{"id":772,"date":"2011-02-17T16:00:43","date_gmt":"2011-02-17T21:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.fbclafayette.org\/?p=772"},"modified":"2011-12-12T09:28:26","modified_gmt":"2011-12-12T14:28:26","slug":"why-faith-has-a-christian-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/why-faith-has-a-christian-school\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Faith has a Christian School"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"GirlCrank it Up<\/strong><\/h2>\n

There is an incredible amount of activity right now in Indianapolis\u00a0surrounding education reform.\u00a0 Legislators are asking tough questions and the rhetoric has reached historic levels.\u00a0 Everybody knows change is the air and that very well may be a good thing.<\/p>\n

Our church has purposely taken a careful approach to what we say publicly about these matters.\u00a0 We do not want to be detracted from our core mission by becoming what amounts to a Political Action Committee for any particular cultural cause.\u00a0 Like the apostle Paul, “we preach Christ crucified” (1 Corinthians 1:23).<\/p>\n

Only one way?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Bible does not mandate\u00a0one particular educational choice that must be used by every Christian parent.\u00a0 Therefore as a church, we seek to strengthen the hands of every parents and educator in our church and community, whether they have chosen to be involved in a public,\u00a0home, or\u00a0Christian school.<\/p>\n

Then Why Faith Christian School?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

That being said, our church family decided fifteen years ago to invest significant resources into launching Faith Christian School<\/a>.\u00a0 By God’s grace, what started as a small group of 48 students and a handful of faculty members has blossomed into a student body of nearly 670 students with all the staff, facilities, and resources necessary to provide the kind of education that has garnered dual accreditation from both the State of Indiana and an independent Christian accrediting body.<\/p>\n

However, as things grow and develop, it is often important to revisit the basics.\u00a0 Why do we have a Christian school?\u00a0 Is it so\u00a0we can have prayer at the beginning of the day?\u00a0 Not really.\u00a0 It is because we want to have chapel each week?\u00a0 No, that’s not it either.\u00a0 Smaller class sizes?\u00a0 Tighter discipline?\u00a0 A conservative dress code?\u00a0 Etc., etc.?<\/p>\n

In a word?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

We started Faith Christian School to put our students in the best possible position to fall in love with Jesus.<\/strong> Period.\u00a0 “We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ.\u00a0 For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me” (Colossians 1:28-29).<\/p>\n

So do we pray before our classes?\u00a0 Of course, but not as some sort of religious exercise.\u00a0 We hope our young people develop a kind of communion with Jesus that is regular and natural.\u00a0\u00a0Our goal is that chapel\u00a0is a time of passionate worship that reflects the way the students\u00a0have been worshipping Christ in their other classes and relationships throughout the day.\u00a0 We pray that our kids learn to dress not to satisfy a code, but to honor their Redeemer.\u00a0 We want them to develop the Spirit’s fruit of self-control not to avoid demerits, but to use their hearts, minds, tongues, and bodies to conform their lives to the redemptive plan of their Savior.\u00a0 Every aspect of our curriculum, sports and fine arts programs–the entire ministry, is designed to be saturated with the sweet savor of Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n

To assist parents<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Godly parents have these same desires for their children regardless of their school choice.\u00a0 Faith Christian exists to assist moms and dads in teaching and modeling an approach to life where Jesus “Himself will come to have first place in everything” (Colossians 1:18).\u00a0 Does that mean that these ideals cannot be reached without a Christian school?\u00a0 No, but parents who choose other options would be wise to do everything in their power to find ways to shepherd their child’s heart in the ways of Christ.\u00a0 Does this also mean that a parent\u00a0who chooses a Christian school has automatically accomplished the task?\u00a0 Not at all.\u00a0 That is one of things that many of the educational reformers down in Indianapolis are getting right these days\u00a0— the final responsibility for educating a child does not rest with the state (or the church for that matter), but with the parent.\u00a0 Wise is the parent who chooses an educational team–whether formal or informal–to help them do their job well.<\/p>\n

It’s Registration Time<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The pre-registration period for current students is underway at Faith<\/a>.\u00a0 New students can begin registering March 1st.\u00a0 If you have school age children, I would encourage you to carefully consider God’s will in this matter.\u00a0 If nothing else, take a tour of the school if you have never done so before.\u00a0 Meet with the administrators.\u00a0 If finances are a concern, talk with the leadership team openly and see if their are any solutions.<\/p>\n

Christian Education Changed my Life<\/strong><\/h2>\n

When I was a sophomore in high school, I was at a real crossroads.\u00a0 I had to decide if I was going to begin moving toward the Lord or away from Him.\u00a0 The pressures to live for sin and myself were incredibly powerful.\u00a0 Then I met a group of students from a small Christian school.\u00a0 What impressed me immediately was their genuine love for the Lord.\u00a0 They weren’t hyper-pious or just putting on a front for their parents and teachers.\u00a0 I got to know them when it was just us–a group of students hanging out together.\u00a0 Here’s what I discovered.\u00a0 They were real.\u00a0 That’s it–real, genuine, authentic.\u00a0 They didn’t have to wear their religion on their sleeves because they had a Redeemer in their hearts.\u00a0 They had something my soul desperately longed for.\u00a0 I would have sold everything I had to find what they possessed.<\/p>\n

My parents were kind enough to let me change schools.\u00a0 The difference wasn’t the beauty of the building (it was pitiful) or the impressive degrees of the teachers (they were simply good people doing their very best).\u00a0 Here’s what was unique–Jesus was there.\u00a0 Everywhere.\u00a0 In the classroom.\u00a0 On the soccer field.\u00a0 In the parking lot.\u00a0 Christ-centered education changed my life.\u00a0 And I will be eternally grateful.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Crank it Up There is an incredible amount of activity right now in Indianapolis\u00a0surrounding education reform.\u00a0 Legislators are asking tough questions and the rhetoric has reached historic levels.\u00a0 Everybody knows change is the air and that very well may be a good thing. Our church has purposely taken a careful approach to what we say… read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1,105],"tags":[4197,4200,4198,4199],"yoast_head":"\nWhy Faith has a Christian School - Faith Church Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/why-faith-has-a-christian-school\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why Faith has a Christian School - Faith Church Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Crank it Up There is an incredible amount of activity right now in Indianapolis\u00a0surrounding education reform.\u00a0 Legislators are asking tough questions and the rhetoric has reached historic levels.\u00a0 Everybody knows change is the air and that very well may be a good thing. Our church has purposely taken a careful approach to what we say... read more\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/why-faith-has-a-christian-school\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Faith Church Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-02-17T21:00:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-12-12T14:28:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/files\/2011\/02\/WhyFCS.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Steve Viars\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Steve Viars\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/why-faith-has-a-christian-school\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/why-faith-has-a-christian-school\/\",\"name\":\"Why Faith has a Christian School - Faith Church Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-02-17T21:00:43+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-12-12T14:28:26+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/#\/schema\/person\/b83c7b6a62eab6b6e07c6659b204826c\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/why-faith-has-a-christian-school\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/why-faith-has-a-christian-school\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/why-faith-has-a-christian-school\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Why Faith has a Christian School\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/\",\"name\":\"Faith Church Blog\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/#\/schema\/person\/b83c7b6a62eab6b6e07c6659b204826c\",\"name\":\"Steve Viars\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/faith-blog-assets.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/20200408121939\/ViarsSteve.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/faith-blog-assets.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/20200408121939\/ViarsSteve.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Steve Viars\"},\"description\":\"Dr. Viars has served as a pastor and counselor at Faith since 1987. He is an author, national speaker, and Vice President of the Board of Directors for the Biblical Counseling Coalition.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/author\/sviars\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Why Faith has a Christian School - Faith Church Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/why-faith-has-a-christian-school\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Why Faith has a Christian School - Faith Church Blog","og_description":"Crank it Up There is an incredible amount of activity right now in Indianapolis\u00a0surrounding education reform.\u00a0 Legislators are asking tough questions and the rhetoric has reached historic levels.\u00a0 Everybody knows change is the air and that very well may be a good thing. Our church has purposely taken a careful approach to what we say... read more","og_url":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/why-faith-has-a-christian-school\/","og_site_name":"Faith Church Blog","article_published_time":"2011-02-17T21:00:43+00:00","article_modified_time":"2011-12-12T14:28:26+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/files\/2011\/02\/WhyFCS.jpg"}],"author":"Steve Viars","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Steve Viars","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/why-faith-has-a-christian-school\/","url":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/why-faith-has-a-christian-school\/","name":"Why Faith has a Christian School - Faith Church Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-02-17T21:00:43+00:00","dateModified":"2011-12-12T14:28:26+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/#\/schema\/person\/b83c7b6a62eab6b6e07c6659b204826c"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/why-faith-has-a-christian-school\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/why-faith-has-a-christian-school\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/why-faith-has-a-christian-school\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Why Faith has a Christian School"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/","name":"Faith Church Blog","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/#\/schema\/person\/b83c7b6a62eab6b6e07c6659b204826c","name":"Steve Viars","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/faith-blog-assets.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/20200408121939\/ViarsSteve.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/faith-blog-assets.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/20200408121939\/ViarsSteve.jpg","caption":"Steve Viars"},"description":"Dr. Viars has served as a pastor and counselor at Faith since 1987. He is an author, national speaker, and Vice President of the Board of Directors for the Biblical Counseling Coalition.","url":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/author\/sviars\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/772"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=772"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/772\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2908,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/772\/revisions\/2908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}