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The Crisis of Biblical Literacy and Fluency One of the challenges facing the Christian church is a decline in Biblical literacy and fluency. Christians are not reading and understanding the Bible. Some scholars and pastors state it is a crisis. We all, the church, the school, and parents, have a role to play in building Biblical literacy and fluency. Celina Durgin in an article called, “Are You Bible-Literate? How about Bible-Fluent?” defines these two terms this way. Bible literacy is a thorough familiarity with the key narratives, people, order of events, and basic, clear themes throughout the whole Bible—yes, even the minor prophets. Bible Fluency is the (habituated) ability to faithfully extend biblical principles from their original contexts into our modern context in a potentially infinite number of ways. Being Bible-fluent means that you can confidently identify and apply what the biblical authors say or would say about an important issue without proof-texting, overlooking the text’s basic literary elements, or otherwise misinterpreting the pertinent passages. It also requires reading Scripture as literature, which is necessary for being shaped by its teaching so that you can faithfully apply it. Biblical literacy and fluency are important to us because it is the foundation for faithful living. We know this is important to you because you have told us that the main reason for sending your children to a Christian school is for faith formation. We are here to help in building Biblical [...]

Why do parents choose Christian schools? This is an important question to answer. You know that putting your children in a Christian school is a significant investment. What is that return on investment (ROI)? This is a common business question because it is relatively easy to answer since your measure your ROI in dollars and percentages, which are concrete, easy-to-understand data. How do we measure the ROI of Christian schools? The Barna Group published a research paper (https://www.barna.com/research/parents-look-christian-schools/) in 2017 that examined the educational goals of parents with children enrolled in an Association of Christian Schools International school. The top 5 educational goals of these parents were: 1. Strong principles and values (align with the principles and values taught at home). 2. Love for God and people. 3. Wisdom (ability to apply knowledge). 4. Faithfulness and obedience to God. 5. Leadership skills and abilities. Further down the list are goals related to financial success, increased opportunities in life, and increased social status or mobility. Parents enrolling their children in a Christian school are expecting the Christian school to shape and mold the faith and the character of their children. So how do you measure your ROI in Christian education? You can ask if the school is intentional about shaping the character of your children. In Community Christian School’s case, are we fulfilling our mission and vision? Mission: To equip our students so that they are firmly rooted in the Christian [...]