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What To Expect From A Christian Education

Could a Christian education benefit your teenager? For teenagers, belonging to their community is vital to the development of their worldview - what will shape your teens values and beliefs?

There have been debates amongst believers as to whether a Christian education is worth it or not. In this article, we will focus more on a Christian high school education, considering the benefits of a Christian education and the limitations, for Christians, of a secular education.

The Fundamental Difference Between a Christian Education and a State Education

A great starting point to understand the core differences between Christian education and secular education would be to interpret the difference in definition. State education is provided by the state to benefit the state and excludes Christianity and essentially focusses on humanism. Christian education is provided by both parents and the Church.  It is to the benefit of God and the education is based on the Word of God.

There is No Such Thing as a Neutral Education

State education is not neutral in any way, nobody is neutral and nothing can be viewed from a neutral stance. Secular can be defined as being educated without any religious or spiritual matters. There are two Latin words that we derive the word educate from. “Educare” means to train and mold and “Educere” means to lead out in behaviour.

Romans 12:2 says do not conform to this world but, be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Our minds need to be constantly renewed.  As believers we can’t conform to the thinking of this age and that is through Christian education.

It is not a surprise that there are so many millennials and Gen Z people in our world who become Christian or who grow up Christian but, still find it extremely difficult to adopt Christian beliefs and values. Many of them haven’t received a Christian high school education and now seem to have a very unique, and sometimes distorted view of who God is and how they see morality; some have created a view of God that doesn’t exist.

A Christian Education is for Life

Education will play a key role in how you develop your worldview; a Christian high school education can play a huge role in developing a solid foundation for life.  Here’s how. 

1. Christian teachers disciple your children

Many parents have great relationships with their teenage children but, teenagers are highly influenced by the opinion and beliefs of their teachers whom they spend the majority of their day with. As a Christian, you would want your teenager to develop a strong relationship with Christ and develop into mature young men or women.

The narrative in many state schools has become very anti-Christian. 

If your teenager is being fed information for 6-8 hours a day that does not line up with the word of God, this information is bound to have a huge influence on your teenager’s worldview.

A state-run high school education goes a long way to reinforce anti-Christian beliefs.  But the support that a Christian education provides for Christian teens will go a long way to reinforcing Christian values and beliefs held by a Christian family.

christian high school education

2. Christian education provides a Biblical worldview

Proverbs 22:6 provides us with some foundational truth about Christian high school education. It says “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” Although this is a principle, not a promise, a Christian education aims to enable and equip teenagers to be the salt of the word; it isn’t a spiritual cocoon that makes teenagers ignorant of the real world.

In a secular school, the aim is often to acquire knowledge in order to achieve a worldly definition of success, ie. to gain money and/or power. From a Biblical worldview, we aim to gain knowledge to build his Kingdom.

3. Students get more individual attention from teachers

What’s great about Christian education is that students generally get more one-on-one attention from their teachers. This can help your teenager develop and be nurtured. There is also a greater emphasis on participation in a Christian high school which enables your teenager to develop social skills and teamwork and contribute to their community.

4. Christian high schools help students to develop their God-given gifts

private christian education

We know academic performance isn’t everything. However, Christian high schools tend to consistently outperform state high schools in academic achievement. This is true for many subjects, even ones that don’t seem to be very spiritual like Math and English. This sets students up well for tertiary education, if they do well they may have more study or work options after school.

What’s great about a Christian education is that teachers and counsellors can guide teenagers on what to pursue after school. This is often a very volatile and confusing period for teenagers, where they are overloaded with information. Teachers who are Christian are a great help in walking teenagers through the decision-making process.

5. A Christian high school will provide your teenager with a Christian community

It is extremely challenging for any believer to do life apart from other believers. Christian education provides teenagers with the opportunity to have peers around them who could also be believers in Christ.

You don’t want your teenager to be in a position where they are the only believer in their class or year. Christian education provides your teenager the opportunity to cultivate strong relationships with their peers in a school-based Christian community.

Christian high school education also provides your teenager with the opportunity to have open discussions about God, religion, politics, morality etc. without a sense of fear of what people may think.

Often in state schools, you are placed in a position where you can’t speak about Christianity at all.

Christian high school students

If your teenager doesn’t have friends who are Christian, this can make it even harder for your teenager. Students in high school are often still very insecure and are not willing to be bold and stand out from the crowd; they are at a stage of life where they are craving acceptance.

6. Christian education provides freedom of expression

The reality is that teenagers are often placed into positions where if their opinion on controversial topics is different from the secular opinion they can become an outcast or ridiculed for their opinion or stance.

The secular opinion in high school and universities is seen to be very free-thinking however; this is the furthest thing from the truth. Secular education is very much uniformed in opinion and thought, and they don’t want to deviate from that in any way.

A Christian high school will allow all students to explore and develop thoughts, ideas and opinions whilst treating them with respect, and presenting the foundations of Biblical truth. 

7. Christian education teaches concepts that are often neglected in society

  • Christian education teaches teenagers to respect and honour those who are in authority (Romans 13:1; 1 Peter 5:5; Ephesians 6:1-3)
  • Teenagers in a Christian high school develop a strong work ethic (Colossians 3:23; Proverbs 13:4)
  • Christian education teaches teenagers to take responsibility for their actions (Proverbs 28:13)
  • Christian education supports the traditional family structure and reinforces Biblical views of sexuality ( Genesis 2:24)

If your teenager is struggling with any of the issues we have mentioned, maybe it is time for your family to take a step of faith and consider a Christian education. A Christian high school could play a vital role in your teenager growing into a mature young man or woman of God.

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