By: Josh Tucker

Honor your father and mother. Fathers, bring your children up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord (Eph. 6:1–4). The most natural means of Church growth is the family unit. God commands man to be fruitful and multiply. One of the primary purposes of the institution of marriage is the propagation of the church through the natural means of generation. Raising children is one of the most important of God’s commands. There is no future for a marriage, church, community, or nation that does not produce children. Christians ought to give serious thought to the first of God’s commands (Gen. 1:28).

Children are a blessing from God (Ps. 127:3). God gives the primary responsibility of education to parents. All parents educate their children in some way. A father who abandons his child is still teaching his child something. As Christians, we ought to educate our children in accordance with God’s law and his standards.

When we educate our children in the truth, they will not depart from it (Pro. 22:6). Children’s primary exposure to the gospel is their parents. While God does not guarantee the salvation of every believer’s progeny, he gives a general encouragement that he rewards faithful education by the parents with diligent obedience of the children. While the primary responsibility of education is the parents’, it is not exclusively the parents’. Extended family, the church, neighbors, and teachers all assist the parents in their work to educate their children in the fear and admonition of the Lord. Parents have the right to choose the extent of influence others have in the education of their children.

Implicit in the command for parents to raise their children in the instruction of the Lord is an assumption that the parents are themselves proficient in the instructions of the Lord. Parents ought to study and be proficient in God’s word and his universe, so they can in turn properly educate their children. They should be gatekeepers of their children’s minds.

Method

When considering my children’s education, I started with a broad scope. Broadly speaking, education consists of two categories: method and content. Both are important considerations. Methodologically, my options were either homeschooling or traditional school. Both have their pros and cons. We settled on the traditional school.

We see value in having multiple peers in the classroom setting. Parents are entirely capable of teaching their children, but we value the formalized training of the teachers and the structure the classroom provides. Plenty of extracurricular activities exist for the homeschooled, but we like the centralized aspect of those activities in the traditional classroom.

A lesser, but relevant consideration was mine and my wife’s work schedules. The traditional school offers us time to focus on our jobs without abdicating our duties entirely. We still build in time daily for homework and ensure we teach doctrine through nightly devotions. The method is primarily a matter of preference. Both are valid and effective options for education. The traditional school method works best for my family, though we seriously considered homeschooling, as well.

Content

Additionally, the content of what is taught is of extreme importance. For the traditional school option, there is public/state school and Christian school. For us, the deciding factor was entirely based on selecting what content our children are taught. In 1963, the U.S. Supreme Court codified the humanistic worldview of the state school (1) . John Dewey, a father of the American state school, was a humanist. He strongly influenced the curriculum and structure of the state school. Dewey is a signatory of the humanist manifesto (2) whose first affirmation is: “FIRST: Religious humanists regard the universe as self-existing and not created.” We live in God’s world. God created us as spiritual beings and we will worship something. It is his inescapable design. The Christian school indoctrinates our children in the Christian worldview. This protects them from indoctrination in the humanistic ideology of the state school.

All things were created through Christ and for Christ. All things hold together in him. (Col 1:16- 17). The Christian school affirms the preeminence of Christ in all things. Our children get the benefit of receiving an education that reinforces the truth. The education they receive at school affirms the education they receive at home and at church. The congruence of worldview reduces opportunity for confusion and increases their ability to learn. On a typical school day, parents have at most three or four hours a day to teach their children. The schools get eight hours a day. We have chosen to give the school that amount of influence and it is important to us that the content of that influence cooperates with us in our beliefs.

Mission Field

I have heard it argued that Christian parents view the state school a mission field and their children the missionaries. While children of believers can certainly influence the lives of peers, the primary purpose of school is education. As such, the mission field works both ways. A teacher can be the missionary, and the students the proselytes, which can be dangerous if that teacher has a worldview that is in opposition to God. By design, the teacher has more influence over the child than the child has over them. When we send our children to school, we are subjecting our children to that school’s standard and worldview. The state school may not teach a curriculum that is in line with a Christian worldview, such as humanism or Darwinism. While we want our children to have exposure to these worldviews, we want them to do so in the appropriate context.

I will teach my children these views and the errors of them. I want the teachers of my children’s school reinforcing a biblical worldview, not contradicting it. Therefore, my conviction is that the Christian school is the only option for my children. The Christian school affirms that Christ is king and any worldview that opposes that foundation is false. I want my children educated in the truth. Without Christ as the foundation, arithmetic, grammar, science, music, and history do not make sense. I want my children evangelized by “missionary” teachers who proclaim the lordship of Christ in every area of life.

Money

A common critique of the Christian school is the cost associated. However, everything has a cost. The “free” public school (which we pay for with our taxes), can have a higher cost than the Christian school, but one that isn’t monetary. What better investment is there than my children? There are several cost-effective Christian homeschool materials. Some of the local Christian schools provide scholarships. West Virginia recently enacted the Hope Scholarship which allows you to apply $4,300.00 towards tuition at a Christian school (3) .

Conclusion

As parents, we partner with educators in the raising of our children. Whether those educators simply provide material to teach at home, or whether they have our children for eight hours a day, we invite them into our endeavor to be faithful stewards of the children God entrusted to us. For my family, Christian school best accomplishes that goal. At the end of the day, I had to evaluate who I will cooperate with in the education of my children. I had to consider what they are teaching. I had to evaluate those things against the standard and duties God outlines for me as a parent in His word. I pray this blog will be helpful in your endeavor to do the same.

1: https://www.britannica.com/topic/School-District-of-Abington-Township-v-Schempp

2: https://americanhumanist.org/what-is-humanism/manifesto1/

3: https://hopescholarshipwv.com/