The Blessing of Christian Education
Last week the Christian school where Mum and I work finished for the year. A presentation day was held. Students who had done well or achieved a certain level received awards. The children also performed several items. The class of 7 that I have worked with for part of this year, ages 5 to 7, were cute when they recited part of Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. All the items had a theme of faith. There was a song and a mime about the Exodus. There was also a long Scripture recitation of part of Hebrews 11, about Moses, by most of the students.
This is a picture of the puppet play three students performed about Jesus walking on the water. It was great, and the little children especially enjoyed watching it.
Mum has done a great job with her students this year - getting them ready to perform the items, and encouraging them spiritually. It was exciting for her to see them come to know Jesus more. Also, one of her students completed year 12 and was accepted into university. This is the first time our little school has achieved this (only about 40 students from Prep to Grade 12). It only runs three days a week, and the students are home schooled for the rest of the week. Mum has been working three days as the secondary teacher, and she is looking forward to cutting back to two next year.
It is such a blessing to be able to work in a Christian school, and teach the children about God. One little boy was reading to me out of his workbook about Christ's death on the cross. Then he looked at me and said "Why did Jesus wash us with his blood?". I only had a few hours a week work at the school this year, but next year I will be working for three days a week in another campus of the group of schools this one is a part of.
Unfortunately, the topic of Christian education is a contentious one in this day between Christians. All kinds of arguments fly around. Many Christians use arguments against Christian education that have no basis in Scripture. For example, expressing concerns about the socialisation of home schooled children. I enjoyed reading Kim's post on Christian education, but it did raise a lot of controversy!
The protestant church did all Australians a huge wrong when they handed their shools over to the state in the middle of the 19th Century. Whatever possessed them? I guess Christianity was so ingrained in the culture that they figured the government would continue to promote prayer and the Bible in schools. The final fruit of this decision, however, is obvious. Unless a school is based on Christ, its fruit will be poisonous.
