June 2016
RememberByMark Kennedy
It’s not so much the creatively perverse social changes forced upon us by the molders of modern culture that ‘get me’. You expect those things to show up sooner or later when people intentionally rejected biblical morality and replaced it with their own designer versions of justice, truth, right and wrong. Clearly the “you will be like God,” temptation is very attractive these days even though it’s ultimately doomed to failure.
The thing I find hard is that a lot of leaders in the Canadian evangelical community seem oblivious to the changes in our society and to the consequences of constantly exposing children to the false, destructive values that go with them. The results of important studies like the $10 million Cardus Report and the EFC’s Hemorrhaging Faith make little or no impact on their thinking or actions.
“They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious.” said Jeremiah about some of his religious
contemporaries. (Jeremiah 6:14)
Yes they did. Yes they do.
At times even those of us who’ve been around a while, wonder where the Lord is in all this mess. It’s probably the kind of discouragement John the Baptist felt when he was in prison. “Are you the Messiah we’ve been expecting” he asked, “or should we look for someone else?” How could John ask that? He baptized Jesus, proclaimed publicly that Jesus was “the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world” and he saw the Holy Spirit descend on Him in the form of a dove. But hard circumstances can distort clear thinking. I wonder if John remembered the dove. Remembering helps.
For the last few months I’ve visited member schools. That’s almost always uplifting for me because it makes me remember.
I was especially blessed on an April morning at Discipleship Christian School in Breslau, ON, and on a February afternoon at Emmanuel Christian Academy in Madoc.
At Discipleship—Severalyears ago, Jeff Collard and his colleagues felt God’s prompting to start Discipleship Christian School for high schoolers in the Kitchener area. Initially they lacked some basics like money, equipment, staff, a location and students but bit by bit most of those needs were met. The location quandary stubbornly persisted throughout most of the summer, then something truly remarkable happened. Sixweeks before the school’s scheduled opening day, the town of Breslau, which had just constructed a beautiful community centre complete with classroom space, a double gym and manicured sports fields, asked Discipleship to rent their new facilities!
It reminded me about:
- When we couldn’t find a location in which to launch the Oakville Christian School. There was a large empty public school building in the town, but the local school board refused to rent it. Then suddenly, for no apparent reason,the board changed its collective mind six weeks before our opening day. And they set the annual rent at one dollar.
- After Halifax Christian Academy had outgrown its cloakroom sized classroom facilities in a church basement, they went on a facility upgrade quest. That included biddinga dollar for a two story vacant public school. At first the public school board thought they were joking about the bid. They weren’t and so the board sold them the building for one dollar.
- When that same school pitted their student soccer team against an overwhelmingly skilled public school team whose fans took up the cheer “Satan rules!,” HCA was outplayed badly. But for some reason the public school team couldn’t score. The HCA team only escaped from its own end of the field once that game–when they scored the winning goal. The final, 1 to 0 for HCA,because Satan doesnot rule!
- When Queensway Christian School entered the lowest of 3 bids to buy an empty public school, the chairman of the public school board astounded everyone at the decisive meeting. He said to his colleagues, “I’m going to temporarily step down from my position as head of this board and speak on behalf of Queensway Christian School!” The board accepted Queensway’s bid.
- When a young Whitfield Christian Academy was making do with facilities that had been the TV studio for “Mr Dressup,’ an unimpressive looking older gentleman toured the building, thanked the principal for her time and left. The next day he gave the school a cheque for one million dollars for new facilities.
I tried unsuccessfully to find alternate transportation and then asked if any Canadians lived in the town. Someone directed us to the Hope for Haiti orphanage where the assistant director greeted us warmly. As we chatted she said, “We’re trying to operate a Christian school here, but every time Americans send us school supplies, they’re stolen somewhere along the way. We’ve been asking the Lord to send supplies that would actually get here!” Our team was carrying the answer to that prayer.
“How many children do you look after?” I asked.
“32.”
Our daughters had no idea that they had prepared the exact number of treat bags that were needed.
At Emmanuel—TammyMcEwen and her staff exemplify enduring joyful faith in the Christian school ministry despite very challenging circumstances. The school’s been around for 11 years, but they’ve never had many students—right now there are 33 from JK to grade 8. They haven’t had a secure location either, moving from one rental facility to another and now they’re in the basement of a small church. And it’s no surprise that their finances are tight. Modest staff salaries and other operational expenses are paid ‘as the Lord provides’ each month. Tammy’s face glows when she tells me that the money has always come in, usually at the last moment—for 11 years! “Miracle after miracle,” she calls it. Tammy doesn’t focus on the school’s needs or financial instability or the sacrifices that she and her staff are making. She talks about the Lord’s faithfulness.
On December 31st, the last day of 2015, the grandfather clock in our living room stopped with its hands fixedat exactly midnight!If I was superstitious I’d be afraid this was a harbinger of imminent family disaster. If I was a writer of Gothic horror tales I might use the incident to introduce a macabre story line. But, not being either, I simply added it to the ‘odd but true events’ filed in my memory. Sometimes coincidences are just coincidences.
The memories of those astounding Christian schooling highlights aren’t like that. They’re not ‘one offs’, not meaningless incidents that occurred sporadically over a few decades. There were too many of them and they happened too often to be dismissed as mere coincidences. It seems to me they were genuine miracles, reminders that the living God raised us up and sustains us by His strength. In Christian schooling it’s not all miracles and unremitting blessing of course. Some wonderful schools have had to close in the past two decades while others are struggling to exist—and I don’t get it. Like Job, I can’t fathom all the details of the master plan that includes these apparent or looming failures because they’re far beyond my limited understanding. But Jeff at Discipleship Christian Academy and Tammy at Emmanuel reminded me that He hasn’t left us alone now and won’t ever.
When I was a little boy we sang a late Victorian hymn in our Anglican Sunday school. Its message wasn’t just for children or for a bygone era.
“This is my Father’s world. O let me ne’er forget
That though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet.
This is my Father’s world: the battle is not done:
Jesus Who died shall be satisfied,
And earth and Heav’n be one!”Maltbie Babcock, 1901
Top
New Guides to Faith-Based and Christian Education
By Glen Hoffman, Editor, Our Kids Media
We’re excited to announce the upcoming launching of an online guide to faith-based and religiously-affiliated schools. This guide provides an in-depth look at faith-based schools in Canada. It’s about 5, 000 words long, and explores the different kinds of schools, and the many issues parents face choosing faith-based schools for their children. To get a sense of what it will look like, check out our guide to gifted education—the first OurKids.net online school guide.
Our faith-based guide has several sections and subsections, each covering various topics such as:
- Unique features of faith-based schools
- Curriculum
- Choosing and applying to faith-based schools
- Funding for faith-based schools
- Unique features of Christian schools
- Different kinds of Christian schools
- Benefits of Christian schooling
- Choosing and applying to Christian schools
Finally, both the faith-based and Christian school guides will have 15 to 30 minutes podcasts that give overviews of the guide contents, highlighting key points and offering parents another way to explore the subject.
These guides will be invaluable resources to help parents learn about both faith-based schools and Christian schools. The landing pages will also provide opportunities to view lists of schools, and explore, compare, and analyze them according to a wide variety of criteria.
This will increase exposure for Christian schools that work with Our Kids. More parents will click on Our Kids school profiles, spend more time exploring their unique features, and visiting the school websites. For many Christian schools, this will mean a significant increase in the quantity of applications and the quality of new students.
At Our Kids, we’re always looking for new and more effective ways to engage parents in the school-choice process. These new online guides along with our guide to gifted education and our soon-to-be launched guides to boarding, Montessori, and other kinds of schools will help us achieve this goal.
Don’t miss this opportunity to plug into our growing network of families researching Christian schools. The last day to book your Our Kids membership is June 30th, and if you’re a new partner and book by June 10th, you’ll receive the early-bird rate of $333 per month (a $400 savings). If you’re ready working with Our Kids, you can book your membership now. If you want to learn more about Our Kids, check out our new information kit and our website.
Top
CATResults for ACSI Schools in Canada 2015/2016
A few years ago some people were spreading the rumour that Christian school students were academically behind. It was persistent and demonstrably false. Once again this year our CAT results show the real story and for us and it is excellent. In brief:
From grade 1 & 2 ACSI member school students scored at least one full grade level ahead of national standardsin every subject tested.
From grade 3 to 8 our member school students scored at least two full grade levels ahead of national norms in every subject tested.
In grade 9 our member school students scored at least two grade levels ahead in every subject but Math and English. In those subjects they scored 1.9 grade levels ahead.
Last year at a meeting of church leaders I heard a new academic criticism of ACSI Christian schools. “Sure your students do well academically, you only accept the brightest kids into your schools!” I assured the speaker that he was exceptionally misinformed. “Our students have a wide variety of academic abilities,” I said, “but our teachers do a first rate job of teaching them!!”
Top
Transgender Bathroom and Change Room Policies
A May 2016 Gallup Poll asked Americans:"In terms of policies governing public restrooms, do you think these policies should require transgender individuals to use the restroom that corresponds with their birth gender or should these policies allow transgender individuals to use the restroom that corresponds with their gender identity?"
The results from this question: 50% opted for requiring transgender individuals to use a restroom corresponding with their birth gender, while 40% would allow them to use a bathroom corresponding with the gender theybelieved themselves to be irrespective of their physical anatomy.
I don’t have any Canadian stats but they would probably be similar. Christian schools would be extremely unwise to ignore this!
In order to address the transgender bathroom/change room access issue, our Eastern Canada office sent member schools the policy ACSI head office recommends for American Christian schools. At this point we believe it will provide schools with some protection but in the rapidly changing Canadian moral and legal climate, there are no ‘sure things’ when it comes to legal matters.
Here is the policy:
The Student Physical Privacy Policy
- PURPOSE
- DEFINITION
- POLICY
- Use of SchoolFacilities
In any other school facilities or settings where a student may be in a state of undressthe presence of other students (i.e., changing costumes during school theatrical productions,etc.), school personnel shall provide separate, private areas designated for use by students basedon their biologicalsex.
- Accommodation of Biological Sex Non-ConformingStudents
N.B. Some member schools in Eastern Canada are partially addressing the issue by making their washrooms into a series of single closeted units, each with a sink and toilet. We all need to consider this possibility for the future.
Top
WORLD CONCERNS DAYS
MARITIMES: Friday, October 7, 2016 @
Kingswood University, Sussex, NB
Current and Relevant Issues that will be addressed:
- From Islam to Jesus
- How to Say No and Keep your Friends
- Caring for the Homeless: How a 19 Year Old Started a
- Homeless Shelter
- Prison Ministry
- International Justice Mission
- Voice of the Martyrs
- Mennonite Central Committee
Philopateer Christian College, Mississauga
Current and Relevant Issues that will be addressed:
- From Islam to Jesus
- Sex Trafficking in Canada
- Protecting People from Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide
- Mental Health Challenges for Teens
- Sexuality and Gender Development
- Transitioning to University--Grade 12 Lunch Discussion
- Overcoming Life’s Challenges
- Two Pressures Every Girl will Face
- It’s Hot in the Furnace & Unsubscribe: How to Remain
Top / In This Newsletter…
- And the Angels Laugh: The Limits of Strategic Planning
- CAT Results for ACSI Schools in Canada 2015/2016
- Transgender Bathroom and Change Room Policies
- OntarioDrama Festival
- World Concerns Days
- What’s New for 2016/2017?
- New School
- New Services and Student Activities
- Fall Principals’ Meetings
- Regional Calendar
- Quotes
- Unsubscribe
- Feedback
- Contact Us