THE ROLE OF PARENTS IN CHRISTIAN EDUCATION

Who is responsible for your children?

Christian schooling is often seen as a contentious issue among Christians. Yet most would agree the Bible teaches that parents are responsible for raising and educating their children.

Whether Christian parents choose to homeschool, secular, private, or Christian schools this responsibility remains.

Ephesians 6:4 “And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.”

The Barna Group* reported that 85% of parents do believe they have the primary responsibility for teaching their children about religious beliefs and spiritual matters. Yet few spend any time interacting with their children on spiritual matters. Most expect their church to do it.

In many ways, parents are like spiritual shepherds to their own children. Like a shepherd, parents care for, lead and protect their children. How we choose to raise our children, and who we engage to help us, provide an example for our children to follow.

When parents enlist the help of others to assist them, be they teachers, sports coaches, Sunday School teachers, or even piano instructors they don’t lose their responsibility. It is ultimately up to parents to decide who will be their child’s teacher.

It is unreasonable to expect teachers in secular, or even many private schools, to teach our children biblical truth. Even Christian teachers may be discouraged or prevented from doing so in these classrooms. Religious belief is treated as being separate from the rest of life.

Christian schools are not a way to escape from other education systems, nor take over the task of home or church. Christian schools are an expression of Christian parents attempting to fulfill their responsibility to raise and train their children in a godly manner. They do this by co-operating with or teaming up with, other like-minded parents.

Christian schools help parents to train the next generation to understand the real world as God designed it. Their hope is that children will discover their place in God’s great story, learn how to serve others, and be better prepared for life. In Christian schools, parents can do together what they feel they cannot do alone. They remain active and willing participants rather than merely consumers of an educational service.

Deuteronomy 4:9 “Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons;”