What is a Christian family to do if their children attend public school? The reality in this world is that some Christians do have children who attend public school. In light of that, what should these parents do? What do they do if they cannot homeschool or afford private school?The following are 1o suggestions that have been wandering around inside my head for some time. Some of these will apply to only families with kids in public school, while others will apply to all families regardless of choice of education.
In no particular order:
1. Pray for your children. Trust God to care for their minds while they are in school.
2. Admit that your children are in a secular environment for many hours during the week. Facing this reality will enable you to figure out how to best counteract the secular environment.
3. Teach your children the bible on a daily basis.
4. Preach the gospel to your children over and over.
5. View education as discipleship. The reality is that someone is teaching your kids. What they teach will impact the worldview your children have.
6. Related to # 5, avoid making an artificial division in your mind between education at school and education at home.
7. Talk to your children about what they are being taught.
8. Get to know your kids' teacher(s). They may have some who are Christians.
9. Get to know your kids' friends. Invite them over to your house regardless of who they are.
10. Ask your church family for help. Ask the pastor(s), children's workers, and youth workers to address secular thought and ideas while working with the kids while the church gathers.
If your children attend public school, they will be bombarded with secular thought for much of the week. It is best to admit this, and then decide to battle against it. What is at stake is the worldview of your children. Your church family should be ready and willing to help with this. We must all be open about what is happening, and talk, talk, talk, and talk some more with the children about what they are being taught about the world, and what the bible has to say.
5 comments:
Eric,
These are good suggestions, with one caveat. Education is not discipleship. Education may be one part of discipleship, but its not discipleship. I think one of the reasons the church is in bad shape and that most Christians are immature is that we have substituting making disciples with making pupils, i.e. educating them only.
-Alan
Alan,
When I used the word "education," I was thinking broader than classroom knowledge (I probably could have been clearer about that). I was thinking in terms of how we live, not just what we know. I agree with you that making pupils and making disciples is not the same thing.
what do you mean they can not afford public school?
Anonymous,
Thanks for pointing that out - my mistake. I meant to write "private school." I'll fix it.
What are parents to do? Don't send them!
The church and the family have both failed our children in large part because we subcontract out making disciples in our families. We send them to school to get educated and to church to get religion, but the ultimate responsibility of a Christian parent cannot be carried out by sending our kids to a secular school for forty hours a week and a couple hours of Veggietales instruction at church.
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