Recent years have found Reformed churches focusing greater attention and emphasis on evangelism. Meanwhile, the ongoing drive of the ecumenical movement continues. At the same time, there is increased dissatisfaction with public education, causing untold numbers to turn to parochial and private education, as well as to our Christian schools. This seems to be the setting under which the Christian Schools International (CSI) board appointed a Task Force to study the future of Christian education. Having a deep concern regarding an ecumenical Christian school creed and its concept as proposed by that Task Force, I have been invited by the editor to set my impressions and concerns into an article for publication.
A Quiet Change of Foundations
After a year in existence, a bit of information from the Task Force is filtered to us by way of an article in THE BANNER, July 20, 1981, “The Future of Christian Education.” It is authored by Dr. N.H. Beversluis, who is the chairman of a committee of 13 prominent men in the field of Christian education, and in the Christian Reformed Church. He also appears to be the main developer of the proposed document. A.K., in his editorial in THE BANNER, September 21, 1981, “Christian Day Schools and Evangelism” states, “meanwhile, schools are about to begin writing a new chapter and they are going about it in their usual quiet way.” And quiet indeed it has been.
Planned by Administrators Instead of Societies and Boards
To assist its study, the committee sent a set of 7 topics, subdivided into 26 questions, to the administrators of the 350 CSI member schools, of which they received 194 responses. A draft copy of the proposed document was subsequently also sent to all administrators. It is interesting that all this was quietly done through the school administrators with total disregard to boards and school societies. Quite often the views of administrators differ and are not necessarily representative of their respective societies. The schools still belong to the societies! The committee almost admits this in its study report on page 4, last paragraph of item ‘D,’ relative to quest ions 24-26. The questionnaires should have been addressed to the boards and societies. But, of course, CSI is the teacher’s union and the administrators’ allegiance to it would be unrelenting. I received a copy of the material in question by making inquiry to CSI as a result of THE BANNER article quoted above, and not because I happened to be a member of the school board.
A Reduced Christian Faith
It is my impression that the proposed ecumenical Christian school creed is a mass of intellectual rhetoric, drawn up by a select group of professionals, and is not geared to the comprehension of the average person, which is what the school societies are made up of. It is composed of only four pages of an actual biblical outline, or confession, and nine pages devoted to what is called classroom application. It is narrowed down to a fundamental Christian faith to which all Christians could subscribe, or may perhaps be even less than that. It consists of creation and covenant, the fall as covenant breaking and salvation as covenant restored. There is no mention of some of the major implications of a true Biblical creed, such as the infallibility of the Scriptures, inspiration, the trinity, virgin birth, etc. This plus perhaps other clues might well give rise to suspicion that the Association for the Advancement of Christian Studies (AACS) may be at work here. Even though our Christian schools leave the primary teaching of the Scriptures to the church, they were established by our Calvinistic forefathers so that the Biblical training of the school would coincide with that of the home and the church. Thus our schools must continue to subscribe to the Reformed creeds in their entirety, and must continue to be under the leadership of committed Reformed boards and society members.
A Welcome to False Doctrines
If we water down our Calvinistic creeds with an ecumenical creed, it would open the way for all who believe in the fundamental Christian faith to be granted society and board membership, causing us to lose our distinctiveness. There are schools among our number which have already practiced this, and its results have taken their toll. Of even graver consequence, there would also no longer be a basis on which to stand if teachers were to teach humanistic Arminianism or any other humanistic and unbiblical interpretation of the Scriptures. It is dangerous not to stand firm on the historic Christian faith which we have been taught, for the sake of growth or evangelism. Our schools were established first and foremost to provide education for the covenant children of families within the Reformed faith, and not as a major avenue of evangelism.
Future or End of Christian Schools?
CSI and its Task Force refers to this phenomenon as the future of Christian education. I call it the undermining of our blessed Christian education heritage! We are not told how CSI intends to implement this or how soon, but anything of this magnitude ought to be presented to the societies for consideration. Certainly, there are further and perhaps more profound implications to be found within t he document and its concepts, and I await critique from those qualified to do so.
I have strong personal convictions that as most CRC and RCA people live in isolated, “Reformed” confinement, quite unaffected by the great variety of Scriptural interpretations, they have come to a point of no longer really appreciating our unique doctrinal beliefs. For this reason we could very easily sell out our faith. One way to begin doing so is through our Christian schools by way of an ecumenical creed!
