Yesterday in talking to two different pastors in Memphis, the topic of public schools came up two different times.
One said to me in the context of his church’s and his family’s missional engagement with the city, “We decided to do the opposite of what most have done. People left the city and we decided to move in. People have pulled their kids out of public schools and we decided to put our kids in city schools.” I resonated with his passion.
Another conversation, this pastor, too, with a heart to send people on mission back into the city, but with a different approach to schools. “The main way that I’m going to be on mission is not going to be through my 10 year old. I don’t expect him to be prepared for that. That’s not a risk I’m willing to take.” I was certainly sympathetic.
So the question is this: in a city like Memphis, or St. Louis – whose school system lost their accreditation in 2007 – what posture should a missional leader personally take toward the public schools? Does a pastor or member of a church seeking city renewal have a responsibility to enroll their kids in the public school system? Why or why not? Is putting your kids in city schools an effective strategy for mission – or is there a better way for families to be on mission together?
Tags: city, cultural engagement, Memphis, social justice
Educator weighing in here. My husband is a teacher and I am a doc student in education and a former teacher. We live here in STL city (we’re Jonathan’s old neighbors!).
If we are still in the same house when we have school-aged children, there is a very, very strong likelihood that we will send our children to the STL public schools. We are firmly entrenched in social justice through education, and that’s part of the reason why we’ll send our kids. If people with privilege continue to “opt out” of public, urban education, urban education will never be fixed because it will continue to be a problem that plagues other people’s children. St Louis is the perfect example of this. Hence, we will send our children and act as advocates for ALL families in the city through involvement with the district.
That being said, I understand the concept of not using your child as part of your mission. I find that, at least here in St Louis, the problems with the public school district (and there are MANY) are largely administrative and perceptive. White, middle-class folks here have, for generations, sent their kids to parochial school, even though the education there is, in my opinion, definitely not worth paying for. However, it’s just part of the culture here. There are great schools and teachers in the SLPS, and I believe that a large portion of the learning my children will do will be in the home, so we don’t think our children will experience long-term negative results from attending public school. In addition, by raising our children so that they are surrounded by diversity gives them far more benefits than sending them to a school where everyone is exactly like them.
That’s just our opinion, and the choice is intensely personal. But I encourage people to actually go into city schools and see for themselves what is happening in the classroom before making a judgement. I think you might be surprised.
Okay, rambling over.
I think you have to think with a 2-pronged approach… What will most love the people where they are now? And what will most bring long-term love to them? Wherever our kids go to school, we need to in some way be invested in systemic change, not just interpersonal.
The school systems fail from collapse of their own weight of a metasticized bureaucracy gone terribly awry. When performance doesn’t matter any more, poor performance is guaranteed. Putting a child into that environment will be a frustration that few parents could overcome with extracurricular teaching. The child will not get an education of value.
Education is the great equalizer. If a missional family wants to help, the parents need to gather volunteers and invade the school with helps of reading before or after school.
Better your child get the education they are best suited for to empower them with the skills to attack world problems as they mature.
At least that’s my take.
Shalom!
We have chosen the public schools for our kids.
I think Jeff is wrong about why the schools fail. I think it has a lot more to do with parenting and human depravity. But not the less, we view it as part of our mission, and it takes submission to Jesus to do it.
I blogged my long answer to this issue a while ago here if you are interested:
http://poopemerges.wordpress.com/2009/10/05/fear-and-promise-and-public-school/
Is education the MOST important thing for my child? Maybe, Maybe not… That is up to each parent to decide. However, I work for a ministry that reaches high school students in the city of Memphis and every day I see teens that struggle with reading, writing and mathmatics in the most basic of areas. It can be extremely frustrating to see how neglected these kids are, especially compared to the private school students. Take a look at the ACT scores of these two types of student. The highest score you can make on the ACT (a standardized test to get into college) is a 36. The average private school student at Memphis University School (MUS) is close to 24. The average score for a student at the school I work with is a 13. There is no way you can tell me they are getting the same education.
As a minister to these schools, I feel there is an obligation of the church to help these schools. We should be tutoring and doing after school programs to help these students get prepared for life after high school.
That being said. Do I WANT to send my daughter to public schools? Absolutely! I want her to be in the world and experience diversity and beauty at these schools. I also have to realize that it is not just the schools responsibility to teach my child, but I should be one of the main sources of knowledge and wisdom for my child and that the early years of raising her in the knowledge of the Lord and His Word will prepare her for schools.
While I WANT to send my child to public schools, I don’t think I will because of the lack of care and education coming from the teachers in Memphis. It’s one thing to send my child to the dark places of the world to be a light, and it’s another thing for me to be negligent knowing what kind of education my child is getting from the public school system in Memphis. Kids in private schools need Jesus too! I can be just as missional in both places.
“Does a pastor or member of a church seeking city renewal have a responsibility to enroll their kids in the public school system?
They do not have a responsibility to enroll, but they should have a thoughtful and Christ-exhalting reason for their decision, whatever it may be. I live fairly close to Detroit, which recently posted the worst scores ever on a national test (http://bit.ly/6q2Vea). Only 33% of Detroit 4th graders could subtract 75 from 301 on the test. The schools have completely failed the students and their families. I would not be leading my family well to put my son in an environment that is so poor.
For people with neighborhood schools that are poor, options could include helping to start charter schools and form partnerships between schools and business to provide aid and support to the school.
We said “no” to the closest neighborhood public school (a big hot mess), ruled out the Christian school (too mucho dineiro) and we were not feeling home school at all.
So we put our oldest into a lottery for 10 different Chicago public “magnet” schools. She got into 1 which “happened” to be the closest to the church building–a God thing. Now all 4 kids go to that school.
Our connection with the school has really valuable as a family on mission in the city. Wouldn’t trade it for anything.
That said, I don’t believe there is a law here about how a family “must” do the school piece. It is a matter of conviction and unction.
Jmac, thanks for posting this.
This has been an ongoing conversation with my wife and I, as we look at moving into a more urban setting. We have spent time praying about it, and seeking the wisdom from those who have been at this, for far longer than we have.
The best advice that we have had heard, as we have searched for wisdom in this move is that the focus needs to be more on the childs needs, rather than the school. One couple from Atlanta explained it like this.
They had a child who was your typical type “A” personality. Always out playing, never met a stranger, and when it came time for him to start school the natural fit for him was to go to the neighborhood public school with all of his friends. So, that is the decision they made, and became very active in the school and conversation with his teachers, and supplemented his education where needed.
The other child had different needs and personality, and the best fit for her was a private school.
All that being said, I think that this issue must remain an open handed issue.
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For my wife and I, it will depend on where we are at the time, and the quality of the school system. I’m a firm believer in the fact that I am a father first, and then a pastor. My responsibility is to raise my kids to the best of my ability, including their education.
But aside from that, who is to say that you can’t be on mission while homeschooling or sending your kids to private school? Public school and mission aren’t synonymous.
Mission is environment-independent.
I’m with Josh up there – I think alot depends on the child and family needs. I personally would love to be a “go public all the time” guy, because I think that’s what my missional thinking needs to land on. But I’m questioning that right now.
Are schools really the best way to transform a community?
If I say “Yes” then I am I not perpetuating the sad reality that the church has failed in its task of being “a blessing” to the world and so I am now looking for schools (or any other social program you could fill in the blank) to fill that role.
Instead, couldn’t families and churches seek to engage their communities with purposeful and meaningful acts of service and establish relationships within their communities (irregardless of where your child goes to school) for the sake and benefit of their community?
I think it certainly is an open-handed issue that each family needs to take seriously. And I am in favor of doing what we can to help our public schools become the best they can be in serving all the kids that they teach and engage for several years. But I am not so quick anymore to put so much weight and emphasis on this strategy being the best, or only (I know that’s not what anyone else has been saying), means of bringing significant, lasting and real change to a community.
It’s our responsibility to not abandon the public school system or any area of our culture. But you have to make and individual choice as a Pastor of your family first to what is best for each child and in each situation. It isn’t easy and I don’t think there is any one answer. Although that would be great if there were!
If you decide it’s best for your child to not be in public school how are you going to help your child adjust to the reality that they live in a messed up borken world? How are you teaching them with you to live on mission? To inject the gospel to make a difference.
I know in our church we have one family that the Dads a high school principal, the mom stays home and home schools their kids and they all serve together the school system through our “back snack” program that feeds kids on the weekends that have no meals. They have chosen to home school but have believe they need to strive to serve and impact our culture. I’m guessing at some point the kids will go to public schools?
I think if we home educate we don’t abandon. Engage in anyway you can impact the culture. But make the best Pastoral decision for your kids possible through prayer and fasting!
Great thoughts. And what makes this discussion is that most of you hold convictions that you didn’t come to easily – but have been processed thoroughly.
Kelli – its great to have the opinion of an educator. I would love to hear from more teachers and parents.
It depends on the school systems…
It would not honor Christ for me to send my kid to a terrible school system. It would be foolish, IMHO, to send your children to a school system that can’t teach just to be “missional.” You can be “missional” in thousands of ways and sending your kids to terrible schools is not one of them.
Also, I am not a teacher, but it is not a good idea to send your kids to public schools with the mind set that it is, “good for the school system.”
Great question. I really like what Josh had to say about the issue. I guess my first question would be where does your first responsibility lie? Is it with your children or schools? After you answer that then you need to decide what is best for your kids. I don’t think we should turn our backs on public schools. I live in a community that has an outstanding public school. However my husband and I have been involved for years with a ministry located in the heart of East St. Louis which is one of the most violent cities in the country and certainly one of the most impoverished. I can’t speak to other cities but in ESTL the schools are very corrupt along with the city government. To get a quality education is almost impossible because of the violence and corruption. Now I agree with people getting involved in the schools to make a difference. However, in ESTL, they don’t want people to really come into the schools. So the ministry, Christian Activity Center, in the community goes above and beyond the what the schools provide to help these kids. Here the kids receive tutoring, a safe environment, love etc. Here are a few stats:
ESTL leads the nation in childhood poverty at 58% with the national average at 17%.
61% of families live 200% below the federal poverty level
CAC provides after school programming for over 4000 kids per year
In 1989:
50% in neighborhood were affiliated with gangs
50% failed high school
13% girls presented for teen pregnancy
Today:
Less than 5% have gang affiliations
Juvenile crime has dropped 80% within the neighborhood
90% of CAC youth graduate from high school
84 students have gone on to higher education and graduated
Teen pregnancy under 2%
I share all of this to say that sometimes it might be better to work outside of the system and raise up kids to eventually go back into the school as teachers etc and make the change from within that way.
Just my thoughts. Hard decisions.
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Reading through the comments and thinking on the question, there are a few things that I think should be said.
Look: we like to make hard and fast rules. Obviously there is no clear scriptural mandate toward any particular type of education…that’s why we’re talking about it. The very hard truth of the matter is that we are discussing two great idols of American culture: children and education. And even though many of us may call Jesus Lord, we have a tendency to bend the knee to something else. The even harder truth of the matter is that we use decisions about parenting and education to build our identities upon, to show to others our strength and resolve, our practicality, our wit, our intelligence, our sense of social duty or justice. Shower me with praises because of my bravery in sending my kids to public schools! Lift me high because of my time commitment of home schooling my children! Nod in knowing acceptance because I have the financial means for a nice private education! And we all smile because kids are just so much a blessing from God; thank God for giving us totems we can mold and admire.
The closest to hard rules I can come to is what Josh Wilson mentions above: the individuality of the children. Some kids are different than others. But here’s the real kicker: some kids change over time. Don’t build your identity or your child’s identity so much on those decisions that it neglects who they are as they mature or how they should see themselves in Christ. Maybe some kids should not always be in the same school. Maybe sometimes we have to make educational decisions that don’t seem like obviously good decisions to other people.
That said: there are strong Gospel reasons I can see for putting your children into public schools. I think the biggest would simply be engaging with the neighborhood. Kids don’t drive in from all parts to go to most public schools. They live around them. In terms of targeted impact on a quadrant of the city, the schools are pretty important, I would say. Kids at a private school could live anywhere from right down the road to a 30 minutes drive out of town. That doesn’t mean they don’t need Jesus, it just means they aren’t a part of the neighborhood, potentially not even a part of the city.
One wrong assumption that I have heard is that our kids are going to be the only Christian kids in the school. We might find there to be other Christians who are not as financially mobile who have no choice but to put their kids in public school. Maybe they’re praying for more godly influences on their children? Another wrong assumption is that because our kids go to a public school we will never interact with other parents or teachers. Our light can be seen because of where our children are.
But we’re mostly college-educated middle-class white Americans here, right? Because of this we feel entitled to have choices for everything: especially education. And we do.
Some thoughts on public schools:
— The most easily justifiable argument to get behind is always the quality of education argument. That’s usually because the assumption is that learning begins and ends with the school system. Good parenting comes down to shelling out cash or time. Laugh out loud. No wonder the school systems are in such a mess.
— Sorry to pick on you, Matt, but I have to take issue with this statement: “It would not honor Christ for me to send my kids to a terrible school system…” It comes from the same argument as “It would not honor Christ for my kids to eat McDonald’s…” or “Jesus would be more honored if I bought a Toyota over a Ford.” Of course it matters, these little things we do, little decisions we make. And maybe one truly does honor Christ more than another but as far as I understand it: in the gray areas of scriptural application it is the way in which we do the things we do that matters. It is not that the ends in themselves are meaningless but they must come from right motivations. In the obvious cases of sin we would say that simply not sinning isn’t righteousness per se. In these gray areas of Gospel application where we work on principles and use scripture to find the proper methods, to say such things out right is kind of short-sighted.
— It’s easy to speak as if a child’s ability to preach the gospel is their only impact on the culture of a school or their classmates. Come on. I thought we would know about cultural impact better than that? The Christian lives life differently, experiences life differently. He doesn’t have to preach to give others a glimpse of Jesus, although the cross is not too far from his lips.
— The way Americans think about the city has just as much to do with the decline of public education as anything else. When we talk about a neighborhood church impacting the geographic area in which it is located we are talking about saved people living among lost people. Imagine this for a moment? What if there was a church in a neighborhood where most of the congregation lived and worked and went to school? It sounds like a radical idea but it also kind of sounds like Acts. But in the home of freedom we like to pick our prisons and we chose the automobile over the neighborhood. I think it is safe to say that if you don’t know who your neighbors are the godly way you park your car is not going to impact them that much.
— Of course kids in private school need to taste the salt and see the light provided by true Christians as well. That’s why God gives different parents different convictions.
— We all want to see the public schools reclaimed but few of us want to take any hard steps to reclaim them. I am not speaking in racial terms here (although I sense that this might be unintentionally inferred, given our unspoken prejudices about school systems). I would say that no city wants their school system to be barely scraping by and many citizens would say that they would send their children to the city schools if the quality of education was higher, if discipline was a higher priority, if whatever they deem as broken was fixed. What if they just sent their kids to public school anyway? What if a bunch of Christian parents decided to put time and money into a broken system full of broken people?
— And if we’re going to talk about race, talk about healing racial wounds, avoiding the public schools is probably the worst thing to do. Honestly, school is the only opportunity most kids ever have to interact with other races. It is not about the beauty of diversity because diversity is not always beautiful. But it is about impacting all people with the Gospel of Christ. [The assumption here is not that black people need a white Jesus; it is that if any person has no Jesus then he goes to hell.]
— Maybe all this means sometimes when you plant a church you need to plant a school too.
A passing thought:
Every cuss word I know I first heard at a Christian school.
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Just a quick comment on Michael’s post. I really hear your passion on this issue. I’m not sure whose post you were referring to about the racial divide. It might be mine if you know anything about ESTL. However, you have to know that my family gives our time and money and have for years to the center that I mentioned. Our girls attend a public school and I grew up in a community with several races attending the same public school. I agree that kids need to be salt and light and we talk with our girls all the time about being just that. All I am saying is that sometimes getting into a public school district as parents and helping/volunteering is easier in some places than others and that there are alternatives to making a difference in a community as the CAC has done for years. This is a difficult issue. In fact, I know a couple from The Journey who have moved into ESTL and will be raising their kids in the school system. These decisions are never easy.
Dedee:
No, the mention of race was not a direct reference to your post but a reference to one of the things Jonathan had mentioned as a goal of a Memphis church plant: racial reconciliation. It certainly has application elsewhere.
I appreciate your take on the issue, and indeed understanding that not all troubled school systems are the same, even if many of them suffer from the same problems. Every school, every district, every state presents its own challenges. ESTL is a very sad case, from what you’ve said, and it sounds like the CACenter is doing some good things. I don’t want to diminish what organized, “outside” ministries can achieve.
I’d like to specifically address your questions Jonathan…
What posture should a missional leader personally take toward the public schools?
Just like any permanent cultural presence that has people in need of the Gospel, a missional leader should always be praying about his/her posture toward that cultural presence – particularly if they live close to that presence. Public schools are one of many avenues for a leader to engage missionally. We shouldn’t elevate it as the most important but as prayer is joined with organic relationships + conversations, it may bubble up as a strategic missional endeavor.
Does a pastor or member of a church seeking city renewal have a responsibility to enroll their kids in the public school system?
Absolutely not. As many have said, it is a prayerful decision made by the family. We currently homeschool and when we plant in the urban core of Tulsa next 2010, we are planning to continue to. For us, we have had and will continue to have the freedom to be engaged missionally as a family in multiple ways because homeschooling is just less time intensive overall. Plus, my work will be unique in that I can take my kids with me when I am on mission in the city. Many can’t do that and I completely understand that.
Is putting your kids in city schools an effective strategy for mission – or is there a better way for families to be on mission together?
I guess my question is: who is on mission here? The parents or the kids? Not to repeat myself but education is one of many avenues to be engaged missionally whether your kids are in public school or not.
Other thoughts:
-Someone said in an earlier comment that believe that a large portion of the learning their children will do will be in the home even if their kids are in a public school. I will respectfully disgaree. The largest portion of their learning will not be at home b/c they aren’t spending the largest portion of their learning time at home. The input equals the output…
-When we talk about a child’s “needs,” I think we need to be careful to focus on more than personality, temperment, etc. Their deepest need is for the Gospel to shape them. Who are the best people to do that?
-And not to sound hyperspiritual here but education is not the great equalizer. The Gospel is.
So I’m one of the aforementioned pastors Jonathan was referring to. We moved to Midtown Memphis almost four years ago from the SF Bay Area. We had a six-month old at the time. We learned right away that most young families don’t stay in Midtown long because of the school system. We felt called here to start a church, and believed that we needed to live here long-term in order to be effective.
We also learned that our neighborhood has a public elementary school, but the families in the neighborhood don’t send their kids there. So we began our research. I should point out that my wife is an educator and taught in a Memphis City school our first two years here. This helped immensely. In April, 2007 we hosted a forum at our neighborhood school to determine if this was a quality issue or something else (racial, economic, safety, etc…). There was a large turnout, and the consensus at the end was that it’s a great school. So something else is keeping families from sending their kids there. After the discussion, my wife was asked to be the Community Representative on the school’s Leadership Team. Other parents (of not-yet-school-age children) have already begun to take leadership roles in school events as well. The principal is working closely with neighborhood families to see the school bridge the racial, economic, and academic gap.
Throughout the last few years, we have encountered dozens of people with the same heart cry as ours – for this to become a neighborhood school once again. Some of these we knew to be followers of Christ, but many would not identify themselves as such. Yet a community has begun to form, full of families with a common vision and mission.
Next fall our oldest will be attending Kindergarten at our local elementary school, along with several other children from this group, with dozens more planning on attending in the coming years. Over the last few years we have held this very loosely. We have prayed a lot. We do not want to sacrifice our child, and what we’re doing is actually far from that. This is an excellent school, and he’s going to have an excellent education, even beyond the academics. He will learn diversity, both racially and economically, and our prayer is that he learns to love others as God loves him.
At the same time, though, what we are doing is extremely intentional and strategic, and I know that it is a big part of why we’re here. We never would have set out to integrate our local elementary school or attempt to change the school district, but when we pray, “God, do only what you can do” be ready to walk through the doors He opens!
We could have been called to a different neighborhood in the city, and though our process would have been similar, I recognize that the result may have been different. There are multiple bottom lines, but they all have to be prayed through and considered.
Would there be a commissioning service and weekly meetings with the little ones? (smile)
We homeschool our three boys primarily because the shcools in our area are pretty lousy. We also want to be missional in our activities and since all three of my boys are born again they too want to be missional. We have often wondered if this means they shoudl go to public school instead of homeschool.
We have to be careful in our assumptions. We must not assume that being a Christian and going to public school AUTOMATICALLY makes you missional. That is simply not the case. In addition, we cannot assume that being homeschooled AUTOMATICALLY means you are not missional.
My sons are actually VERY missional. They share Christ with the kids in their neighborhood all the time. They do the same with the kids on their sports teams, and my oldest son (16) is looking to get a job, not for the cash, but so that he will have even more opportunities to interact with those who don’t know Christ.
If you are missional minded, you will be missional regardless of where you get your education.
Marc, I think there is some subtle and pithy truth to your comment. Who are the missionaries here?
As a pastor of local mission from my church, and a parent of a 4,3 and 7 month old my wife and I have spent hours trying to figure out this out. We also live across the street from the public school my kids would go to, which is a school any parent in American would feel good about sending their kids.
I think we are goign to homeschool. The reason is simple. It comes from a conviction that as parents we are called to disciple our kids, and noone else. We just can’t get past the fact that our kids would spend most of their energy and time in the care of another adult.
There are plenty of oppurtunities for relationships with parents and kids who would go to the school across the street without sending out kids there. Besided I don’t see how you can justify sending the kids to school so you will have more oppurtunities for relationship building. I can’t find any where in the Bible that would advocate such a stratedgy.
Like many of you, my heart breaks for the public school system especially in urban low income areas. It is the result of a broken system, and as all government institutions is prone to this sort of demise. Only the church is promised to last forever.
[...] Jon McIntosh asks, “Do Missional Families Go To Public School?“ [...]
Jonathan – If I may, I’d like to make a small and yet huge correction to your quotation of me. I did not say that my mission will not be through my child. To the contrary, making him a disciple is the greatest investment in mission I will ever make. However, I can’t do that if the government has him more than I do during the most formative years of his life. I like what one commenter said about raising children who become missional teachers. Simply put, I’m not going to put my ten year old in the fire, sit back, and claim it as mission. I don’t care who you are, no parent has equipped their child to handle the mess that is the public school system. If you have no choice, then fine. I will invest in that school myself. I will not, however, send a boy to do a man’s job.
My wife and I have 4 children, 10, 7, 5, and 11 mos. When we moved to Chicago, from Nebraska in 2008, we heard a lot about CPS and challenges that we would face if we weren’t able to get into a “good school”. We thought it was overblown and came in with the mindset of living missionally in our neighborhood, i.e going to our neighborhood school. Bad Idea.
My 10 yr old (8 at the time) has always been a high ability learner. My son, in Kindergarten at the time, not so much. After about 2 months we were convinced it would not be in our children’s best interest to keep them at the local school. For a variety of reasons, the least of which was there inability to provide my daughter with a curriculum that met her ability.
We pulled them out. After a year in private school we are homeschooling this year, though we continue to look and apply for a decent enough public school that will afford our kids an education that is appropriate.
Now, getting to some of your questions: what posture should a missional leader personally take toward the public schools? Does a pastor or member of a church seeking city renewal have a responsibility to enroll their kids in the public school system?
NO. While I think that we must model what we want to see, we have to minister to our families first.
Is putting your kids in city schools an effective strategy for mission – or is there a better way for families to be on mission together? Yes and NO.
This is good strategy, but not necessarily the best – depending on the context.
Our community is diverse in every way: Ethnically, socioeconomically, AND educationally (not sure if that’s grammatically appropriate). My 10 year old’s best friends in our neighborhood demonstrate this. One is a jewish girl who attends a Regional Gifted Center, and the other is a black girl who attends the local school. My daughter is Puerto Rican (and white).
My daughter has been able to share her faith and answer questions about Jesus with one friend, and has taken her other friend to Awannas several times.
In fact, both of those girls are having a sleep over at our house right now.
Last night I went out to a movie with one of the dads and we have become friends. On more than one occasion I have been blessed to share the Gospel with him, his wife and some of his other children. I can tell a number of other stories of how my children, regardless of where they are in school have helped us live missionally, and advance the Gospel.
For us, the best way to be on mission is to be good neighbors with those whom God puts right in front of us. It just so happens that my kids know how to live missionally better than I do. We are just following in their lead, I guess.
Forgot to mention….we also have a 5 year old in public school this year too….which has also helping us be on mission. The end.
We live in STL city and home school our children. One of the primary reasons we home school is something Brad Andrews mentioned in his post.
It is allows us time and energy to be fully present in our neighborhood as a family.
I think this can be done in any educational setting if we are intentional.
More about our choice to home school here…
http://maravillastl.blogspot.com/2008/09/why-do-we-homeschool.html
We’ve been on every side of this debate. Originally, we put our kids into some lower income schools in a neighborhood where we were trying to be missional. There was much opportunity to do so, and we did as much as we could. When we moved out here to Raleigh, though, the school system was very much “hands-off” for parents. We offered to be involved, but all they wanted was our money. Recently, we moved into a predominantly black neighborhood, and we’ve decided to homeschool our kids partially because they would very much be a minority. We’re still open handed about this, but we think we’ve made the right decision for the time being. There are some great, honest arguments on all sides.
Cornelius Van Til wrote:
“the most basic fact of all facts is the existence of the triune God.”
I think this statement proves that a public school education cannot be done well.
A Christian parent’s number-one duty to his children is to give them a Christian education. Note well that this does not mean our job is done by sending them to school — any school. This means that we must disciple our children to love and serve the Lord Jesus Christ and him only! This takes time — years!
At some point your training will bear fruit and your children will be ready to encounter the world and carry on the gospel mission. Some may be ready to do this while still school-age (i.e. under 18). If they are ready, then put them in public school to begin their mission work there. Many will not be ready yet, however.
The key point is not to get our priorities mixed as Christian parents. God does want us and our children to be salt and light to a dark and dying world. But he requires first of us parents that we teach our children, and prepare them to live God-glorifying lives anywhere in the world. We can’t take a short cut, however, placing our children in demanding missional settings before we have done our work, our duty and our responsibility to properly train them.
Bottom line: yes, Christian children in public schools — when you have properly prepared them for their mission!
Alan – good balance, I think. Don’t abandon mission for the sake of the protecting the family… but don’t sacrifice your family on the altar of mission.
I have three kids in school. One is home schooled because of learning style. The other two are at North County Christian School.
Just because the name Christian is in the title does not mean that this cannot be a mission field. There are “elder brothers” everywhere and there are non-Christians everywhere.
My olderst daughter is a Senior at NCCS and she gets a chance to challenge the status quo religious thinking on a weekly basis.
*Really* glad you asked the question, and I enjoyed reading all the comments. Both sides.
We are a missional family who homeschools–and we’ve also taken some flack for that. We do have to work at connecting with the community–but we’re committed to that. Personally, I’ve enjoyed living a missional lifestyle *with* my kids right beside me, that way I can walk through each experience with them, training and guiding as needed.
Great discussion.
i just wanted to mention something to those who think that public school a more missional approach, i.e. that they will be reaching their neighbors/communities, etc – that line of thinking assumes that kids and families at private schools DON’T need mission. Every private Christian school is different, but we cannot assume that a majority of students at any school have genuine Christ-centered homes and family life.
My opinion is that *everywhere* is a mission field.