will be in by the time our children are ready to start, but it is definitely something we want to approach with much thought and prayer. Ultimately, it is the fathers role to make sure the children are educated and raised to love God (Deut 6 is pretty clear about that), and often we toss that responsibility to our wives. There’s nothing wrong with a mom who wants to stay at home and teach the kids, but ultimately the responsibility to God lies with us dads. We need to lead well, no matter where our kids go to school.
I want my kid to grow up learning and ultimately knowing God. That’s our responsibility as parents, NOT a schools. Any parent that expects a school (or a kids ministry or youth group for that matter) to ‘train’ their child is shirking their own responsibility. I’m not sure if I am all in favor of this new announcement from some in the SBC. (I think we pick stupid fights, like requiring NAMB/IMB employees to sign something saying they will not drink, but not expecting/requiring them to tithe) I’m not opposed to Christian schools. Historically speaking the church was the education system until the middle ages. Anyway, this idea of the public school system is in fact rooted in Marxism.
But where does the trend stop? Are we next to say that we should only eat at christian restaurants. Shop at christian retailers? This christian bubble can be an easy trap to get into. living missionally, outside the box, maybe we need to re-examine some priorities. Hear me. I want my kids to love God and not be misguided, whether that is a public school, home school, or christian school — our goal is the same.