Biblical Integration Lite: Telling it Like It Isn’t

Guest Article by Mark Kennedy (ACSI Canada)

When someone tells me that his school’s Christian character “goes without saying” I can’t help thinking, ‘that school may be in trouble’. Too often what goes without saying gradually goes without being, until it is simply and completely gone. It’s so easy for an educational institution to drift from its foundations with hardly anyone noticing. Historically that happened to some of North America’s most prominent universities and independent schools. Although they were once fervently Christian many of them are now completely secular or just superficially religious. They may be wealthy and respected institutions - places like Upper Canada College and Harvard University- but the Christian distinctive that so strongly marked their early years have vanished. A classic example is the entire public school system for the Province of Ontario. Founder Egerton Ryerson once declared that instruction in his public schools would be “but a sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal when not founded upon and sanctified by the undefiled and regenerating religion of Jesus Christ.”* How tragically prophetic.

These days the erosion of a school’s Christian character can start when it abandons the quest for authentic biblical integration and settles for ‘integration lite. On the surface ‘integration lite’ looks just fine. The word “Christian” is in the school’s name. The teachers are all born again and they believe in the inerrancy of Scripture. And when it comes to teaching a Christian worldview, well that’s covered by using Christian school textbooks. But there is a lot more to genuine biblical integration than that.

What’s in a name?” says Juliet in Shakespeare’s famous play “That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.

Along the same lines (and with apologies to Shakespeare), giving a skunk cabbage a more complimentary name won’t improve its aroma.

So it can be when ‘Christian’ is spliced into a school’s name. In an ‘integration lite’ type school the word ‘Christian’ in its name doesn’t guarantee moral or educational quality or even ethical standards of operation. On the other hand ‘Christian’ in the name of a school that pursues genuine biblical integration means something. It says that the school is trying to follow scriptural principles in every aspect of its ministry, even if doing so drives away potential students or causes loss of income.

Just having Christian teachers doesn’t help either unless their character is exemplary as per Jesus’ assertion in Luke 6:40 “A student is not above his teacher but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.” And Christian school educators need to have the spiritual gift of teaching. In 27 years as a principal I only had to fire 3 teachers in the middle of the academic year. They were all unquestionably believers and two of the three were among the most highly trained educators I’d ever met. But they didn’t have the gift of teaching and they weren’t particularly outstanding role models. I hired them because they were Christians with impressive academic credentials. I missed the things that matter the most.

When it comes to teaching a Christian worldview ‘born again’ teachers can be counter-productive if they have only been trained in secular educational philosophies and practices. Secular teacher training operates upon the assumption that God is irrelevant in learning about the “real world”. And that’s what some Christian teachers with secular worldviews may inadvertently communicate to their students. The regrettable part isn’t that they failed to meet some kind of subjective and artificial spiritual standard. Biblical integration isn’t about twisting reality to fit into a pseudo-religious mold. It is first and foremost about teaching the whole truth on the clear understanding that all truth is God’s truth. That means a teacher has to learn how to give God back his rightful place in the classroom, in the curriculum and in the overall learning process. ‘Integration lite’ educators don’t do that. They presents pretty well all aspects their program in exactly the same way that secular teachers do – with the occasional Bible class tossed in as a mild christianizer. ‘Integration lite’ doesn’t try to present the whole truth. It is satisfied to ‘tell it like it isn’t’.

In the early years of ACSI, co-founding President Dr. Paul Kienel estimated that it took about three years of in-service training for secularly prepared Christian teachers to develop distinctly Christian educational philosophies and practices. Because our society has drifted farther away from any sort of Christian consensus since then, it probably takes longer now. Ongoing in service teacher training is a key in developing authentic biblical integration in the classroom.

Teaching a Christian worldview through biblical integration used to be a hot topic 30 years ago when the Christian school movement in North America was young and vigorous. Back then we devoted significant time and effort to it. Sometimes we got it wrong, shoe horning Bible verses awkwardly into lesson plans where they really didn’t belong or inappropriately transforming simple science lesson into didactic morality tales. But at least we took a whack at it. And we discovered that the development of effective biblical integration was a major project requiring intentional planning, research and goal setting over significant periods of time. Both then and now, even well established schools that have thoroughly explored the topic and implemented specific integration initiatives re-evaluate their program annually. They ask themselves,

“How can our school become more His school in this upcoming year?”

The ‘integration lite’ approach of depending upon Christian school textbooks to provide a biblically integrated curriculum falls short of the mark too. Aside from the fact that the most effective kind of integration, with the greatest potential blessing for students is carried in the hearts and minds of their teachers, textbooks, even Christian ones, sometimes have flaws. They may occasionally have scientific and historical errors. Some Christian academic series may unwittingly promote the view of one specific denomination or political group as ‘the Christian perspective’ even where there is a divergence of opinion among believers. Good teachers challenge students to think critically about what they read both in secular and Christian publications because they want their students to seek truth and because total inerrancy belongs to the Bible alone. Textbooks can be useful tools but they hardly ever change lives. Good teachers do.

As one pundit put it “A little Christianity can be a dangerous thing, especially for Christian schools.”- and ‘integration lite’ is the epitome of a little Christianity. The problem is that Christianity is not a little faith. It’s not just a church thing, not limited to a system of moral regulations and behaviors or religious exercises or private personal beliefs. Jesus compares his kingdom to a mustard seed, the smallest of seeds that ultimately produces a tree in which birds can perch. His kingdom encompasses all aspects of truth – and it is sometimes much bigger than we present to our students. Consequently our mandate is clear. Paul says,

We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. (2 Cor 10:5)

For Christian schools, that scripture highlights the importance of genuine biblical integration and repudiates the idea of ‘integration lite’. And that does not go without saying.

* “Egerton Ryerson and His Times” by Neil McDonald, MacMillan Canada, 1978

You Have to Watch Out for the Pork on Thursdays!

By Mark Kennedy, ACSI Canada

My childhood friend Bill grew up to be a respected and successful bank executive- a man who occasionally helps financial institutions beyond our borders. A few years ago while consulting for a bank in Dublin he made his temporary GHQ in a small hotel that boasted a dining room for its guests. On a Thursday evening he ambled down to this quaint eatery for a taste of Celtic cuisine not suspecting the violent conflict that would arise later in his stomach.

“I was sick all last night after eating in your restaurant!” He told the manager the next morning.

“Well what did you have for dinner?”

“Roast pork!” said Bill.

“Ah yes,” replied the manager philosophically in a lilting Irish brogue, “You have to watch out for the pork on Thursdays.”

You can imagine the questions in my friend’s mind when his initial shock wore off. Maybe foremost was

“Why didn’t someone tell me?!?”

Sheltering someone from reality can be dangerous. And sometimes the consequences can be much more serious than a minor case of food poisoning.

Consider the effects of an education that intentionally shelters students from the most important realities about life and living- a secular education where the daily presence of the living God is ignored and the authority and guidance of scripture is dismissed- an education that edits out the creator and sustainer of the real world.

Paul warns about a day when:

Men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn away from truth and turn aside to myths.” 2 Tim 4: 3 & 4. That time sounds uncomfortably familiar.

It’s not that a secular education necessarily speaks out against the God of the Bible or openly denies the authority of the scriptures. It simply remains silent about them. And that’s the problem. If a student from a Christian family receives a consistently secular education how surprising can it be if he comes to think that God can’t be very important? ‘After all they never talk about Him at school’ he might reasonably say to himself- and his logic would be pretty hard to refute. He got the silent message.

Robert Louis Stephenson expressed it plainly,

“The cruelest lies are often told in silence.”

So when important, even vital truths are kept from people who desperately need to hear them, Stephenson says it is a cruel deception.

The silence in secular education has implications for the way children learn, believe, think and face life’s challenges. When students are sheltered from God’s reality they are prime candidates to be “taken captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.” 2Col 2:8. Philosophies produce actions, and actions produce consequences. So it should be no surprise that sex education that ignores biblical standards produces ever growing rates of sexually transmitted diseases, abortions and accompanying psychological problems; that a purely mechanistic and evolutionary view of humanity convinces some students they are worthless genetic accidents so that suicide becomes a reasonable option; and that when personal troubles for which secular minds have no real answers overwhelm students they turn to illicit drugs in an attempt to escape. The world of drug and alcohol abuse and promiscuous or perverse sexuality is so often a false refuge for people who have not been equipped to deal with the real world.

In Christian schooling we don’t shelter students from reality. We prepare students by telling them the whole truth about the real world and by honoring the presence of the source of all truth and by teaching future generations about his standards for living. As the Psalmist says,

We will not hide them from their children; We will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power and the wonders he has done. Psalm 78:4

In the early 1990s after Russian Communism collapsed I found myself on a team of North Americans instructing hundreds of Russian educators about how to teach the Bible to Russian public school students. Evgenity Kurkin of the Russian Ministry of Education explained why we had been invited to do that,

Seventy years ago we closed Him (God) out of our country and it has caused so many problems in our society we cannot count them…..We must put God back into our country and we must begin with our children.

One evening as I walked with some of our Russian hosts down a snowy street in St. Petersburg, a translator told me about his life in Chernobyl after the nuclear accident – the one that killed and crippled thousands.

“For three years after the accident nobody told us what had happened, all we knew was that our children were getting sick. We finally learned about it through BBC radio.” Those people in Chernobyl knew the cost of being sheltered from reality – and it was far too high.

And what about the future cost for students who have been sheltered from the realities that matter most for living now and for the life yet to come?

We shy away from sounding a warning to families in our churches. “Try to focus on the positive aspects of Christian schooling and don’t offend anyone” we tell ourselves. But maybe the time has come to tell the whole story to Christian families for the sake of their children and the future of the church in North America.

Does Success Spoil or Sanctify Our Students?

By most measures you and I are "successful." We live in a land of freedom and opportunity. Notwithstanding any financial stresses in our lives, we have shelter, clothing, and food. We have family and friends. Most of us are in good health. Compared to most people in this world, you and I are very "successful." We live in relative ease. So do our children!

And therein lies one of our greatest dangers. We and our children are easily spoiled. Success and ease tend to make us self-absorbed, self-sufficient, self-righteous, and self-seeking.

• We come to believe that "we are owed a life of success and ease."
• We and our children come to believe that "life is about us."
• We come to believe that "we produced our success."

We become autonomous, thinking that we do not really need God. We may not say we don't need him but the way we live?a weak prayer life, a weak devotional life, inconsistent worship on the Lord's Day, and the constant compromises we make in disobeying God's clear commands?all reflect what we really believe.

This is the danger facing Israel. They have won great victories and are now preparing to settle down in peace and prosperity. The danger is that their success will spoil rather than sanctify them.

There is a wonderful passage in Joshua following the wars in Canaan. The Israelis have just conquered their enemies and are preparing to settle in the new land flowing with milk and honey. They have been successful and are now preparing to enjoy the fruit of their labor. Matthew Henry describes the scene this way, "The war being ended, and ended gloriously, Joshua, as a prudent general, disbands his army ... and sends them home, to enjoy what they had conquered, and to beat their swords into plough-shares and their spears into pruning-hooks ... And, now ... Joshua publicly and solemnly ... gives them their discharge."

Only be very careful to observe the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, to love the LORD your God, and to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments and to cling to him and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul." (Josh.: 22:5)

Although these are somewhat synonymous for the purpose of emphasis, there is value in considering the particular meaning of each verb: Observe, Love, Walk, Keep, Cling, and Serve.

To Observe

To notice, watch attentively, fulfill and comply with. We are to spend time knowing, understanding, and complying with God's word. How is your Bible study? How is your attendance at worship?

To Love

: to have a great interest and pleasure in something. This exhortation is the essence of the "first and greatest commandment," to love God passionately, with every fiber of one's being (Deut. 6:5; Matt 22:37-38). The primary purpose and chief end of our existence is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever, to take pleasure in God.

Do you enjoy God? Are you more passionate about God or something/someone else?

To Walk

Walking means to order the whole of one's life by God's word and to be filled with his Spirit. When we rise up, walk through the day, and lie down at night, in ALL his ways?even those that are narrow and up-hill, in every particular instance?God's word is to be our compass.

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. (Deut. 6:7-9)

Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it." (Matt. 7:24-27)

To Keep

To honor or fulfill, to observe or pay due regard to God's commands. There is no "BUT" in the believer's response to God's commands! Believers are never to say, "I would obey but....." If we love God, we keep his word.

If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him ... Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him. (Jn.: 14:15ff)

To Cling

To hold tightly to, to be hard to remove from; to adhere to someone, to remain persistently faithful to God and his word. We cling both out of love and need. He is our life! He is our life and our treasure?we grasp him tightly!

"I came that they may have life and have it abundantly." (Jn. 10:10)

To Serve

Life is NOT ABOUT US. Life is about loving and serving God; life is about serving his kingdom.

Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops. Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything. Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel, for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound! Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. The saying is trustworthy, for: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful for he cannot deny himself. (1 Cor. 9:10)

Our success in this life will either spoil us and our children or it will motivate us to show our gratitude by renewing our commitment to Observe, Love, Walk, Keep, Cling, and Serve!

Reflections: Revolution, Egypt, and Our Students

Have you been watching the news lately?  The Arab world is in an uproar, Egypt is in crisis, and journalist and pundits are wringing their hands with anxiety. How should we respond?  Remembering that at the heart of our mission is to teach students to use the Scriptures as the foundation and framework for interpreting events in this world; what should we communicate to our students about the events in the Middle East? 

This is not comprehensive but here are some thoughts for your prayerful consideration.

• NOTHING happens outside of God’s sovereign decrees and providential care. From the smallest detail of life to monumental events in human history, our Holy, Omnipresent, Omnipotent, Omniscient, loving God is in control. Consider:
• The smallest of animals are under his care

Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father ... Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.  Mt 10:28–31 

• The smallest details of our lives are under his care

Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell … even the hairs of your head are all numbered.  Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.  Mt 10:28–31

• The nations are under his sovereign control and care

So the LORD dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city.  Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth. And from there the LORD dispersed them over the face of all the earth.  Gen. 11:8-9

When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he divided mankind, he fixed the borders of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God. Deuteronomy 32:8

And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us ... Acts 17:26ff

• We are to pray for the Egyptian Christians being persecuted and killed

Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored, as happened among you, and that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men. For not all have faith.  2 Th 3:1–2

• Pray for the persecutors

But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.  Mt 5:44–48).

• Use current events as teachable moments in appropriate classes. 

For example, the crisis in Egypt lends itself to teachable moments in history, geography, and Bible.  Discussions of biblical truth, geopolitical issues, implications for U.S. foreign policy, the role of believers in seeking peace, etc., are worthy topics to explore.

• We are to care

Our sinful natures and everything in our culture screams at us to be self-centered, self-focused, self-absorbed, and narcissistic.  If it doesn’t affect us, we ignore it.  But this is unbiblical.  Jesus said the second greatest commandment was to love our neighbors as ourselves.  He also told us “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”  Mt 5:9

Our students are being prepared to be leaders.  These means, among other things, that they are to care about what happens in this world, to believers and unbelievers alike and they are to actively work for peace and justice in this world.  They are to be salt and light as they bring the truths of God’s word to bear on contemporary issues, reflecting the character of Issachar:

Of Issachar, men who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do.  1 Chron. 12:32a

How to Turn Thermometers into Thermostats

Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. (Amo 5:23-24)

As we consider our mission as Christian school teachers and leaders, and reflecting on the BCS Mission “to… equip each student to glorify God by responsible action in contemporary society” the question arises, “are our students thermometers of culture or thermostats?”  I fear that too many of our students (a nd too many of us) are thermometers, merely reflecting the moral temperature of our culture rather than changing it.

You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.  (Mat 5:13-16)

Reflecting on the compelling need by God’s grace to help our students become thermometers rather than thermostats, I am reminded of Martin Luther King Jr.’s words in his Letter from Birmingham Jail:

There was a time when the church was very powerful--in the time when the early Christians rejoiced at being deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society. Whenever the early Christians entered a town, the people in power became disturbed and immediately sought to convict the Christians for being "disturbers of the peace" and "outside agitators"' But the Christians pressed on, in the conviction that they were "a colony of heaven," called to obey God rather than man. Small in number, they were big in commitment. They were too God-intoxicated to be "astronomically intimidated." By their effort and example they brought an end to such ancient evils as infanticide and gladiatorial contests…

How do we help our students/children become thermostats rather than mere thermometers?

1) PRAY—only God can change minds and hearts: “So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.” (1Co 3:7)

2) Study God’s word as we cannot be holy vessels without it and we cannot give what we do not possess: “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.” (Joh 17:17); “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Rom 12:2)

3) Be relevant—meet students where they are and then, in love, share the application of God’s word with them—but not always didactically.  Have your students wrestle with current and difficult political, scientific, moral issues—don’t spoon feed—teach them how to cook and how to eat, using God’s word as the recipe.

4) Be steadfast and patient—“ And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.” (Gal 6:9-10)  “Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains.” (Jas 5:7)

It seems wholly appropriate on MLKJ Day to reread Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letter from Birmingham Jail.  Setting aside any and all political considerations, there is much to commend this letter.  I recommend that you reread it in its entirety if you have not done so recently.

Is It Christian or Worldly to be World-Class?

Dr. Barrett Mosbacker, PublisherI had the privilege of traveling to Australia and to China this summer. My trip to China was to develop relationships with school and government officials for establishing an academic and cultural connection between a Chinese high school and our new online Chinese class. The trip was also designed to lay the foundation for a possible student and/or faculty exchange program. The trip exceeded my expectations resulting in a partnership with a large Chinese high school and bringing a Chinese student to BCS to complete his last two years of high school.

I was also invited to Australia to speak to a Christian School Conference on the topic of “Building World Class Christian Schools.” This was timely because I have touched upon the subject from time-to-time in previous presentations and writings.

As I considered this topic, several questions came to mind:

• What is world-class? Is it a cliché?
• Should Christian schools strive to be world-class or are we merely accommodating the world?
• Is seeking to be world-class elitist and prideful or can it be honoring to the Lord?
• What would a world-class, Christ-honoring, Christian school look like?

These are important questions. On the one hand, we must always be vigilant not to mimic the world or adopt unbiblical values and perspectives. On the other hand, we are called as stewards to prepare our students to serve Christ in a global, technologically rich, interconnected world.

I believe we should and can build Christ-honoring world-class Christian schools but only if we carefully define what we mean by world-class. And I believe that this can be achieved by small and large Christian schools alike.

The dictionary defines world-class as “ranked among the best or most prominent in the world; of the highest order.” I offer for consideration a definition that significantly alters and expands the traditional definition of world-class making it far more biblical and practical.

A world-class Christian school is one that is used by Christ to change lives, its community, and its culture by virtue of its commitment to the preeminence of Christ as reflected in the development of the Christian mind and character of its students and in its establishment of superior standards in teaching and learning so that the school is a model of best practices throughout the world.[1]

A world-class, Christ-honoring, Christian school requires a combination of traits and practices that are so unique, so “otherly worldly” that they are in a class by themselves—not by virtue of what we are against but by what we are for and by virtue of a quality that transcends the normal.

There are eight traits that we should cultivate in the pursuit of world-class quality. We should strive to be world-class in:

• Character
• The Content and Quality of our Instruction
• Being Culturally Relevant
•  Our Caring
• Our Courage
• Fostering Curiosity
• Our Being Champions of Excellence, and
• Our Commitment to the Preeminence of Christ.

World-Class Character

Ideas have consequences. One of the best ways to promote Christian ideas—biblical truth—is to get students and others to ask questions. People ask questions when they are curious. People are curious when they are seeking closure—trying to connect dots.

People ask questions because they are curious or in an effort to bring harmony to emotional, spiritual, or what psychologists call cognitive dissonance. There is a tension and people seek answers and closure to relieve the tension.

Peter admonishes us to “always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.” But, we often take this verse out of context. Why was the question being asked in the first place?

It is because the Christians, who were suffering under Nero, were responding in a very peculiar way—instead of whining and feeling sorry for themselves, they were simultaneously grieving yet “rejoicing.”

(6) In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials … (8) Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory. (I Peter 1)

This was very unusual—they were not acting like everyone else—they were “otherly worldly”. They were able to rejoice even in the midst of dreadful circumstances—they could rejoice while crying. They, like Paul, could sing hymns while chained to Roman guards.

Those around them wanted to know “How can this be?” “How can these Christians respond this way when they are losing their jobs, their property, when they are being made fun of and slandered—even tortured and killed?

It was the uniqueness, the quality, the transcendent nature of the believers’ character and behavior—under great distress and duress—that prompted the questions and the openness to the Gospel. In other words, they were different and in being different—in being a peculiar people—they made a difference.

That is our call and our challenge. We will not change the lives of our students or the lives of our parents, let alone the community and world around us, unless we are fundamentally different—not legalists, not separatists, not kill joys—but different in our response to the issues of life—both the good and the bad.

The greatest lessons we ever teach are not spoken—they are lived. Ideas matter. Ideas have consequences but it is the character of our lives that open the door for a discussion of the ideas—of truth.

Go back for a moment in your mind’s eye. Jesus tells a small group of men standing on the hillside that they are the salt and light to the world. Most of these men were not great men of learning; they were not professors or teachers. In fact, it is quite possible that many of them did not do particularly well in school, which may explain why some of them are fishermen and tax collectors!

So how is it that they would be the Lights of the World? Obviously the direct application has to do with sharing the Gospel but there is actually a broader definition at work.

If you examine the full context of Jesus’ sermon, you realize that they were to be the light of the world—not merely because of what they would teach and preach-but because of what they would become by God’s grace. Consider the before and after context:

Before his statement about them being the Light of the World, he preached The Beatitudes (Mat 5:3-11):

(3) "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

(4) "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

(5) "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

(6) "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

(7) "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

(8) "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

(9) "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

(10) "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

(11) "Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.

After telling them that they were to be the light and salt of the world, he describes how (Mat 5:21-48):

(21) "You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.' (22) But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment …

(27) "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' (28) But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

(33) "Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.' (34) But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all … (37) Let what you say be simply 'Yes' or 'No'; anything more than this comes from evil.

(38) "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' (39) But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.

(43) "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' (44) But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, (45)

And so on……

This demonstration of Godly character is counter-cultural, this is a much higher standard—this in a sense is world-class—in a class by itself—transcending cultural norms and cultural expectations.

We reflect this character in how we deal with personal challenges—physical, family, and financial. It is reflected in how we respond to an angry email or to the apathetic student.

It is our character that makes our message believable, that gives it credibility.

To be a Christian world-class school means that our character sets us apart from the pack; to be among best in world: ranked among the best or most prominent in the world, of the highest order—World-Class character.

World-Class Content, Curriculum, Instruction, and Standards

This leads to the second point, to be world-class means that we are to be fully committed to truth.

In one way—only Christian schools can be truly world-class because—if we are faithful to god’s word and to careful Christian scholarship—we are the only ones who teach the whole truth.

Don’t misunderstand—many unbelievers have, by common grace, much truth. And, many Christian are wrong about a great many things. But, Christians who are careful with God’s word and are careful students and teachers are able to be the light of the world because they have the whole truth—not mere fragments or distortions of it.

Psalm 19 declares:

(2) Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. (3) There is no speech, or are there words, whose voice is not heard. (4) Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them he has set a tent for the sun … (Natural Revelation)

(7) The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple; (8) the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes; (Special Revelation)

Ultimately—the Word and the World are united in Christ in whom “we live and move and have our being.” To quote Dr. Poythress (Harvard Mathematician, Professor of NT, Westminster):

All scientists-including agnostics and atheists-believe in God. They have to in order to do their work … A Hindu philosopher may say that the world is an illusion. But he does not casually walk into the street in front of an oncoming bus. Sue, a radical relativist, may say that there is no truth. But she travels calmly at 30,000 feet on a plane whose safe flight depends on the unchangeable truths of aerodynamics and structural mechanics … scientists describe the regularities in God’s word governing the world.

So-called natural law is really the law of God or word of God, imperfectly and approximately described by human investigations … let us remember that we are speaking of real laws, not merely our human guesses and approximations. The real laws are in fact the word of God, specifying how the world of creatures is to function. So-called “law” is simply God speaking, God acting, God manifesting himself in time and space [Day-to-day pours forth speech]… what people call “scientific law’ is divine. We are speaking of God himself and his revelation of himself through his governance of the world … in thinking about law, scientists are thinking God’s thoughts after him.[2]

God has an opinion about everything…we are to seek to think about the world as God does. Let me give you an example. Francis Collins, —a world-class Christian scientist who takes both natural and spiritual revelation seriously—and whose Godly character has prompted many atheists to seek Christ because of his Christian response to his daughter’s rape, proclaimed in a speech to the world on the steps of the White House:

The human genome consists of all the DNA of our species, the hereditary code of life. This newly revealed text was 3 billion letters long, and written in a strange and cryptographic four-letter code. Such is the amazing complexity of the information carried within each cell of the human body, that a live reading of that code at a rate of one letter per second would take thirty-one years, even if reading continued day and night. Printing these letters out in regular font size on normal bond paper and binding them all together would result in a tower the height of the Washington Monument. For the first time on a warm summer day six months into the new millennium, this amazing script, carrying within it all of the instructions for building a human being, was available to the world …

Notice his words here:

… Without a doubt, this is the most important, most wondrous map ever produced by humankind…we are learning the language in which God created life. We are gaining ever more awe for the complexity, the beauty, and the wonder of God’s most divine and sacred gift …

… It’s a happy day for the world. It is humbling for me, and awe-inspiring, to realize that we have caught the first glimpse of our own instruction book, previously known only to God”[3]

Now that is being a light to the world. That is a reflection of the proper relationship of science and theology. That is a world-class Christian scientist! That reflects our spiritual and academic aspirations for our students!

World Class-Cultural Awareness and Relevance

David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid with his fathers. (Acts 13:36b)

Of Issachar, men who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do. (1Chron. 12:32a)

These passages make a point of emphasizing that godly leaders, those that God uses to shape their institutions, schools, communities and countries, understand their times—they are relevant and contemporary and they knew how to lead and to apply biblical principles to the contemporary context.

A world-class Christian school is relevant—its teachers and administrators are current, aware, globally informed and may I even suggest, “Withit”?

To borrow a phrase from someone else, we cannot have Flintstone schools in a Jetson world.

We are entering the second decade of the 21^st century. We must understand our times and cultures if we are to effectively prepare our students to serve Christ.

In many ways, it is the tale of two cities—the best of times and the worst of times—at once an unprecedented time of progress and an unprecedented time of distress.

Progress

• The WSJ recently heralded a potential new era in biology, scientists for the first time have created a synthetic cell, completely controlled by man-made genetic instructions.
• We are in the midst of a third industrial revolution: Microelectronics, Computers, Robotics, Human Genome, Biotechnology, New materials, and Telecommunications.
• The top 10 in-demand jobs in 2010 did not exist in 2004.
• More than 3000 books are published every day.
• In 2008, the amount of new technical information was doubling every two years. This year, 2010, it is projected to double every 72 hours!
• Immediate access to vast amounts of information and communication: we carry a world of knowledge in our pockets!
• There has been some progress in some cultures dealing with racial, political, and socio-economic discrimination.
• The human race is more productive than at any time in human history.
• More people have access to better health care than at any time in history.
• Generally speaking, we are far more sensitive to environmental concerns than in past generations.
• The educational opportunities available in the world are advancing rapidly enable giving more people greater access to education and a better future.

Distress

• We live in a very violent time. More people were killed by war and their governments in the 20^th century than in all human history combined. Local, regional, and international wars continue to increase.
• Fanaticism of all sorts too often results in the killing of innocent men and women.
• Many of the world’s economies are sinking under unsustainable debt.
• It is increasingly difficult for the undereducated to find permanent employment to care for themselves and their families.
• The deviate and perverted are celebrated as good while the natural and holy are condemned as evil.

Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! (Isa 5:20)

• Materialism and sensuality are rampant.
• Relativism and post-modernism are the reigning worldviews of our time.

These are our times-this is the world that our students are entering and in which they must provide leadership. It is a world of unprecedented opportunities and challenges!

We cannot do business as usual. We must engage with how things are, not how they were or how we wish them to be.

There is great value in tradition; there is great value in our heritage as Christians, and as Americans. But the value is not in the traditions themselves-it is in the principles and lessons learned that can be applied in new and creative ways to our contemporary context so that like the men of Issachar, men who had “understanding of the times to know what Israel ought to do,” we understand our times and know what do to—how to teach and how to lead.

I want to emphasize that while our methods may and often must change, e.g., through the application of neuroscience, technology, creative assessment techniques, and so forth, our commitment to God’s word is immutable.

World-Class Caring

We cannot and will not meet the challenges of the 21^st century and of our students unless we care. We cannot be a city on the hill; we cannot be the light of the world, unless we love our neighbors as ourselves, unless we sacrifice ourselves for our students and our parents, even or especially the ones that we find it hard to like.

One of the primary ways we let our light shine is through our good works, a reflection of our love and concern for others: “let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father.”

• Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Php 2:5-8)
• You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. (Joh 13:13-17)
• A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." (Joh 13:34-35)

In other words, people are more important than tasks. Administrators lead people not employees, teachers teach students, not subjects!

To be world-class Christian schools means that we love and serve our students, we do not merely teach them. Sometimes this requires tough love but it always requires love. Paul makes the point as powerfully as it can be made: “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.” (I Cor. 13:1)

To be world-class our love, our devotion, and our sacrifice for and service to our students must be ranked among best in world: ranked among the best or most prominent in the world—of the highest order.

There should never be an instance when an unbelieving teacher, administrator, or coach is more caring, more loving, and more sacrificial in the care and teaching of his or her students than a believer!

World-Class in Courage

To be world-class takes courage.

• It takes courage to speak the truth.
• It takes courage to insist and to model excellence—it takes courage to refuse the mass current of mediocrity—to swim against the current.
• It takes courage to give an honest, rather than a safe grade.
• It takes courage to tell a parent that his/her son is not doing well, is not working hard.
• It takes courage to tell a teacher that he/she is coasting.
• It takes courage to tell an administrator that he or she is not providing visionary, strategic, effective leadership.
• It takes courage to try new things, to experiment, to get beyond our comfort zones and our routines.
• It takes courage to go beyond tradition and beyond what we have always done.

Without the courage to speak the truth in love, without the courage to experiment, without the courage to break out of the ordinary and to help our students do likewise, we cannot be world-class.

World-Class in Curiosity

We cannot shine if we are dull. We cannot be lights to our students if we have stopped learning. We cannot ignite a heart and mind of curiosity if we have lost ours—the student will be like his teacher—we cannot give what we do not possess.

Are we reading outside our professional field? Are we learning about new discoveries? Do we read those with whom we disagree? Are we learning new skills? Is there any venturesomeness about us? Or have we become stale, provincial, sheltered, and comfortable? Are we routine?

Curiosity is the very essence of Christian education because it is embedded in us as image bearers, it is the catalyst for the cultural mandate—to exercise dominion and stewardship over creation—and is it what propels us to investigate and to learn, to develop new tools and new methods.

Paul Marshall, in his wonderful book titled: Heaven in Not My Home[4], writes:

Many of those who denounce technology have no real desire to live in some primitive civilization. Instead, many of them sit amidst the fruits of technical progress all the while denouncing the technology that brought them. Technology, properly used, is a gift from God.

The topic of technique and technology preoccupies today’s world. Technique refers to “how to” do something—it is the science of “how.” It encompasses all that we can do—from going to the moon to public speaking, from designing nuclear bombs to making love, from serving a hungry neighbor to writing books. All of these are included when we talk about technique.

Along with technique comes technology, which is the made, created, embodied structure of technique. Technology includes, in one form or another, all those things that do not naturally occur, all those things that we shape and reshape. Technology infuses art as much as physics, families as much as engineering. To talk about technique and technology is to talk in one particular way about all of human life, as all of human life has some technical aspect. Responsible technical skill is both a gift and a calling. It is the human task of reshaping the materials of God’s world in new ways. It is imagination and skill in the service of usefulness.

Nor is our task in the world simply following the clear rules that God has set down, though we must certainly follow God’s commandments and learn from the creation itself. We have a creative task in the world. We must shape things in ways for which there is sometimes no clear direction. This is why imagination is not just a feature of the arts; it is a feature of human life itself. Without imagination, without experimentation, without openness to new questions and new possibilities, there can be no science and no technology. We are not challenging God when we do this, at least not when we do it in humility and faith. We are not stealing fire from the gods. We are taking up our responsibility before God to shape what he has placed in our hands.

Christian education is the exploration of God’s mind as revealed in creation! Christian education is preparing students to use their skills, their imaginations, and their curiosity to shape the world and to build God honoring culture. That is a wondrously beautiful and infinitely deep mission!

On a building at Harvard is the following inscription: “Students explore the mind of God for the art of life.” Let that sink in. “Students explore the mind of God for the art of life.” I often include this quote in my email signature line because I believe that if one takes time to mediate on it that it has profound implications for Christian education. The Psalmist writes:

Great are the works of the Lord; they are studied by all who delight in them. (Psalm 111:2)

• When our students look into a microscope, they are peering into the mind of God.
• When they gaze through a telescope, they are encountering the creation of an incomprehensible, infinite intelligence.
• When they listen to music, they are experiencing the beauty and harmony of God’s character.
• When they study mathematics, they are, to quote Edward Everett, a former president of Harvard:

Contemplating truths, which existed in the divine mind before the morning stars sang together, and which will continue to exist there, when the last of the radiant host shall have fallen from heaven.” Mathematics reflects the sustaining power of the Word of God.

• In the study of history they are investigating the sovereignty and providence of God as worked out in time and space:

And ^x[God] made from one man every nation of mankind to live ^yon all the face of the earth, ^zhaving determined allotted periods and ^athe boundaries of their dwelling place, ^{27 b}that they should seek God, in the hope that ^cthey might feel their way toward him and find him. ^dYet he is actually not far from each one of us, ^[5]

This is inexhaustible! Do we FEEL the wonder in what we teach and why we lead? Are we passionate about plunging into the depths of God’s infinite, beautiful mind as we explore this world and the universe?

Is that what you are experiencing? Is this what our students are experiencing in our classrooms? Do they leave our classrooms awestruck at who God is and what he has done? Do they leave Chemistry class a better person for having encountered Christ in chemistry?

Fostering curiosity like this will produce world-class teachers, students, and schools!

World-Class Champions of Excellence

We are to be champions in the quality of our own work and in our work-ethic. Champions, by definition, are world-class. I immediately think of Olympic champions or the World-Cup. These athletes are the best in the world.

As Christian school teachers and leaders, we should seek to be the best in the world, to have the best schools in the world—not for our glory but that men may see our “good works” and glorify our father in heaven.

This is not a matter of pride. Since we are to “do everything as unto Christ” and since Christ is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and since one day we must give an account for our work on this earth, how can we strive for anything less?

• How can we serve up a warmed over lesson plan? Would you serve Christ leftovers if he came over for dinner? Why then would we serve his children left-over lessons or left-over leadership? Jesus said “as you did it to one of the least of these ^dmy brothers,⁶ you did it to me.”
• How can school administrators provide mediocre leadership?
• How can we fail to walk that extra mile for a student or parent (even the ones we don’t particularly like) when Jesus tells us to willingly walk an extra-mile for a Roman soldier who has occupied your country, steals your wealth through unfair taxation, who may be the very soldier who will crucify Jesus, and who may serve Nero in torturing Christians to death? How can we do less for our students and parents? How can we do less for each other?
• How can we be satisfied to provide our students an education, that while ranking high in the U.S., may in fact be in the middle of the pack or lower when measured against international standards?

We are to be the beacon of light on the hill of excellence—drawing unbelievers to our schools to learn from us!

We are to be Champions in the quality of everything that we do: ranked among best in world: ranked among the best or most prominent in the world, of an international standard of excellence; of the highest order—not for our glory but the glory and honor of Christ.

World-Class Commitment to the Preeminence of Christ

This work is not about us. The work we do in our Christian schools is about the Kingdom of God—it is that simple and that profound. Jesus is The Alpha and the Omega of Creation and he is the Alpha and Omega of our work and our schools!

Being a world-class Christian school is a POSITIVE mission:

• It is not about withdrawal, not about protecting, and not about sheltering; our call is about providing a positive imaginative, engaging vision of personal and cultural redemption and transformation under the Lordship of Christ.
• It is not about what we are against as much as what we are for, what we are called to do as creative, relational, rational, redeemed image bearers.

Paul Marshall[6] makes the following observation and goes on to quote C.S. Lewis:

The major patterns of our culture and society are being shaped with almost no Christian presence. We live in a “subculture,” on our own island, increasingly far from shore.

And when we do seek influence, we often only react to someone else’s proposals. If the Disney Company puts out movies that trivialize or demonize the Christian faith, we boycott them. But this simply pulls us farther into our own shell. We have no alternative to put forward, no movies that undercut Disney because they’re better. A familiar proverb says, “The fool curses the darkness, but the wise man lights a candle.” We “curse” a lot but have few candles, and so the darkness deepens …

If Christian faith produces good families, good businesses, good art, good books, and good politics, then people will notice, and they will be intrigued. In American society, where people think they know all they want to know about Christianity, this is especially important. As usual, C. S. Lewis said it well:

I believe that any Christian who is qualified to write a good popular book on any science may do much more by that than by any directly apologetic (evangelistic) work…We can make people (often) attend to the Christian point of view for half an hour or so; but the moment they have gone away from our lecture or laid down our article, they are plunged back into a world where the opposite position is taken for granted…What we want is not more little books about Christianity, but more little books by Christians on other subjects—with their Christianity latent. You can see this most easily if you look at it the other way round. Our Faith is not very likely to be shaken by any book on Hinduism. But if whenever we read an elementary book on Geology, Botany, Politics, or Astronomy, we found that its implications were Hindu, that would shake us. It is not the books written in direct defense of Materialism that make the modern man a materialist; it is the materialistic assumptions in all the other books. In the same way, it is not books on Christianity that will really trouble him. But he would be troubled if, whenever he wanted a cheap popular introduction to some science, the best work on the market was always by a Christian.

• It is about being empowered by God’s Spirit that God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven. It is about leading, serving, changing, and creating under the Lord of Jesus Christ-our King and our Savior!
• It is about being a city on the hill—a city of educational excellence that draws believer and unbeliever alike to our schools as models of character, caring, of contemporary instruction and learning, of curiosity as we explore the wonder of God’s world.
• It is about the exaltation of Christ as He is seen and known in the Scriptures and in creation.

Conclusion—A Vision for the Future—Where in The World Are We Going?

We live in one of the most challenges times in human history and a time of nearly unparalleled opportunity. On the one hand, the world faces great challenges and threats; we live in a time when one small miscalculation, e.g., on the Korean Peninsula or in dealing with Iran, can erupt into a regional or world war with devastating consequences.

On the other hand, we live in a time when we are able to access and to disseminate information with unprecedented speed and ease. We can carry whole libraries in our pockets. With leadership, vision and the right tools, we can make our lessons available to most people on this planet!

There has seldom been a time when the light of God’s word was more needed or a time when there have been more competing false lights in the world.

As Christian school teachers and leaders, we are called to be lights on the hill, beacons of truth.

• We must lead not follow, as individual Christian professionals and as a school!
• We must set the standard, not rest with mediocrity the easy the familiar, the comfortable. We are called to be world-class—to rise above the norm—by being world-class in our Character, the Content of our Curriculum and Quality of our Instruction, Caring, Courage, Curiosity, in being Champions of Excellence, in our Commitment to the Preeminence of Christ.

Right Now Counts Forever

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. (2) And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. (3) And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. (4) He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away." (5) And he who was seated on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new." Also he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true." (6) And he said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. (7) The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son … (22) And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. (23) And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. (24) By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, (25) and its gates will never be shut by day--and there will be no night there. (26) They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations.” (Rev 21:1-7; 22-26)

That is our future—that is the future that we are preparing our students to inherent—a new heaven and a new earth in which men from every tribe, nation, and tongue build a new culture and a new civilization. The work begins now—with our students, in our classrooms, in our Christian schools! This is the end for which we work! This is world-class Christian education!

---

[1] © Copyrighted Barrett Mosbacker 2010

[2] Poythress, V. S. (2006). Redeeming science: A God-centered approach. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.

[3] Dr. Francis Collins, A scientist presents evidence for belief: The language of God, (Free Press, New York), 2006, pp. 2-3

[4] Marshall, P. (1998). Heaven is not my home: Learning to live in God's creation

^{x x} [Gen. 3:20; Mal. 2:10]

^{y y} Gen. 11:8; Luke 21:35

^{z z} [Job 12:23; 14:5]

^{a a} Deut. 32:8; [Ps. 74:17]

^{b b} [ch. 15:17]

^{c c} [Job 23:3, 8, 9]

^{d d} [Deut. 4:7; Ps. 145:18; Jer. 23:23, 24]; See ch. 14:17

^[5] The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001 (Ac 17:25–27). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

^{d d} ch. 28:10; John 20:17; Rom. 8:29; Heb. 2:11; [ch. 12:50]

^{6 6} Or brothers and sisters

[6] Marshall, P. (1998). Heaven is not my home: Learning to live in God's creation

College: Are Parents Getting Their Money’s Worth? Are They Getting “More” Than They Bargained For?

By Jeff Myers

This fall about two million American students will leave for college for the first time to receive an education at a yearly cost of $12,000 a year for a public university and up to $50,000 for a private one. Scholarships and grants reduce the cost for most families, but still, the Wall Street Journal reports that the average student leaves college with $23,186 in debt.

The total cost for this transaction is somewhere between 25 and 40 billion dollars. Per year.

Oh well, at least families are getting their money's worth.

Or not.

A recent study confirms what many parents have long suspected, that going to most colleges can make kids forget the things that are important and embrace values that are counter to what they learned growing up.

Before I share this study's results, let me say this to parents: leftist professors don't feel sorry for you. As far as they’re concerned, you’ve been oppressing the masses to get that money anyway, so it’s deliciously ironic that you not only turn your children over to the indoctrinators, but that you fork over 50k to 200k for the privilege.

Don't take my word for it. Here's what the late Richard Rorty, one of the most prominent philosophers of the 20th century, said on the subject:

"... I, like most Americans who teach humanities or social science in colleges and universities ... try to arrange things so that students who enter as bigoted, homophobic, religious fundamentalists will leave college with views more like our own ...  The fundamentalist parents of our fundamentalist students think that the entire ‘American liberal establishment’ is engaged in a conspiracy. The parents have a point...we are going to go right on trying to discredit you in the eyes of your children, trying to strip your fundamentalist religious community of dignity, trying to make your views seem silly rather than discussable. We are not so inclusivist as to tolerate intolerance such as yours ... I think those students are lucky to find themselves under the benevolent Herrschaft [domination] of people like me, and to have escaped the grip of their frightening, vicious, dangerous parents ..." [editor’s note: sorry for all the ellipses, but it's hard to summarize Rorty's windblown rhetoric].

When it comes to reshaping values, liberal universities know precisely what they’re doing. About four out of five students walk away from their Christian faith by the time they are in their twenties.

The Indoctrination Route: Citizenship--Bad; Leftist Politics--Good

In February the Intercollegiate Studies Institute released its annual report entitled, “The Shaping of the American Mind.” ISI researchers studied students' knowledge of basic citizenship questions, along with 39 issue-based propositions.

They found that college graduates are dangerously ignorant of basic civics. For example, fewer than one in two college graduates know that the phrase "We hold these truths to be self evident..." is from the Declaration of Independence (10% actually think it is from the Communist Manifesto).

When it comes to political radicalism, however, colleges pass with flying colors. Graduates are significantly MORE likely to believe in abortion on demand and same sex marriage, and significantly LESS likely to believe that the Bible is the word of God, that prayer should be allowed in schools, or that anyone can succeed in America with hard work and perseverance.

The Transformation Route: Being Caught Off Guard--Bad; Being Confidently Prepared--Good

Obviously not all colleges are destructive. There are even a handful of great ones (I would humbly suggest that the one I teach at--Bryan College--is one of the excellent few).

But most Christian parents feel hamstrung. They are concerned for their kids but also realize that with few exceptions (such as flat-out genius) most young people have no chance of attaining leadership positions without a college degree.

There is a solution and it is available now. Please, if you have a college-bound student, listen carefully to what I'm about to tell you. This is important even if your child is going to a "safe" college (some so-called "Christian" colleges are actually better at convincing kids to walk away from their faith than some secular colleges).

A two-week Summit Ministries course is a must. This summer. Find out more [here].

At Summit students ages 16-21 invest 12 days gaining the confidence they need to understand and defend an intelligent biblical worldview. They join a vast network of mentors whose books, writings and personal encouragement help sharpen them for life-long leadership. They stand shoulder to shoulder with newfound friends who help them stand strong.

Now Is Not The Time for Shortcuts

There is much at stake. Having your child read an apologetics book or go to a weekend conference is great, but it’s not the same as a two-week Summit experience, and here’s why:

1. At Summit students can ask questions as they arise. Over the course of 12 days students are able to form questions and interact with top Christian professors, mentors, and classmates. As they become comfortable, they open up in small groups, around the meal tables and in open forums with speakers. This gives students confidence that everyday people really can defend what they believe.

2. At Summit students enjoy being given the responsibility to think through issues as adults. Summit asks students to forsake adolescence and step up into mature adulthood. Over the course of 12 days they come to believe that it can actually be done.

3. Summit breaks the stranglehold of negative peer pressure. Young adults will seldom attempt to become anything more than what their peers think they can be. Summit students learn how to reverse this pressure and support one another in successfully thinking and living Christianly.

4. Summit provides personal contact with expert mentors. At Summit students spend 12 days with experts who have the depth of experience needed to delve deeply into the complex challenges they will face. These experts are specially selected based on their ability to communicate effectively with students.

5. At Summit, parents find that their parental role and their Christian values are affirmed and supported. Kids are always asking, "Who else says so besides mom and dad?" At Summit students are encouraged to honor their parents and be reconciled to them. This helps moms and dads strengthen their relationship before their sons and daughters leave for college, which is crucial.

Where Christian Leaders Send Their Own Children for Training

Summit is not a miracle cure. But for 47 years it's been a trusted source when it comes to preparing students to be the kind of leaders who shape culture, rather than who are shaped by it. That's why evangelical leaders such as James Dobson and Josh McDowell endorse it so enthusiastically. It's also why they chose to send their children to Summit before college; there simply is no substitute for the excellent training and mentoring Dr. Noebel and his staff provide.

I believe in the Summit. In fact I am planning to speak at every Summit Ministries session in the U.S. this summer in Colorado, Virginia, Tennessee and Wisconsin.

Summit enrollment is limited by space. Most sessions do fill up, but you can download an application [here]. Scholarships are available for those in financial need.

Remember: Before College, Summit. Please forward this to any parent who doesn’t yet understand this.

Dr. Jeff Myers is founder and president of Passing the Baton International. Jeff speaks to tens of thousands each year on worldview and leadership issues. This article was taken by permission from Jeff’s E-Newsletter “Get Ready to Lead.” To subscribe, please visit www.passingthebaton.org. For more information on Summit Ministries, please visit www.summit.org.

*Richard Rorty, "Universality and Truth," in Robert B. Brandom (ed.), Rorty and His Critics (Oxford: Blackwell, 2000), pp. 21-22.

**George Barna, "Twentysomethings struggle to find their lace in Christian churches"; Ken Ham and Britt Beemer, Already Gone: Why Your Kids Will Quit Church and What You Can Do to Stop It (Green Forest, AR: Master Books, 2009), p. 24.

Asking Important Questions About Technology

By: Mitchell Salerno, High School Principal and Arlene Outerbridge, Director of Guidance (The Master's Academy)

A recent editorial in The Philadelphia Inquirer (Click here to view article) raised questions about “one-to-one computing” initiatives sprouting up in schools around the country. Zimmerman (2010) argues that this technology has the potential to drive students further away from human interaction and that there is little evidence that one-to-one initiatives actually increase student learning. Zimmerman further suggests that qualified and talented teachers, rather than the latest technology, will improve learning. Humorously, Zimmerman quotes Thomas Edison (in 1922), “I believe the motion picture is destined to revolutionize our educational system and that in a few years it will supplant largely, if not entirely, the use of textbooks.”

If you listen carefully, you will hear similar language among today’s educational reformers. Simply replace “motion picture” with “Kindle” or “iTouch” or “laptop.” Are these tools going to revolutionize education and replace textbooks?

I am a technology fan and have pushed technological initiatives at every opportunity. Our students need to understand how to live in a 21^st century world and our schools are largely responsible for providing opportunities for students to interact with the abundance of technological tools available to them. However, our schools must continue to ask the hard questions such as:

· How do we see technology as a positive for our students?

· How do we see technology as a hindrance to our students?

· If we add (insert technology), how do we ensure that the positive benefits to our students outweigh the negative?

Zimmerman (2010) also raises a secondary question regarding the parent’s ability to aid the students as they navigate the new world of technology. Our students are growing up in a fundamentally different world than we grew up in. As an example, I was at the barbershop today and my barber and I were discussing the latest video games. We had seen an ad on the television and couldn’t tell if it was for a movie or a video game. It is amazing to think that technology has advanced to this point. So as all old-timers do (I am 34!), we began to tell stories of how things used to be.

As I reflect on that conversation, I am amazed at the fundamental difference between our world in the 1980s and the world today. Yet, I am also amazed at how the human condition has not changed. Christian schools, and education in general, really has not changed. We are still asking the same questions about what students need to learn, how they should learn, etc. While our ability to do stuff has increased exponentially, our “condition” has not changed at all.

It is possible that our students’ parents do not know how to deal with the rapidly changing technological landscape. Our efforts to train the children are often the easiest task we have. Zimmerman (2010) shares, possibly inadvertently, his struggles as a parent in this new technological world. Our parents might be struggling as well. Our schools need to be mindful of the “old-timer’s” struggle with encroaching technology and begin to ask questions such as:

· If we add (insert technology), how do we combat parent fears?

· How do we help parents understand the purpose and benefit of this technology?

· Have we considered the impact this technology will have on the home?

In the end, technology is merely a tool. It certainly may be leveraged for the Kingdom, but we must begin to teach our students how to properly value and utilize technology, beginning with our own actions. As we devise new ways to implement technology, let’s make sure that we are taking care to keep Christ first and refuse to allow education to be about tools rather than children.

References

Zimmerman, J. (2010, March 2). Should schools be giving out computers?. The

Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved from

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/opinion/85934327.html

What Do We Tell Our Students About God and the Death of 200,000+?

Dr. Barrett Mosbacker, PublisherSoon after the devastating earthquake in Haiti, I sent the following email to my teachers.  Great events (good and bad) present great teaching opportunities.

To Faculty and Staff:

There are times when a teachable moment presents itself that requires setting aside our planned teaching schedule. I believe the devastating earthquake in Haiti, combined with our relief efforts on behalf of the Haitian people, presents such an opportunity.

I would like for you to consider how you could help your students work through the death of probably 200,000 people and the near destruction of an entire city and God’s character, promises, and providence. If you believe this has merit, I would encourage you to consider the following:

• Consider providing a means for students to share their questions, concerns, doubts, perspectives, etc., anonymously so that you have some idea of what your students are thinking and feeling. It is very important that your students feel the freedom to be honest without fear of reprisal or judgment.
• Consider having them read through the attached and then helping them spot the logical and/or theological errors in the article.
• Be careful not to provide an interpretation of God’s providence—it is very important to address this issue in general biblical terms with good biblical exegesis without definitively interpreting what God has or has not done in Haiti and why. For example, although we know that all pain in this world is ultimately the result of sin and the curse, we do not know that God specifically judged Haiti through the earthquake (per Pat Robertson’s comments).
• Focus should be placed on how Christians should respond to such death and destruction.
• It would be helpful to address God’s promised provisions for his people and the destitution of many Haitian Christians. For example, how does a faithful Haitian Christian who may have lost a child, a home, and all possessions respond to Matt. 6:25ff in light of the earthquake?
• Some discussion could focus on our own national sins.

This is not a mandate; I am merely passing on some thoughts for you to prayerfully consider as you minister to your students. I suspect many of them have many questions, concerns, doubts, assumptions, etc., that they are not expressing but that need addressed for their spiritual welfare.

Thank you,

Barrett Mosbacker

The Web Equivalent of Nudists and Should You Commit Web 2.0 Suicide?; Is There a Biblical Framework on Privacy?

Dr. Barrett Mosbacker, PublisherFacebook recently irked me.  I am a Facebook user but I am not a heavy user.  I keep up with a few colleagues and friends but mostly I post articles on Facebook that I believe others may find interesting.  I mostly use Facebook so that I can work through the biblical, educational, and social implications of social technologies as a Christian.  We are called to bring all of life under the Lordship of Christ—that includes Facebook and similar technologies. 

I also use Twitter (you can follow me @Bmosbacker).  I usually post an occasional link to an interesting article.  The exception is that I post my status as I travel.  My wife, children and secretary are able to keep up with me in real time and are immediately alerted if I have flight delays, etc. I also follow “Breaking News” the “CDC”, “TechCrunch”, AlertNet, and a few other organizations that provide timely and useful information. 

How did Facebook irk me?  The company changed its privacy settings to a default of “public”.  That meant that any information I posted on Facebook would be available to everyone on the Internet.  Facebook made this change because it is in the company’s interest to have as much information shared publically as possible. 

I have nothing to hide.  But I am very selective and careful about anything I put online.  I assume that anything I post could be made public.  Accordingly, I set virtually all of the privacy settings to the strictest level possible, exactly what Facebook prefer that I not do.

As an aside, if you want to commit Web 2.0 suicide, now you can.  This article explains what it is and how it is done.

Having just experienced Facebook’s effort to make our lives increasingly public, I found this particular article to be very timely: We All Live in Public Now. Get Used to It. Erick Schonfeld writes:

As the Web becomes more social, privacy becomes harder and harder to come by. People are over-sharing on Facebook and Twitter, broadcasting their whereabouts every ten steps on Foursquare and Gowalla, and uploading photos and videos of their most private moments to the Web for all to see. It’s easy to say that privacy is dead, we all live in public now, and just deal with it.

But things are a bit more complicated. It used to be that we lived in private and chose to make parts of our lives public. Now that is being turned on its head. We live in public and choose what parts of our lives to keep private. Public is the new default.

Mr. Schonfeld goes on to quote Stowe Boyd:

Some people are the web equivalent of nudists: they live very open lives on the web, revealing the intimate details of their relationships, what they think of friends and co-workers, their interactions with family and authorities. But . . . even these apparently wide open web denizens may keep some things private, or secret.

As if to emphasize the point, one reader posted this comment to the article:

 My entire life is public! I use services like Foursquare and Twitter posting my location and pictures on my family and I.  I think people of my generation won’t care as much. It’s kind of second nature to me to just post everything I’m doing. I never really stopped to think about what I’m doing as being dangerous.  The future will be filled with people like me! :)

Thus the Question: Is There a Biblical Framework on Privacy?

I recognize that our country’s forefathers embedded certain notions of privacy in the Constitution and Bill of Rights but these do not directly address the development of a biblical framework for privacy on the Internet.  More specifically:

• How does privacy apply to 21st century technology?
• What should we be teaching students beyond being careful about what they post?  For example, is there a positive component to living a more public life online?  After all, if one grew-up in a very small village or town there is very little privacy as we typically conceive of it. 
• Is individual privacy a human construct or a divine one? 
• What are the limits? 
• Is it sinful to post personal information on the internet that is not intrinsically evil?
• What are the caveats and limits to privacy in the digital age?
• How can we and our students use social networking in a redemptive manner, i.e., how can they use social networking in the normal course of living to glorify Christ (and I’m not referring to presenting the Gospel or apologetics—although that is certainly a good thing)? 

I have not formulated adequate answers to these questions yet (I’m working on it) but it seems to me that we have an obligation to grapple with these issues and to help our students do likewise.  We need to help them develop a biblical (not a traditional, conservative, or liberal) worldview on privacy and social media in the digital age.

What are your thoughts?  Please share you initial ideas by living a comment on this article or by posting your thoughts on the CSJ Facebook Discussion Board.