Christian Education and the Calling of the Church

Every Christian family has to make the difficult decision at some point where to send their children for school. 

With the widespread availability of public education over the last hundred years, the conventional option for some time now has been public schooling. Here the cost for admission is free and the overall education they receive is, generally speaking, adequate. However, more recently, some parents have developed concerns about this option as secular and progressive principles have increased prominently within state legislation. For example, the Illinois State Board of Education recently passed rules requiring teachers to align their lessons with “culturally responsive” standards, some of these standards pertaining to gender identity and sexual ethics. Nevertheless, the low-cost and ease of enrollment, as well as strategic opportunities for Christian witness, keep it a popular option.

A second option, which has gained momentum over the last 60 years or so, is Christian schooling. Here students receive, again, a generally speaking, adequate education, but with a Christian worldview injected into the curriculum and Christian teachers in the classroom. In recent times, a classical form of this education is growing, with its focus on the cultivation of virtue through a liberal arts curriculum. While the cost of tuition is a deterrent for some families who would prefer the option of private Christian schooling, many believe the benefits are well worth the price.

A third option on the rise, especially among Christians today, is homeschooling. In this setting, parents take it upon themselves to educate their children in a way that best aligns with their values as a family (some looking to Charlotte Mason for guidance). This option has been further augmented recently with the rise of co-ops, groups of families coming together once or twice a week to expand their family’s educational community and capacity, while preserving the foundational benefits of homeschooling. Homeschoolers have the advantage of choosing their own curriculum, many choosing the classical, Christian approach described above.

There are a number of factors present in the important decision parents must make about where to send their children for school. Economic, political, pedagogical, and theological concerns are at play as parents think through how they can best steward the gift of children they received from the Lord.

In this article, I will reflect on the relationship between education and the church, demonstrating specifically that the calling of a Christian is bound up with the calling of the church, and how Christian education can support the one for the other.

The Church as the Starting Point

It is tempting in our age of expressive individualism to begin with the individual child. But as we think about educating Christianly, we need to resist this temptation and think corporately instead. To do so, it is helpful to begin with a proper theology of Christian corporate identity.

A Christian, fundamentally, is a member of the people of God. With the aid of the Holy Spirit, she has turned away from a life of autonomous rebellion against God and toward a life of trustful obedience underneath his rule. In doing so, the Christian has died to herself in order to receive a new life in Christ. This process occurs through faith in the sufficiency of the death of Christ and the power of his resurrection.

When someone becomes a Christian, it marks the end of one identity and the beginning of another. The convert is now a member of a new community, the people of God. This community, first made manifest as the people of Israel, took new form with the followers of Jesus. This band of disciples evolved into the church, a transnational community committed to the teachings of Christ and the supremacy of his kingdom over the kingdom of darkness.

God’s intention is for the church, led by the Holy Spirit, to serve as his agent of renewal. It is not primarily a group of social moralists on the one hand or spiritual isolationists on the other. When the very first humans rebelled, all of creation was thrown off track into a dark shadow. Indeed, Paul reminds us that all creation groans with longing for creation to be reconciled with its Creator. The calling of the church, therefore, is to act as this reconciling agent, serving as microcosms of Christ’s kingdom in its various locales across the globe. 

The Calling of the Church

In an article entitled “A Return to Basic Christian Education,”published back in 1978, Nicholas Wolterstorff, a reformed philosopher who first got his start at Calvin College, discusses three dimensions of the calling of the people of God (Educating for Life, Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2002).

First of all, thinks Wolterstorff, Christians are to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom. Simply put, they are to put verbal expression to the inward reality that has become part of them. This good news of redemption through Christ is to be proclaimed for all people everywhere.

Second, Christians are to act in loving service to all people, regardless of social status, ethnicity, or background. They are to work for shalom, the ancient Hebrew, multidimensional concept referring to peaceful, harmonious, and joy-filled community. In order for shalom to be established, the church must specifically work toward the lifting up of society’s downtrodden, for in God’s kingdom there is no want or need.

Finally, Christians are to bear fruit, leading their lives with wisdom and in ways that give testament to the new life found in Jesus Christ. Here Wolterstorff envisions Christians living in such a manner that their lives serve as signposts of the coming kingdom. As they work for shalom, bearing the fruit of the Spirit, and serving as contributing members of Christ’s covenantal community, the world witnesses the firstfruits of the coming harvest.

These three dimensions, according to Wolterstorff, sum up the biblical vision of the church. He writes,

The church is the band of Christ’s followers. She is an alien presence within every nation and is called and committed to be God’s agent for the coming of God’s kingdom and for the institution of shalom. The church is, and is called to be, the revolutionary vanguard in society serving the cause of ushering in a new order…it is in this new community that Christians find their fundamental identity (52).

If Wolterstorff is right about the threefold calling of the church, then Christian parents ought to intentionally reflect on how the children they are raising are being prepared to fulfill such a calling. Here is where education comes in. Education serves as the transformative link between the calling of the individual and the calling of the church as it prepares young men and women to serve as God’s agents of renewal.

We must now consider how education can begin to prepare young people to live into the calling of the people of God.

Equipped to Proclaim 

Students don’t become proclaimers by accident. A proclaimer is a herald, someone who prophetically communicates great truth amidst challenging circumstances. In order to proclaim, a person must be confident, knowledgeable, and winsome. Ideally, she is trained in a school of rhetoric, experiencing full immersion into the craft of persuasive communication.

This is one reason, among many, why Christian schools should consider a classical curriculum. In the classical tradition, students were trained in the liberal art of rhetoric. This art fuses together the very best of concept and skill in order to produce strong rhetoricians, or agents of persuasion. 

In Fool’s Talk (IVP, 2015), author Os Guinness argues that Christians have all but lost the art of Christian persuasion. In order to address the issues of the hour, Christians need to focus on not merely winning arguments, but winning people (18). In the introduction to his book, Guinness lobs out a grenade of a question:

How can we speak for our Lord in a manner that does justice to the wonder of who God is, to the profundity of the good news he has entrusted to us, to the wily stubbornness of the human heart and mind, as well as to the wide-ranging challenges of today’s world and the mind-boggling prospects of tomorrow’s? (19)

The answer is through education. If Christians are to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom, including the doorway to the kingdom through the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ, they must be taught how to do so with “wisdom and eloquence,” as Augustine put it. Unfortunately, in our modern educational landscape, the liberal art of rhetoric has been all but eliminated from the curriculum. Students aren’t trained in the means of persuasion, despite how crucial this skill is for everyday life.

Christian educators serve the people of God when they prepare their students to proclaim the gospel. Without proclamation, the good news is drowned out by bad news, or worse, plastic surrogates of the real thing.

Eager to Serve

It is not enough to proclaim the good news, however, to fulfill the calling of the church. As the apostle James reminds us, words must be accompanied by deeds. Christians must be prepared to get their hands dirty in the concrete matters of the world. They must descend the spiraling staircase of the ivory tower and meet their neighbor where he is. Our example is none other than Jesus himself: “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45 ESV).

The reality is that our world is full of people subject to great need and chronic suffering. Social issues of our day include human trafficking, child starvation, broken homes, abortion, racism, substance abuse, and more. Each of this issues affects real people in real places on an everyday basis. Sadly, American culture today has become polarized over divisive concepts that have resulted in a paralysis of service. On the one hand, Christians who focus too much on social issues may be accused of being “social justice warriors” or imbibers of critical race theory. On the other hand, churches who focus exclusively on evangelism may be guilty of turning a blind eye to the earthly dimension of Christ’s ministry.

The truth is that sometimes we make things too complicated. In this case, scripture clearly calls the people of God to lift up the oppressed, to serve them with compassion and self-sacrifice. Raising Christians who care for the oppressed requires hearts of service. And hearts are formed by habits. Christian educators need to view a substantial part of their work as cultivating habits in their students of humility, service, and compassion. They need to make time in the school day to intentionally serve others, which can include their fellow classmates and members in the community.

Through the development of the habit of service in the classroom, educators equip the people of God, training a generation of Christians eager to serve others in the name of Christ.

Cultivated to Bear Fruit

“Veritas Pro Vita.” Truth for Life. This is the motto of the school where I work. The church is called to proclaim the gospel, serve those in need, and finally, to lead lives worthy of the hope that they have in Christ. How said is it when tragedy strikes the church, such as when a renown leader of the faith falls into disgrace. It not only discourages those inside the church, it further pushes away those outside. The third dimension of the calling of the church, as Wolterstorff sees it, is often overlooked. It is to lead lives in such a way that an unbelieving world cannot help but be intrigued and attracted. The church is to be a community of shalom, a harmonious existence of peaceful completeness.

A well-lived life doesn’t come by accident. It is the result of the tireless pursuit of wisdom. It entails dedicated cultivation of virtue and practice of the fruit of the Spirit. “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,” Paul urges the Philippians, “for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:12 ESV).

So often in education today we separate the mind from the heart. We focus on inflating heads, meanwhile hearts and hands are left wanting. Authentic Christian education refuses to choose one at the expense of the others. It is a lie from the pit of hell to suggest that one can be educated without spiritual and moral formation. As Lewis warns us, and Plato before him, education’s ultimate aim is the training of the person to behold all that is good, true, and beautiful, and gain mastery over one’s carnal appetites.

Educators serve the people of God when they view young people holistically as persons of head, heart, and hands. They expose them to a wide variety of subjects and ideas, widening the world in which they live, and cultivating within them a desire for wisdom. They prepare their students for not merely an approach to learning, but a style for life.

Conclusion

To educate Christians, we must reimagine what education is and who it is for. For Christians, education is a project by and for the Christian community. It exists to support and promote the calling of the people of God through educating its individual members. This includes a way of a thinking as well as a way of living. As Christian parents navigate the difficult decision whether to public school, Christian school, or home-school, they need to keep this vision for the calling of the church in mind. This calling has implications for how they raise their children, the youngest members of the people of God.

In his divine wisdom, God has ordained the church to serve as his agents of reconciliation in a world under shadow. May Christian educators take seriously their role in equipping the next generation to better proclaim the gospel, serve the downtrodden, and bear testimonial fruit to the kingdom Christ inaugurated and will one day return to consummate.