Recently a special Sunday was observed throughout the denomination. Christian Schools International provided bulletin covers, the BANNER had a complete issue devoted to Christian Education and the OUTLOOK carried a couple of articles concerning the Reformed emphasis of Christian education.

I’m sure that most of us appreciate a special emphasis on Christian education. It is something that is very near to our hearts. Probably most of us have had the privilege of going through a Christian school and all of us are aware of the sacrifices many people make in order to provide that kind of education for our children.

   

Waning Support

And yet, this general support of Christian schools is becoming questionable. It seems that the pressure of inflation as well as the search after financial security causes many to look at Christian education as an option, rather than a responsibility. One of the first things they consider in order to alleviate the financial burden is to drop the Christian school.

Many people appear to have taken Christian education for granted and to have defined it too narrowly. Since the Christian school is an extension of the Christian home they conclude that it is up to the schools to see to it that our children receive the kind of education they think is best for our children.

Many parents don’t have the slightest idea of what is taught in Christian schools. They are aware of the basics that are taught in grade school. They make their yearly trip to the school to see the project their ·children have been working on. On occasion they even attend PTA, and when some special, interesting program is put on by the school, they attend. But how much interest is there in what our children are being taught in the Christian school?

Especially when it comes to Junior High or Senior High, where the emphasis changes somewhat and where our children are more exposed to the “real world out there,” I wonder if we really know what is going on. Have we concluded that our schools, having done a great job in the past, may be expected to do the same in the future?

Christian education is much broader than the Christian school. It is a fact that the Christian school is an extension of the Christian home. But many of us have turned the task of the home over to the school and are not personally involved in the real, basic education of our children. With all the busyness of society today, we have been neglecting our responsibilities to our children in the home. Because they will be attending a Christian school in later life, we often neglect our duty in these formative years when we can be of great influence on our children.

After they are finished with the Christian high school, we absolve ourselves of further responsibility. We’ve done our part of the job, we claim; we have sacrificed all these years. Now they are able to stand on their own two feet. We let out a sigh of relief, thinking that now we can live a little more comfortably.

The Basic Question: Faithfulness to God’s Word

I wonder if we as parents have the right kind of interest in Christian education? Do we, as parents, know what is taught in our Christian schools, and are we sure that it meets the approval of God’s Word?

Are our Christian grade and high schools, or even our Christian colleges, the kind of covenantal schools they were established to be? Or has the practical side of life received more emphasis in recent years? Are we still really concerned about our children receiving the kind of Christ-centered education that we want them to have? Is it the case, as Rev. Peter De Jong recently stated in an article in the OUTLOOK, that there is more emphasis on response than revelation?

The question we have to confront is a serious one. The question is not first of all; Are our children trained so that they can take their place in this world? The question is; Are they being trained, nurtured and instructed in the ways of the Lord? Are they being taught the Lordship of Christ over all of life, or are they being instructed in such a way that the antithesis is lost? Are they being trained as soldiers of the cross and followers of the Lamb? Or are they being fed liberation theology and neo-orthodox subjectivism?

As parents we ought to take a serious look at our Christian schools and find out just what is going on. We are not dealing here with an institution that is preparing our children only for this life; we are dealing with an institution that is preparing our children, along with the home and church, for eternity. We have a responsibility before God toward our children and we will have to give an account for what we have done with them.

Why this great concern? Our children are the church of tomorrow, and our church will only be as strong as our children will be when they take their place within the church.

Presently the Christian Reformed Church is at a crossroad. There are issues confronting the church that cannot be ignored any longer. Regardless of what position the Synod of 1979 may take, if it rescinds the action of Synod 1978 regarding Women in Ecclesiastical Office, or if it ratifies the change in the Church Order, that isn’t going to answer the main question at all.

The question is; Are we going to be obedient to God’s Word, or are we trying to find a number of ways to get around the authority of that Word? The authority of God’s Word has nothing to do with man’s understanding or scholarship. God’s Word is authoritative because God speaks to His people in His Word, and no hermeneutical gerrymandering can do away with that.

There is a growing secularism in our society that has made inroads into the church and the home, as well as the school. We must continually fight against the anti-christian spirit that is as large. And as parents we better make absolutely sure that the instruction our children receive is not stained “with ideas, theories or methods inconsonant with the Holy Scriptures.” We have to make sure that those who are instructing our covenant children have a complete commitment to the absolute authority of theWord of God and the confessions of the Christian Reformed Church.

Teacher Training

This then also means that we ought to look beyond our grade and high schools. What are our teachers being taught? Is full commitment to God’s Word also taught in our institutions of higher education? How responsive are the Christian colleges of our denomination to the needs and desires of the denomination? I wonder about that in the light of a recent decision by the Board of Trustees of Calvin College and Seminary concerning the matter of social dancing. The churches were requested to respond to the Board regarding the issue. Of the responses received 85% were negative, and yet the Board decided to ask the Synod for a study committee, since they were not convinced t hat the responses adequately reflected the desires of the people. Frankly, that frightens me.

At a recent meeting in which the President of the College met with a number of ministers from our Classis it was stated that the Fine Arts Department of Calvin has been developing at a tremendous rate. That Department is especially involved with the training of our Christian school teachers. I wonder what is meant with the development of the department. Are modern theories and growing secularization making inroads there? That seems to be happening when college professors write movie reviews in the BANNER, when the “liturgy of dance” is taught and promoted, when the contents of “Report 44” are used as the core material, and when social dancing is advocated.

And then when it was stated that many recent graduates are filling teaching positions in Christian schools, I wonder about the influences exerted upon our children. I realize not all the students will accept “hook, line and sinker” what they hear. But at the same time every parent is aware of the tremendous influence teachers have over our children.

I recognize that not all who are receiving this kind of instruction will give in to the indoctrination received in these courses. Neither does everything that is advocated at the college level filter down to t he Christian grade and high schools. But it stands to reason that a large part of it is passed on, with the result that many of our students are exposed to a type of instruction that does not meet with the approval of the Christian home.

The antithesis is lost. Children and young people are being taught that being in the world means being part of the world. The movement to worldaccommodation is in high gear. There is only one way in which this trend can be reversed. Only when we return to acknowledging and obeying the authority of God’s Word, the faith of our fathers, can this be done.

Our church is only as strong as her total commitment to the Scriptures. It is only by sovereign grace that we can stand against the wiles of the devil. And so we must not only pray, but we must also work that the purity of the Word of God may be preserved in our faith and life. Let us be busily engaged in the instruction of our children, beginning at home, in the church and also in the Christian schools. Let us make sure that our children are receiving the kind of instruction that will prepare them to be of service to the King of Kings in all of life. Let us instruct them in the Word of God, that they may know His ways, and then by God’s grace, they will be ready, able and willing to follow the Master in all of life, guided by His Word and Spirit.

Fred Gunnink is pastor of the Coopersville Christian Reformed Church, Coopersville, Michigan.