Workshop tours Christian schools, gives practical helps

ORLANDO (FBW) – Moving beyond the “why’s” of starting a Christian school to presenting a hands-on approach with “how-to” strategies and resources, the Christian School 101 workshop in Orlando got off the ground Jan. 30-31 after being postponed following the second of back-to-back major hurricane seasons in Florida.

The workshop was sponsored by the Orlando-based Southern Baptist Association of Christian Schools, and the Florida Baptist Convention. Founded in 1979, SBACS is an alliance of Christian schools affiliated with Southern Baptist churches, claiming about 100 member schools out of the approximately 650 schools based at SBC churches, according to the ministry’s executive director, Ed Gamble.

Touring The First Academy, a sprawling campus housed at Orlando’s First Baptist Church, the site of the workshop, a group of 42 church pastors and laypersons also headed to the smaller Family Christian School in Winter Garden to observe first-hand the facilities and day-to-day operation of a Christian school.

In casting a vision, Sonny Sherrill, superintendent of North Raleigh Christian Academy in North Carolina, shared how in less than 10 years his school grew from about 400 in Kindergarten through 12th grade, meeting in a church facility, to an enrollment of over 1,200 with a multi-campused facility which includes state-of-the-art computer labs and an aquatic center.

“We had no idea there was such a heart’s desire for a Christian school,” Sherrill said. “You never know what God is going to do.”

Sherrill spoke on the philosophy of Christian education, comparing the Christian world view of Biblical theism with a traditional and progressive humanistic world view as applied to education.

Defining a world view as “a set of presuppositions (or assumptions) which we hold (consciously or subconsciously) about the basic makeup of our world,” Sherrill said a Christian world view is a “belief system based on Scriptures which effects both a believer’s perception; of the world as well as his or her interaction within.”

Outlining views of humanism, pragmatism and secularism, Sherrill showed how those views contrast with and in some cases are directly opposed to a Christian world view based on biblical theism, using four markers—curriculum, methodology, evaluation and discipline.

“Christian education, an outgrowth of a Christian theistic world view, appropriates God’s truths in every area of education, whether the area deals with the teaching-learning process, curricular programs, discipline, parent relationships, advertising, and promoting the school, or extracurricular activities,” Sherrill wrote in his presentation. “God is the very essence of the Christian teacher’s educational world view, a world view based entirely on biblical truth.”

In his model of Kingdom education, Sherrill advocates a process of biblical integration which suggests a presentation of history, literary and geography, for instance, in a Christian school will be distinctive from what a non-Christian school teacher might present.

A Christian school, Sherrill said, should endeavor to “bring every class, activity, and administrative procedure under the control of Biblical principles.”

“It’s imperative we establish in the hearts and lives of young people a biblical philosophy of education,” Sherrill told workshop participants.

Paul Richter, president of Christian School Development and a Christian school specialist with 25 years of teaching and administrative experience, presented a variety of topics drawn from a conference manual he distributed: “How to start a Christian school in Florida.”

From adopting a statement of faith to establishing a budget, hiring staff and trusting God, Richter thoroughly outlined the nuts and bolts of getting a school off the ground in “Eleven Steps to Start a Christian School.”

Richter also provided information which refers to applicable Florida laws and statutes and addressed such things as academic qualifications of teachers and the need to think of instructors as being “called” to the ministry of teaching.

“I expect my teachers to not be in a rut but to grow and develop professionally,” Richter said. “In Christian education we need to do more and more for the Kingdom of God and to go outside of what we have done before.”

Offering sample budgets and ideas on how to handle tuition and financial management, Richter also told participants some current hot-button issues to consider are: accreditation, use of federal funds, types of textbooks and curriculum.

Listing web sites which offer resources for those interested in private or homeschooling [see related list], Richter said Florida’s Virtual School [www.flvs.net] might be a good resource for s student who wants to take a class in the French language, for instance, at a school without a French teacher.

“Anything that we can use to help promote education in our schools is great,” Richter said. “Most of us start small — we have to make smart choices.”

Earlier, in laying a foundation for why he believes Christian schools are important, Gamble, in his presentation, asked the question: “Are we successfully passing the baton of faith and discipleship to the next generation?”

Calling the current cultural climate “a war of ideas and values,” Gamble employed battle language in providing statistics which show a decrease in the growth of churches and baptisms, but an increase in the use of drugs among church youth and the rise of cheating, sex, lying and watching MTV among Christian youth.

“We have lost the battle for the culture,” Gamble warned. [For more on this issue, see Gamble’s point of view.]