Showing posts with label education. Show all posts
Showing posts with label education. Show all posts
Saturday, July 02, 2011
Christian school governors
I'm told that Christian school governors (or potential governors) will find helpful stuff at the Transforming Governing site.
Thursday, April 07, 2011
More than Caring and Sharing
John Cox's new book More Than Caring and Sharing: Marking a Church School Distinctive (Kevin Mayhew, 2011) has just dropped through the letter box and I look forward to getting into it.
Cox is a recently retired Diocesan Director of Education.
He argues that Christian schools should be not exclusive but distinctive. That distinctiveness is more than caring and sharing, or even Christian values. It is fundamentally a matter of beliefs about God, being human, the church and the world that are then worked out in Kingdom values such as justice, forgiveness, gratitude, generosity, truth and love.
An introductory chapter deals with the history and origins of C of E schools and chapters also critique the Every Child Matters agenda and give suggestions for RE and collective worship.
The book aims to help head teachers, governors and parish clergy.
Cox is a recently retired Diocesan Director of Education.
He argues that Christian schools should be not exclusive but distinctive. That distinctiveness is more than caring and sharing, or even Christian values. It is fundamentally a matter of beliefs about God, being human, the church and the world that are then worked out in Kingdom values such as justice, forgiveness, gratitude, generosity, truth and love.
An introductory chapter deals with the history and origins of C of E schools and chapters also critique the Every Child Matters agenda and give suggestions for RE and collective worship.
The book aims to help head teachers, governors and parish clergy.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
The Family Under Siege Audio
When Mrs Lloyd and I get a moment we are looking forward to listening to the recordings from the The Family under Siege? – the 2010 Emmanuel Evangelical Church Family Conference – which are now available on their church website in the audio archive.
1. Foundations for the Family (David Field)
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Ministry of Truth?
Now, I'm against all government funding for education and so on, but don't you find it extraordinary that the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills is responsible for Universities? What happened to an Education Department? Oh, they abolished that so as to make the Government in charge of Children and Families! Are universities just about skills and economic competitiveness? Grump grump.
And doesn't the Department for Innovation and Skills begin to sound just a bit 1984 to you?
And doesn't the Department for Innovation and Skills begin to sound just a bit 1984 to you?
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
The Family Under Siege
It's always great to hear of a gospel church plant, but one of the things I especially love about Emmaneul Evangelical Church, Southgate is the first rate day conferences they're organising to serve the wider church.
If I wasn't already tripple booked, I'd certainly be at this one:
THE FAMILY UNDER SIEGE?
Emmanuel Evangelical Church Family Conference13 March 2010
Speakers
Revd Ian Fry, Pastor, Fetcham Community Church, Surrey. Ian is a former teacher and sometime Director of Youth and Children's Ministry training at Oak Hill Theological College.
Revd Dr David Field, Elder, Emmanuel Evangelical Church
Christian families are under mounting pressure from the secular world. Anti-Christian dogma is promoted in the media under the guise of ‘tolerance’. Education has become a battleground, and increasingly intrusive legislation is being proposed by our government. Recent proposals have included:
‘Parents will lose the right to withdraw their children from sex education classes once they reach 15.’
‘Home-educating parents will be forced to register annually and undergo criminal record checks.
‘Home-educated children will be interviewed privately by government officials; parents who refuse to allow this will find their children sent to a state school.’
Pressure is also mounting elsewhere:
The British Humanist Association has declared that ‘there probably is no God,’ and demanded that Christian parents stop raising their children as believers in Christ.
A BBC presenter speculated that ‘authoritarian’ evangelical parents could use home education as a cover for child abuse.
Yet there is always hope. Jesus Christ is the risen and ascended King of Kings. He has received from the Father all authority in heaven and on earth, the nations have been made his inheritance, and one day every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
Until then, the church has been commissioned to maintain the unity of the Spirit, to live as children of light, to speak the truth in love, to nurture our children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord, and to disciple the nations.
Are you ready for the challenge?
10am – 4pm, Saturday 13 March 2010 at The Welsh Chapel, Cockfosters
Individuals £15 · Couples/families £20To book, email
If I wasn't already tripple booked, I'd certainly be at this one:
THE FAMILY UNDER SIEGE?
Emmanuel Evangelical Church Family Conference13 March 2010
Speakers
Revd Ian Fry, Pastor, Fetcham Community Church, Surrey. Ian is a former teacher and sometime Director of Youth and Children's Ministry training at Oak Hill Theological College.
Revd Dr David Field, Elder, Emmanuel Evangelical Church
Christian families are under mounting pressure from the secular world. Anti-Christian dogma is promoted in the media under the guise of ‘tolerance’. Education has become a battleground, and increasingly intrusive legislation is being proposed by our government. Recent proposals have included:
‘Parents will lose the right to withdraw their children from sex education classes once they reach 15.’
‘Home-educating parents will be forced to register annually and undergo criminal record checks.
‘Home-educated children will be interviewed privately by government officials; parents who refuse to allow this will find their children sent to a state school.’
Pressure is also mounting elsewhere:
The British Humanist Association has declared that ‘there probably is no God,’ and demanded that Christian parents stop raising their children as believers in Christ.
A BBC presenter speculated that ‘authoritarian’ evangelical parents could use home education as a cover for child abuse.
Yet there is always hope. Jesus Christ is the risen and ascended King of Kings. He has received from the Father all authority in heaven and on earth, the nations have been made his inheritance, and one day every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
Until then, the church has been commissioned to maintain the unity of the Spirit, to live as children of light, to speak the truth in love, to nurture our children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord, and to disciple the nations.
Are you ready for the challenge?
10am – 4pm, Saturday 13 March 2010 at The Welsh Chapel, Cockfosters
Individuals £15 · Couples/families £20To book, email
Friday, August 14, 2009
Thursday, June 11, 2009
[State] schooling 'does not work for us'
Some home education stories from the BCC.
The Today Programme also reported that 20 000 children are registered with their local authority as home educated whereas it is thought that over 40 000 are taught at home.
Presently parents have a duty to educate their children and local authorities can intervene if it is thought a child is at risk. This seems to me to be an adequate system.
There have been calls to require parents to register as homeschoolers and to be subeject to inspections at home.
Education is essentially the responsibility of parents, not the state. Parents may choose to band together with other parents, even to form a school, or to make use of a pre-existing school but their responsibility is inalienable.
I would question both the right and the competence of the state to intervene. State education, the health service, in fact, all public services, MPs expenses and the nation's finances hardly suggest that one should trust Gordon with the most precious thing we have: our children.
The Today Programme also reported that 20 000 children are registered with their local authority as home educated whereas it is thought that over 40 000 are taught at home.
Presently parents have a duty to educate their children and local authorities can intervene if it is thought a child is at risk. This seems to me to be an adequate system.
There have been calls to require parents to register as homeschoolers and to be subeject to inspections at home.
Education is essentially the responsibility of parents, not the state. Parents may choose to band together with other parents, even to form a school, or to make use of a pre-existing school but their responsibility is inalienable.
I would question both the right and the competence of the state to intervene. State education, the health service, in fact, all public services, MPs expenses and the nation's finances hardly suggest that one should trust Gordon with the most precious thing we have: our children.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Christian Education
It's possible that the subject of Christian Education may come up at our parenting course this evening so, in addition to this previous quotation from John Fame, I've prepared the following jottings:
Some Bible texts
Ephesians 6:4 – “Fathers, … bring them [your children] up in the training and instruction of the Lord.”
Deuteronomy 6:2, 6-9, 20-25
Gen 18:19; Dt 4:9-10; 11:19; Ps 1:1-2; 78:4-8; Prov 22:6; Mt 18:5-6; Jn 14:6; 2 Cor 10:5; Col 1:15-18; 2:3-8; 1 Tim 6:20; 2 Tim 3:14-17
Some principles
Bringing up our children (including education) is primarily the responsibility of parents – not of the state (nor even of the church) though it may be shared or delegated
There is no neutrality – God is the maker, sustainer, ruler, evaluator of all things – everything finds its meaning, purpose and destiny in connection to God - Everything is connected and is ultimately related to God
The universal Lordship of Christ – e.g. Christ is the Lord of history, arithmetic, biology, geography
The authority, sufficiency and relevance of Scripture – the Bible is our ultimate authority on everything on which it speaks – the Bible thoroughly equips us for salvation and godliness, for a life that pleases God (2 Timothy 3:14-17)
Some quotations
Some quotations from R. J. Rushdoony on schooling:
“Our choice of schools indicates our faith. If God is left out of every area of life, or virtually every area, then we subscribe to the death of our God, or at least his basic irrelevance to the world.”
“Education in its essence is always the transmission of the basic faith and values of a culture to its young. Education is thus in essence always a religious concern.”
“The unspoken thesis is that the child who is not in touch with the state school staff and children is not being prepared to face the “real world”. … For all such people, reality, the basic reality we are all supposed to keep in touch with, is the world of anti-Christianity, of humanism, and immoralism. We are not supposed to “deprive” our children of their time in the sewer.”
G.K. Chesterton said: “Every education teaches a philosophy; if not by dogma then by suggestion, by implication, by atmosphere. Every part of that education has a connection with every other part. If it does not all combine to convey some general view of life, it is not an education at all.”
John Gresham Machen said: “I can see little consistency in a type of Christian activity which preaches the gospel on street corners and at the ends of the earth but neglects the children [of the Christian family] by abandoning them to a cold and unbelieving secularism.”
Doug Wilson says: “… God expects parents to provide for any protect their children. It is truly odd that one of the most common charges made against parents who provide a Christian education for their children is that they are “sheltering” them. What is our nation coming to? Parents sheltering children!
Because pluralism (with regard to worldviews) is a false theology (it is institutional agnosticism), Christian parents are required to protect their children from this lie.” (Standing on the Promises, chapter 7, ‘The Necessity of Christian Education’, Canon Press, 1997, p96)
Voddie Baucham Jr says: “We cannot continue to send our children to Caesar for their education and be surprised when they come home as Romans.” (Family Driven Faith) - thanks to Blog of Dan for that
For further provocation see: http://davidpfield.com/other/homeschool.pdf - from which I stole some of the above
Some Bible texts
Ephesians 6:4 – “Fathers, … bring them [your children] up in the training and instruction of the Lord.”
Deuteronomy 6:2, 6-9, 20-25
Gen 18:19; Dt 4:9-10; 11:19; Ps 1:1-2; 78:4-8; Prov 22:6; Mt 18:5-6; Jn 14:6; 2 Cor 10:5; Col 1:15-18; 2:3-8; 1 Tim 6:20; 2 Tim 3:14-17
Some principles
Bringing up our children (including education) is primarily the responsibility of parents – not of the state (nor even of the church) though it may be shared or delegated
There is no neutrality – God is the maker, sustainer, ruler, evaluator of all things – everything finds its meaning, purpose and destiny in connection to God - Everything is connected and is ultimately related to God
The universal Lordship of Christ – e.g. Christ is the Lord of history, arithmetic, biology, geography
The authority, sufficiency and relevance of Scripture – the Bible is our ultimate authority on everything on which it speaks – the Bible thoroughly equips us for salvation and godliness, for a life that pleases God (2 Timothy 3:14-17)
Some quotations
Some quotations from R. J. Rushdoony on schooling:
“Our choice of schools indicates our faith. If God is left out of every area of life, or virtually every area, then we subscribe to the death of our God, or at least his basic irrelevance to the world.”
“Education in its essence is always the transmission of the basic faith and values of a culture to its young. Education is thus in essence always a religious concern.”
“The unspoken thesis is that the child who is not in touch with the state school staff and children is not being prepared to face the “real world”. … For all such people, reality, the basic reality we are all supposed to keep in touch with, is the world of anti-Christianity, of humanism, and immoralism. We are not supposed to “deprive” our children of their time in the sewer.”
G.K. Chesterton said: “Every education teaches a philosophy; if not by dogma then by suggestion, by implication, by atmosphere. Every part of that education has a connection with every other part. If it does not all combine to convey some general view of life, it is not an education at all.”
John Gresham Machen said: “I can see little consistency in a type of Christian activity which preaches the gospel on street corners and at the ends of the earth but neglects the children [of the Christian family] by abandoning them to a cold and unbelieving secularism.”
Doug Wilson says: “… God expects parents to provide for any protect their children. It is truly odd that one of the most common charges made against parents who provide a Christian education for their children is that they are “sheltering” them. What is our nation coming to? Parents sheltering children!
Because pluralism (with regard to worldviews) is a false theology (it is institutional agnosticism), Christian parents are required to protect their children from this lie.” (Standing on the Promises, chapter 7, ‘The Necessity of Christian Education’, Canon Press, 1997, p96)
Voddie Baucham Jr says: “We cannot continue to send our children to Caesar for their education and be surprised when they come home as Romans.” (Family Driven Faith) - thanks to Blog of Dan for that
For further provocation see: http://davidpfield.com/other/homeschool.pdf - from which I stole some of the above
Monday, January 19, 2009
Applying the 1st Commandment
John Frame says:
In my opinion, the biggest challenge to modern Christians, in the area of the first commandment, is that of secular schools…. Scripture makes it clear that education, like every other area of human life, must be done to the glory of God (1 Cor. 10:31) and in the name of Christ (Col. 3:17). Therefore, it must be done in accordance with the Word of God, the Scriptures (2 Tim. 3:16-17). Scripture not only is a standard for education, but provides the content of a godly education.... Deuteronomy 6:6-9.... "God-centred" is really too weak a term to describe this kind of education. "God-saturated" is more like it. Children are to grow up in an environment where they cannot avoid the Word of God; it is always there, searching them, admonishing them, instructing them in the truth.It follows that everything the child learns about the world should be related to God's Word. And, in a way, Scripture speaks about everything. It doesn't give us detailed instructions about plumbing, or British history, or auto repair, but it does teach us how to relate all things to God, how to study them, and how to implement our studies in practical life, so that God is pleased. We cannot, for example, study history while ignoring divine providence, let alone (as in many secular curricula) ignoring the substantial role of religion in forming the culture and politics of nations. We cannot teach science without emphasizing that this world is created and directed by God. It is God's providence that makes the world an orderly place that we can understand and dominate (Gen. 1:28-30). So, historically, Christian theism has given great encouragement to the development of science, and children need to be taught about that. We cannot teach modern music and film without teaching children how to evaluate them from God's perspective.
The Doctrine of the Christian Life, P&R, 2008, p438f
Monday, July 14, 2008
Christian Education
I understand you are interested in Christian Education and are least thinking of homeshooling (?!). I don't know much about it but I just thought I might suggest one or two websites on (Classical) Christian education / homeschooling which could be of some interest or help?
Though he’s an American (!), I think the guru of this subject is Doug(las) Wilson, Pastor of Christ Church, Moscow, Idaho, who founded Logos school, New St Andrew’s College (University) and Greyfriars Hall (Theological College) as well as Canon Press (Publishing House)!
http://www.dougwils.com/
http://www.logosschool.com/
http://www.canonpress.org/shop/
You may also be interested in
The Association of Classical and Christian Schools - http://www.accsedu.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_Christian_education
http://www.triviumpursuit.com/
Hope that helps.
Do let me know your thoughts.
Marc
Though he’s an American (!), I think the guru of this subject is Doug(las) Wilson, Pastor of Christ Church, Moscow, Idaho, who founded Logos school, New St Andrew’s College (University) and Greyfriars Hall (Theological College) as well as Canon Press (Publishing House)!
http://www.dougwils.com/
http://www.logosschool.com/
http://www.canonpress.org/shop/
You may also be interested in
The Association of Classical and Christian Schools - http://www.accsedu.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_Christian_education
http://www.triviumpursuit.com/
Hope that helps.
Do let me know your thoughts.
Marc
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