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The philosophy of education of Springfield Christian School is rooted deeply in the Bible and accepted as the Word of God for all of life's faith and practice. These scriptures communicate the existence of the Triune God, the fact that He created and providentially sustains continuously through Jesus Christ what man calls the universe, and that man was created by God and bears His image (Genesis 1:1,Isaiah 45:18, John 1:1, Hebrews 1:1-3, John 1:3, Colossians 1:15-19,and Genesis 1:26-27).
Because God created all that is, all the particulars of life in our universe are related, with their unity secured in God Himself. Thus, all truth is God's truth. True education, then, involves finding true relationship not only between man and God, but also between and among things, in order to find their true significance as imputed by their Creator, the study of whom must be the core of educational curricula (Colossians 2:3, Proverbs 9:10, and Ecclesiastes 12:12). To be known truly, all subjects must be studied under the scrutiny of God's Word (Psalm 36:9).
Because man bears the image of God, he differs from the rest of creation in that he possesses the unique cognitive and volitional capacity to know and respond to God personally (John 14:26 and John 15) for the purpose of glorifying Him (Colossians 1:18 and John 3:30) and exercising stewardship of the created order (Genesis 1:27-30, 2:15, and 9:l-7ff). Man is a sinner by nature and cannot in this condition know or honor God. Only by submitting mind and will to the Lord-ship of Christ, can he/she then know and obey God's will. The philosophy of education of Springfield Christian Schools presupposes this regeneration of mind and will as the foundation of all true learning, wisdom, and values; it assumes that no holistic or truly right comprehension or interpretation of God's universe can occur without this Biblically-rooted knowledge. Such philosophy of education further maintains that to attempt to perceive data or phenomena of the created order without using scripture as a lens or without acknowledging Christian beliefs must naturally fail to achieve and communicate an accurate, integrated sense of reality (Jeremiah 8:9, I Corinthians 1:19,25 and 3:19).
The philosophy of education of Springfield Christian School also recognizes that Scripture grants the responsibility and authority of educating children to parents (Deuteronomy 4:7-9; 11:18,19, 31:13, 32:46) and church (Ephesians 4:12-13) alone, and in no manner whatsoever to any form or level of government.
At the request of parents, Springfield Christian School becomes an active, parent-responsive partner in providing the God-centered education which He enjoins. The school also understands itself clearly to be an extension of the Christian education programs of local churches with like basic statements of faith, where its families may worship and study the foundations of education in a cooperative effort to nurture in students an articulate Christian-theistic world-and-life-view (Weltanschauung).
In summary, the entire process of education is understood to be a means by the Holy Spirit to bring the student into fellowship with God, to help him/her become strong and mighty in spiritual maturity, to assist him/her in developing a Christian mind, to enable him/her to think God's thoughts after Him, and to help the student achieve Christ-like character qualities so that he/she can fulfill God's total purpose for his/her life, personally and vocationally. He/She is taught the Bible so he/she may understand God as well as his/her own true nature and function as God's image-bearer. He/She is developed and related to God as a whole personspiritually, mentally, physically, and socially. He/She is taught to see all truth as God's and to integrate it with and interpret all learning by God's Word. He/She experiences a challenging academic curriculum that both encourages him/her to excel and that scrutinizes its disciplines through the lens of scripture. He/She is educated as an individual with his/her own unique abilities and personality, who learns to live and work with others, and who exercises leadership at home, in the church, and as a citizen, in a changing society. He/She interacts with and is taught by parent and teacher models who have committed themselves to Christian-theistic foundations of education and are integrating their perspective within their lives. |