A Vision for PNW Churches (Part 4): Education

There is no such thing as a neutral education. Every school is catechizing its students into a religion. Every school has a vision for an ideal life toward which they are forming the children. If that is the case, then all of the families in our churches should desire a Christ-centered education for their children.

One of the most important cultural battlefields of the last century in the United States is education. It is hard to imagine that the steep decline of Christian faith over the last 60 years in our country is not deeply connected to the secularism of government schools and higher education. Christians have largely sent their covenant children to be discipled and indoctrinated in these schools, and the results have been disastrous. These children spend 30 hours per week for 13 years of their childhood in classrooms where God is not allowed to be mentioned, and the Bible is not allowed to be read. They are systematically trained: you don’t need God or the Bible to understand the world or to know how to live in it. 

Our spiritual strategy for growing the kingdom must include getting our kids out of these schools.

Because of the divisive nature of this topic, many pastors chose to ignore it completely. They don’t want to alienate public school families, or make schooling a barrier to feeling welcomed into the community. This is certainly a difficult challenge. I sympathize that pastors should offer whatever love they can to welcome families and kids who are in government schools. But the solution can’t be to ignore the issue or say nothing about it. In fact, often the kids who are in these schools know how hostile they are to their faith. They are not offended when these realities are mentioned in the church. 

First I would like to briefly justify why the church needs to speak about education. Then I’d like to outline the goals of Christian education and offer my suggestions about the most fruitful way to pursue those goals. 

Education is discipleship, and it works.

There is no such thing as a neutral education. Every school is catechizing its students into a religion. Every school has a vision for an ideal life toward which they are forming the children. If that is the case, then all of the families in our churches should desire a Christ-centered education for their children. Who gives the vision of human life our kids should be formed toward? Jesus. 

If that is going to be the case, parents need to be willing to sacrifice a great deal for it, knowing how much is at stake in this decision. We understand that there are circumstances in which parents have little educational options for their kids—e.g. severe learning disabilities. Education has been placed by God under the authority of the family (Gen. 18:19; Deut. 6:7; Eph. 6:4), and so the church must respect the responsibility given to parents (especially fathers) in making educational decisions for their children. Nevertheless, the church is responsible for discipling these parents so that they understand what a Christian worldview is and its implication for education. Christian parents need clear teaching on this topic, and the church is obligated to provide it. 

Christianity is a culture, and we need to pass it down to our children.

The biblical word for education is paideia, which can be translated various ways (e.g. discipline, education, training, etc.). Paideia is especially associated with Christian fathers who are explicitly told to raise their children in the paideia of the Lord—that is, an education centered on Christ. 

“Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the paideia and instruction of the Lord.” (Eph. 6:4)

“My son, do not regard lightly the paideias of the Lord,
nor be weary when reproved by him.
For the Lord paideuei the one he loves,
And chastises every son whom he receives.” (Heb. 12:5-6)

In the ancient world, paideia was the process of enculturating a child into the values of a society, preparing them to be an ideal citizen. Christian parents have to understand that Christianity is not just something you believe in to go to heaven when you die. Christianity is a civilization (a kingdom) that Jesus is building on the earth (Matt. 6:10; Rev. 11:15). It is an eternal kingdom and therefore includes the offer of eternal life (praise God!). But it is also a culture. Christianity does not just fight or resist or engage culture. Christianity is itself a culture. It is a world of stories, songs, traditions, habits, practices, celebrations, manners, history, etc. The gospel generates cultures of prosperity, freedom, creativity, mercy, and peace. The Apostle Paul commands fathers to enculturate their children into the civilization of Jesus. 

Throughout history, Christians have seen education as one of the primary vehicles (after home and church life) for transmitting the culture of Christianity to the next generation. If that is the case, then the two main methods of Christian fathers offering a “paideia of the Lord” to their children will be either homeschooling or coming together with other Christian fathers and/or the church to form a school. (Or they could do some combination of these two options.) While there may be exceptions to this norm, we can’t expect a large-scale covenant succession to the next generation while secular, unbelieving government schools are the normal institutions entrusted with the discipleship of our children. The organizing of these kinds of ministries or schools should be a top priority for Reformed churches and are best administered under the governance of a church session. As Abraham Kuyper said, “The church must, as a substitute, establish, nurture, and maintain schools, insofar as they do not exist due to the neglect of others, or if schools exist but in the wrong way, due to wrong influences” (On the Church, p. 161). To see a reformation of American culture, it will begin with worship and the family in the home. But soon after that, the priority will be reclaiming the educational tradition that belongs to the church.

For more reading on Christian education, check out Nate’s new book titled Gospel Education: Jesus as Lord of the Classical Christian School.