christian education europe
A sophisticated society cannot teach everything it knows to everyone. It has to
reach consensus on what are the fundamentally important things which all should
know, and what can belong to later specialist teaching. There has to be a
selection and the beliefs and values of the society will set the agenda. A
secular society will inevitably make choices and promote knowledge according to
its current understanding of what its people require to be successful and its
definition of ‘success’ will change according to circumstances. However, a
successful secular education will produce a generation with a secular way of
looking at the world. A Christian society endeavours to live according to its
understanding of what God requires. Its definition of success is primarily
related to how far it is able to live according to those high standards. Its
idea of a successful education will be one which produces young people with a
Christian worldview. A Christian School is one which starts history with
creation and man’s responsibility for what went wrong; one whose mandate is from
Philippians 4:8: “whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest,
whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are
lovely, whatsoever things are of good report;…think on these things;” one which
celebrates learning, promotes understanding, and encourages wisdom, not merely
the application of little-understood formulae to new situations. Christian
Education should provide a whole package for the whole person and lead to
success academically, spiritually, physically, emotionally, socially, and even
economically. It should result in people who are able to contribute in works of
service to the church and to the world. They should be able to spread the gospel
and take their place in church and civil life. It should produce fully educated
leaders, people who can think originally and creatively and be able to stand up
for God’s kingdom in a corrupted world.
