Providence Christian School Philosophy of Christian Education
1. Providence Christian School’s philosophy of Christian Education is founded on a Biblical worldview.
2. Believing that all truth is a manifestation of God’s sovereignty in creation, we have established a school that proclaims God in our educational program and teaches our students that God is involved in every aspect of their lives. For the Christian, there is no division between spiritual and secular knowledge and experience. All of life is Christ-centered. Whatever a child learns, therefore, begins with the foundation of a Biblical worldview and has God as the central point of reference. In essence, the child is taught a viewpoint of life and the world from God’s perspective.
Because students are rooted in a Biblical worldview, they are taught that God and His truth are the basis for the educational program, and they are challenged to respond to God with the appropriate use of acquired skills and knowledge. Truth is for our use, and we learn from applying that truth through a Biblical worldview. Responding to God is a growth process and is one in which a child, as prompted by the Holy Spirit, becomes increasingly more active. Students develop the awareness that their accumulated knowledge and skill proficiencies have direct bearing on the three fundamental relationships of life:
- Towards God
- Towards others (as well as oneself)
- Towards one’s environment (creation)
It is growth in this response process that leads to the fulfillment of man’s calling from God to understand, to shape, to use, to preserve, and to enjoy His creation in a life of service to Him, through service to one’s fellow man.
We acknowledge that our students are born with sinful natures that hinder them from accepting God as the reference point for all of life and from responding to Him in ways that are appropriate. When God’s salvation through Jesus Christ is applied to a child’s life, however, the ability to accept God’s guidance and the desire to respond correctly are restored. For this reason, Christian education can never be implemented successfully without a Biblical worldview foundation and the redemptive work of Christ accomplished in a child’s life. Our ministry toward our students, on an individual basis, must introduce them to the redeeming work of Christ, helping them to appreciate others and to serve their fellow man. In addition, we must inspire them to academic rigor, thereby enabling them to take their proper position in creation as one that bears the image of God and exercises dominion over God’s world.
